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The Late Late Show with James Corden

 The Late Late Show with James Corden
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 The Late Late Show with James Corden
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 The Late Late Show with James Corden
 The Late Late Show with James Corden
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 The Late Late Show with James Corden
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 The fourth and final iteration of CBS's The Late Late Show, airing from March 23, 2015 to April 27, 2023, hosted by British actor James Corden.On April 28, 2014, Craig Ferguson announced that he would be stepping down from his version of the show at the end of the year. 25 days earlier, however, Ferguson's boss, late-night icon David Letterman, announced that he would be stepping down as host of The Late Show in the spring of 2015. Letterman, through his Worldwide Pants production company, owned both of CBS's late-night gabfests. It was he who approved of the hiring of not just Ferguson, but both of his predecessors, Tom Snyder and Craig Kilborn. With his decision to step away, it was CBS and CBS alone who had the power to select his Late Show successor (it took them literally a week to settle on Stephen Colbert in that regard), as well as decide how to handle a Late Late Show that was now solely in their possession, too.Long before Ferguson decided to step away, rumors persisted that CBS was looking to replace him; at one point, there was speculation that Chelsea Handler was about to sign up to take his place, but that never happened. Ferguson's decision to step away meant that CBS didn't have to fire him, they just needed someone to fill the chair.Ferguson, of course, got his hosting job in an unusual way: His predecessor, Kilborn, after months of negotiations that, depending upon who you talk to, were either going well or not so well, decided that he would not renew his contract that was just weeks away from expiring, and hosted two more weeks of shows; all of this took place in August of 2004. The bosses at the network and Worldwide Pants were stunned; they didn't have an immediate replacement, so, from September to November, they had different celebrities come on as guest hosts, using these shows as on-air auditions. After six weeks, four of the subs were selected as finalists: Ferguson, Michael Ian Black, D.L. Hughley, and Total Request Live host Damien Fahey. Each finalist got a week of shows to impress their would-be bosses. Ferguson, who went first, was the one who ended up being hired.Ferguson's departure was less acrimonious than Kilborn's, and, so, CBS took their time to find his replacement. One day, James Corden and his friend, British TV producer Ben Winston, came to CBS to pitch a new sitcom. The network bosses passed, but, at that same meeting, offered Corden The Late Late Show, with Winston as his executive producer. He accepted, and CBS announced his hiring on September 8, 2014 (though, the media was reporting this a month prior).Corden was definitely an unknown to American audiences. Most of his success had come in his native United Kingdom, where, in the late 2000s, he co-created, co-wrote, and co-starred in the sitcom Gavin & Stacey with friend Ruth Jones. His performance in the show was critically acclaimed, seeing him win a BAFTA Television Award for Best Comedy Performance. He did have success in the United States, though; in 2012, he became a Tony Award winner for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for his well-received performance in the one-man show, One Man, Two Guvnors. He had begun the performance in London's West End the year before, making the trip across the pond to New York City to continue it. He had also guest-starred in two episodes of Doctor Who during the Matt Smith era, his performances in those also being praised.Outside of that, his hiring drew a bigger "Who?" than even Ferguson's. Corden himself only expected to last six months in the job, opting to rent his housing in Los Angeles. He made two cameo appearances prior to his taking over: One on Ferguson's third-to-last show on December 17, 2014, and the January 23, 2015 episode guest hosted by Judd Apatow, where Corden acted as a job shadow, wanting to "learn from [Apatow's] mistakes."Corden's Late Late Show began on March 23, 2015. His version was the only one with a house band; it was fronted by comedy musician Reggie Watts throughout its run. Corden's version was also the only one in which Worldwide Pants had no involvementnote Outside of CBS having to pay them to continue using the Late Late Show title., being instead produced by Ben Winston's 73 Fulwell. It was also the only one to win Emmy Awards (Ferguson himself got an Emmy nomination during his time hosting the