I was impressed with Craig Ferguson as the host of CBS’s “The Late Late Show” from the outset. But I have to say, he’s only gotten better as time has gone on.

Ferguson has dropped the normal current-events monologue followed by his late night peers in favor of a funny little monologue on a particular theme or subject — as much storytelling as joke-telling. And he’s begun doing little one-man skits and impersonations. Some of his impressions are better than others, but that’s not really the point; the skits are, as far as I can tell, supposed to be a little bit goofy. Ferguson, like the better late-night hosts, can laugh at himself when a joke flops or a skit seems to be going off-track. (Johnny Carson was such a master at this that his occasional misfire turned into a special treat.)

Earlier this week, he did a pretty funny Michael Caine impression in a bit predicated on the outlandish notion that Caine was supposed to have been the fifth member of the “Fantastic Four” and was cut out of the movie. Earlier in the night, Jay Leno had done a skit with an almost identical “Fantastic Five” premise, proposing his bandleader Kevin Eubanks as “Chrome Dome,” who deflects bullets with his bald pate. The Leno skit was mercifully short — almost a blackout gag — but Ferguson’s bit was much funnier.

I have to watch “The Late Late Show” on tape the next day, especially since my local CBS affiliate delays it by half an hour. I fear that a lot of people who would enjoy Ferguson are missing him.