A year in, James Corden has carved out late-night niche
It's almost the anniversary of Corden's debut as host of the CBS program 'Late Late Show' and on a recent episode, he brought back an idea he had used early on in the show's run, filming an episode at someone's home.
It's almost the anniversary of Corden's debut as host of the CBS program 'Late Late Show' and on a recent episode, he brought back an idea he had used early on in the show's run, filming an episode at someone's home.
As the one-year anniversary of his debut as host of CBS鈥檚 鈥淟ate Late Show鈥� approaches, James Corden brought back an idea for an episode that he had used early on in his run, visiting various houses in an attempt to track down someone who would allow him to film an episode there.聽
Mr. Corden debuted as host of the 鈥淟ate Late Show鈥� on March 23 last year and filmed an episode at someone鈥檚 house soon after. This time, Corden filmed an episode at the house where a woman named Natalie lives with others.
While filming the episode, Corden and his crew played hide and seek and the episode's guests 鈥� actor Colin Farrell, comedian Wanda Sykes, animal handler Jack Hanna, and singer Demi Lovato 鈥� all showed up at the house, with Lovato performing there.聽
In the late-night ratings battle, Corden goes up against 鈥淟ate Night with Seth Meyers,鈥� Jimmy Fallon's 鈥淭onight Show,鈥� and Stephen Colbert of the 鈥淟ate Show.鈥� As of the end of last year, Corden drew fewer total viewers and viewers 18-49 than Fallon, Colbert, Meyers, or ABC's Jimmy Kimmel,聽though he drew more of both than cable competition like Conan O'Brien on TBS and Comedy Central's "The Daily Show."
Measuring Corden's ratings against Meyer's is a better comparison than measuring the host against the hosts that are on TV earlier in the night 鈥� Fallon and Colbert both have good time slots and were well known to viewers at the time of their debuts (Fallon had hosted "Late Night" and Colbert rose to fame on "The Colbert Report").
In addition, as of this past November, Corden was drawing more young viewers than previous 鈥淟ate Late鈥� host Craig Ferguson.
How has Corden made his presence known on the late-night landscape? With viral videos. Similar to the success Fallon has found with these segments, particularly 鈥渓ip sync battle鈥� clips with celebrities, Corden鈥檚 signature franchise is now the 鈥渃arpool karaoke鈥� segments. His most popular of these, the clip he filmed with singer Adele, has drawn more than 86 million views.
This past August, there was an episode of 鈥淟ate Late Show鈥� that starred only celebrities who got their start online. Stars included Rebecca Black of the song 鈥淔riday鈥� and YouTube star Tyler Oakley.聽
鈥淐orden may understand the value of online stardom better than just about any other host in late night,鈥� Hollywood Reporter writer Natalie Jarvey wrote at the time of that episode. 鈥溾�� Corden鈥檚 natural instinct for sharable content as been key to his early success on CBS, prompting network chief Nina Tassler to praise the show for exceeding expectations.鈥