The Late Late Show With James Corden In London

Sky & NOW TV On Demand

When I went behind the scenes at James Corden’s chat show in L A last year, it was striking to see what a team effort the programme is. Over 100 staffers work flat-out to keep the four episodes per week as imaginative and vibrant as possible.

Last week, I was lucky enough to observe the finale of his special stint of London-based shows, and, yes, it was still a massive collaboration of myriad talents, but it was James’ own efforts that felt especially Herculean. He’s a song-and-dance man, a stand-up comedian, a relaxed interviewer, a stage manager, audience warm-up man and producer/director all at once. One minute he’s breezing through a complicated pop-music update of Romeo & Juliet with Emily Blunt. In one take. The next, he’s directing the audience to join in the epic sketch at just the right moment. James also cajoles his celeb guests with aplomb. David Beckham has never seemed so relaxed, telling a sweet story about son Brooklyn getting his first tatt, and enjoying James taking the piss out of his worst-ever fashion disasters. The live Harry Styles comedy bit, in which the 1D sex-pot answered James’ phone and had an extensive chat with a mystery caller, was effortlessly funny, although they had to do a retake after the screams from Harry’s fans drowned out everything he said. Again, it was Corden who sorted that out. All of this is achieved with a sense of unforced, infectious giddiness. James is now so settled into the show’s freewheeling groove, it’s simply impossible to imagine anyone else doing this joyous, epic take on the nightly chat-show format. Long may it run.