For catfish producers: the kind of advertising you can't buy

I barely can stay up late enough to watch David Letterman, so it's a considerable challenge to hang around for Craig Ferguson, whose Late, Late Show airs after Letterman every weeknight on CBS.

I always enjoy Ferguson's wit and self-deprecating style. Ferguson, a Scot, also looks at America with fresh eyes, the same way that Alistair Cooke did for so many years when he was the Washington correspondent for the BBC. His weekly program, Letter From America, was a reason to own a shortwave radio back before the BBC posted his reports on the internet.

A bonus for me this week was Ferguson's appearance on the Letterman show.

Not far into the conversation, Ferguson began telling Letterman how much he enjoys catfish. Yes, catfish.

Sure, he joked about how he was glad he didn't actually see what a catfish looked like before he ate it for the first time. And he also quipped that there were no catfish in Scotland because "it's too wet for them."

But the man was serious when he said he greatly enjoyed this most Southern of dishes. "It's a very delicious fish," he said.

For catfish farmers and the struggling U.S. catfish industry, it was the kind of unsolicited praise that doesn't come along often.

Ferguson, who is in the process of becoming a U.S. citizen, said he discovered catfish because he always makes it a point to drive 5 miles off the interstate when he needs to eat or hit the restroom. It's his way of getting an idea about what America is really like. I thought about Alistair Cooke when Ferguson explained this bit of extra travel. If you ever saw Cooke's PBS series, America, you'll remember that he also delighted in telling stories about small Southern towns that he had visited during his long career.

Ferguson recalled that he first tasted catfish in Ozark, Arkansas, which lies off Interstate 40, just east of Fort Smith and the Arkansas-Oklahoma line.

As I'm writing this post, it's just about dinner time and one of those nights when nobody has time to cook. You can't write about catfish without thinking about eating it.

Debra asked me what I might like for dinner. I had just started writing this entry, and I said, "Please go to Penn's (a local eatery) and pick up the large catfish dinner."

And I just heard her come through the kitchen with the catfish. It's time to eat.

So, thank you, Craig. The catfish producers of America appreciate your kind words and good heart.

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