show, and the episode in which Desmond Tutu was a guest won a Peabody Award, but, it was overlooked for the most part). This version also garnered the show's highest-ever ratings.The secret to the success of Corden's Late Late Show was relying heavily on bits that would go viral outside of the initial broadcast. One of these would be acting out select scenes from an actor's most famous films with said actor (on the very first show, Corden did this with Tom Hanks). Another notable bit was "Crosswalk the Musical", where Corden and a local theater company would act out scenes from famous musicals in an L.A. crosswalk not too far from Television City while cars waited for a light change. Another notable segment was "Celebrity Noses", where Corden would attempt to show close-up photos of celebrity's noses, and have the audience guess who the celebrity was, but something always went wrong, and the segment was never done (which, of course, was the joke). He would also send his parents to various events - such as National Football League games played in London - to interview people for the show. Two segments got their own spinoffs: One of them was "Drop the Mic", where Corden would engage in a (scripted) rap battle with one of his guests, airing as a series on TNT, then moving to TBS, from 2017 to 2019. Corden served as an executive producer, appearing in just two episodes of the series.But the most famous segment was "Carpool Karaoke", where Corden would drive around Los Angeles (and sometimes other cities) with famous singers, talking with them and singing their biggest hits with them as the songs played on the vehicle's sound system. Among the guests in the segment were Adele (whose first appearance in 2016 - taped in London - remains the most-watched video on the show's YouTube account), Justin Bieber, and Paul McCartney, with whom Corden did a primetime special taped in Liverpool in 2018. In 2016, Apple began airing a series based on the segment on its Apple Music service, moving to Apple TV+ in 2022. In the series, various celebrities are paired together driving around and singing along to famous pop songs. The segment sparked imitators, one of them being done by members of the US Olympic Swim Team as they trained in Atlanta prior to traveling to Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Carpool Karaoke: The Series has won five Emmy Awards.For one week in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2022, the show did a week of tapings in London. The 2017, 2018, and 2019 shows were taped at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, while the 2022 shows were filmed at Freemasons' Hall. (There were no London shows in 2020 and 2021 because of, obviously, the COVID-19 Pandemic). Ferguson had also done shows abroad: From Paris in 2011, and Scotland in 2012.On April 28, 2022, Corden announced that he had signed a final, one-year contract extension, intending to step down in 2023, citing a desire to return to London with his wife and children. In February 2023, CBS announced that Corden would not be replaced, meaning that the show would end with his last episode. A Stephen Colbert-produced revival of the 2013-2017 Comedy Central panel game show @Midnight, titled After Midnight, replaced it. It premiered on January 16, 2024, hosted by young comedian Taylor Tomlinson.Corden's final episode - as well as the Late Late Show series finale - aired on April 27, 2023. The final guests were Corden's friend, Harry Styles, and Will Ferrell. A primetime special aired earlier in the evening looked back on moments in the show's history, as well as the last Carpool Karaoke segment, featuring Adele, and Corden and Tom Cruise joining a local production of The Lion King. Unlike the tenures of Snyder, Kilborn, and Ferguson, Corden's Late Late Show aired new episodes from Monday to Thursday, with Friday's airing being a rerun. Corden also taped his iteration from Studio 56 at Television City, except for a time in 2020, where the COVID pandemic forced him to be all alone in the garage of his Los Angeles home (there was a brief period in 2021 where he had to go back to the garage, due to coming into contact with a production staff member who tested positive for the virus).On the week of the final episode, the magazine Los Angeles published an article about the show's finances. Specifically, the fact that the network was losing $20 million a year on it (CBS was spending $60-65 million, but only making back $45 million), so, it's a good thing that Corden decided to leave when he did, or CBS may have eventually made the choice for him by axing the show altogether, or threatening to cut his salary, staff, etc..Tropes associated with The Late Late Show with James Corden include:
 The Late Late Show with James Corden
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