James Corden is the ultimate social climber – here’s how he did it

People have all sorts of involuntary reactions when they see James Corden larking around with his A-list mates in Los Angeles. Most of those reactions are not printable in a family newspaper like this. But one instinct is perfectly rational, and in fact a question well worth investigating: How does this man know, and seemingly get on famously with, absolutely everybody? (Except waiters, but we know about that.)

Celebrities naturally meet and gravitate towards other celebrities, of course, if only because regular people would only stare blankly at them when they say things like, “What’s a gal gotta do to get a coffee and ghee enema around here?”, or “Is it me or did they change the ashtrays at Scott’s?” or “David Walliams – right? Unbelievable…” And chat show hosts, especially chat show hosts who have also presented the Grammys, the Tonys and the Brits, will meet more than most.

But even with that taken, Corden’s circle is especially rarefied. His career trajectory – from career-high Tango adverts to Boyz Unlimited and The History Boys, to Horne and Corden, Gavin & Stacey, One Man, Two Guvnors and The Late Late Show – is impressive, but when it comes to making friends and influencing people, he’s the best. The luvvie’s luvvie. The Edmund Hillary of social climbing. He can work a room like Carol Smillie, and leave everybody in it feeling like they should probably invite that loud little British man to their place in Como next summer.

This week, with the release of Corden’s final Carpool Karaoke before he returns to the UK, we learned that his friendship with Adele is far from shallow and “slebby”, but instead decades-old and almost like siblings. But what about other pals, like Prince Harry (Mountbatten-Windsor), King Harry (Styles), David Beckham, Chris Martin, or even Anna Wintour? It’s time for a clamber across the Web of Corden. Don’t worry, there’s little danger you’ll be caught in it.

Keeping up with the Styles

Corden’s known the One Direction band members ever since Simon Cowell grew them in test tubes underneath the X Factor studios in Wembley. In fact, he has said he used to “babysit” them during those years. At the time he had a few connections, from Louis Tomlinson’s late mother (who worked on Fat Friends with Corden in the noughties) to a spin-off X Factor programme he made with JLS, but the strongest is Ben Winston.

The son of Lord Winston, the scientist and broadcaster, Winston has been Corden’s right-hand man in his endeavours over recent years, moving with him to California, and directing and producing The Late Late show and his awards hosting jobs. But he used to be responsible for One Direction’s documentaries and concert films. Through this, Winston became best mates with Harry Styles, who is godfather to his eldest daughter, Ruby. (It is her voice that can be heard at the very beginning of ‘As It Was’).

Little wonder, then, that Styles and Corden should be so close. Styles appeared on The Late Late show more than almost any other A-lister, and even guest hosted when Corden’s wife, Julia, went into labour early. Styles smells, Corden once said, “like summer in a bowl”, which is nice to know. They holidayed together with Adele in 2020.

Call the AA

It’d be understandable if Corden and Adele only met a couple of years ago, as two Brits in Los Angeles who desperately need somebody to moan about the lack of kettles or sleet with. And it’s true: since the 1930s, there’s been a social Brit Pack of celebrities in Hollywood, like backpackers clinging to one another in the same Bangkok bars.

But as she mentions in the final Carpool Karaoke, Corden and Adele met in the late noughties, on the short-lived Channel 4 show Transmission with T Mobile. Adele, who performed ‘Hometown Glory’, appeared in 2008 with Corden as a guest. At the time they were both young, uber-talented, slightly misfit characters dreaming of global stardom.

They both achieved it, of course, eventually ending up in LA together. Now, they can look back as gazillionaires with four kids, two marriages, a divorce, a few PR crises and armfuls of awards between them. Adele is a Tony short of EGOT status. Corden is an EGO short. And that’s the first time anybody’s said that.

The A-List

From Adele to David Beckham, the great and good have all been welcomed into James and Julia Corden’s $22m Brentwood home over their eight years in LA. And thanks to Julia’s work, she’s had a hand in shaping their homes, too. With Vicky Charles, Julia Corden founded an interior design company called Charles & Co, clients of which include George and Amal Clooney, David and Victoria Beckham, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, Emma Stone and, of course, Harry Styles.

Charles is the woman responsible for the aesthetic in Soho House in America, meaning she knows what celebrities – or at least people who would like to co-work near celebrities – like. Supposedly, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were so impressed with her work that they hired Soho House to help Frogmore Cottage. That absolute hovel.

The Royal beat

And so to The Other Harry. “There was a certain time in London [when] if you went out long enough and ended up drinking long enough, you’d probably bump into Prince Harry,” Corden once said. They were indeed falling out of nightclubs and into the morning tabloids at the same time.

Two decades later, they’re both Brits abroad with a passion for navy polo shirts who have… complex relationships with their home country. Unsurprisingly, then, they’re good friends, so much so that Corden is thanked in Spare, along with Tyler Perry, Chris Martin and Oprah Winfrey, for his “unwavering friendship and support.” He has appeared on various stages with Chris Martin, a fellow California resident, once even performing an earnest cover of “Nothing Compares 2 U” at a Coldplay gig in LA. It’s very much how you’d imagine it.

Like the Beckhams and Idris Elba (another pal, albeit London-based), the Cordens attended Harry and Meghan’s wedding in 2019, with James doing some comedy skits dressed as Henry VIII in the evening reception, and have a mutual friend in designer Misha Nonoo. Now, the Sussexes and Cordens meet in California with their children. “It was more a sort of play date scenario [with the kids]. Then we went out for dinner after, it was lovely,” Corden said of one catch up. “Obviously I’m not telling you any more. Obviously.”

He did say more, though: “Look, I’m a huge fan of both of them. Obviously I know Harry better than I know Meghan, but I think it’s really hard to judge, or be judgmental. People process things and deal with things in different ways and that’s OK, and it’s all right to think whatever you think about somebody. I don’t know if it necessarily needs to be voiced the whole time but my experience of them has been nothing but positive.

"I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for Harry, and anyone who has been around him and spent time with him would feel exactly the same way. I think he is a devoted and loving husband and father and I think what they have done [in turning away from royal life] is incredibly brave and I’ll always be in their corner.”

Wintour of content

All on her own down here, because she very much rules her own world, is Vogue doyenne Anna Wintour. She wrote to Corden in 2011 after seeing him in One Man, Two Guvnors, and they’ve been firm friends ever since.

At one point they met for lunch every month. She’s thrown him raucous parties, danced to Katy Perry with him, and appeared on his mini-gameshow, “Spill Your Guts”, eating a bacon-wrapped pizza. Which is hardly the bull penis Corden consumed, but this is Anna Wintour we’re talking about.