As ‘The Late Late Show’ Heads Into Its Final Shows, James Corden Reflects On Late-Night Run

Peter White
Updated ·3 min read
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James Corden reached for the puke bucket halfway through a PaleyFest event after eating congealed blood pudding with a fisheye skewer rather than say who the worst singer he’d ever had on Carpool Karaoke.

The event was designed to celebrate the end of The Late Late Show and Corden and his exec producers Ben Winston and Rob Crabbe were encouraged by moderator Bryan Cranston to play their own version of Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts.

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It comes as The Late Late Show is preparing for its final run of shows, culminating in a primetime special on Thursday April 27 before its final show at 12:37am.

That primetime special will feature Tom Cruise in a special Lion King sketch.

Corden will also host a Take a Break segment during the final weeks featuring the Kardashian family, there will be one more Crosswalk The Musical performance and three final Carpool Karaoke segments.

“We want to go out as big as we came in,” said Crabbe.

The Brit said this year has been the most “overwhelming” year of his life professionally. “I haven’t felt this scared since I decided to take the show. I have to embrace that fear because to be excited and scared is the right place to make something interesting.

Corden began the event slightly teary, saying that seeing a best-of clip of his eight years on the show was “all a bit much” and that it feels “incredibly strange”.

“It’s an unnatural feeling to walk away from something you love so much,” he said. “I think it’s really important how things end and go out in the manner that we came in.

Corden has often talked about how he didn’t think his version of The Late Late Show would find an audience. But he said the moment that he knew the show was working when he was able to walk into Television City without his security pass, six weeks into its run.

Elsewhere, Winston managed to avoid a hot sauce shooter by revealing that Lesbian Vampire Killers was his least favorite Corden project. “I love Cats. It was very underrated,” he said, with a sneaky wink.

Crabbe, however, was forced to eat a mixed bug triffle after refusing to list the late-night hosts he’s worked with – David Letterman, Carson Daly, Jimmy Fallon and James Corden – in order of best to worst.

Speaking on future projects, Corden revealed that he wants to get back on the theater stage. “I couldn’t feel more urgent for the need to do that,” he said. “I would be really upset with myself if in the next year or year and half I don’t do a play… or do a show again.”

He added that he’d also be keen to host the Tony Awards again, having hosted it a couple of times. “They are two of the best nights I’ve had in my life,” he said. “I adore that community.”

Cranston, who previously hosted the show for a night when Corden’s wife had a child, asked Corden what else he wanted to do next. “I’ve thought lots about what I’d like to do. A lot of them are not my choice so I don’t know,” he said. “It’s going to be really important to take a breath, take a minute. I can’t comprehend what these eight years has done to me and what’s changed. If I’m sensible, I will try and embrace some silence, it’s been really loud for eight years.”

Asked how he’d want to go out, “You’ll never know what it means.”

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