James Corden may look like the guy who’d restore data on your iPhone, but man, has he got a great contact list in his own.
Corden started Monday night as the new host of the “Late Late Show” on CBS, and his first skit scored the most impressive guest list since “We Are the World,” which most of the audience probably wouldn’t remember.
Corden himself, a 36-year-old Brit who seems genetically programmed to issue modest demurrals about his success at five-minute intervals, slipped easily into the chair vacated last December by Craig Ferguson.
His easygoing manner fit well with his low-key banter, built more on everyday conversation than show biz flash.
Talking with guest Mila Kunis about her new baby, Corden commented that from his own experience, “One kid is like having a pet. Two is like you have a zoo.”
He did a couple of things differently with his feature interview. He brought Kunis and Tom Hanks out at the same time, and he sat next to them in what seemed like an office chair, rather than settling behind his desk.
The desk itself, where he briefly sat before bringing out the guests, was almost swallowed by the glossy, colorful set, which he described as a miniature replica of L.A. Including traffic jams.
The set’s single most striking feature was a bar, which seemed to have been installed primarily as a means of spotlighting Bud Light’s sponsorship.
Corden skipped the traditional monologue, though he came out for a round of introductory thank-you’s that included his Mum and Pop, here from the U.K. to join the audience.
He made a mildly risqué joke about Mum liking Hollywood so much on her first visit that she was “getting a boob job.”
His feature interview produced standard late-night banter, helped by the fact both Kunis and Hanks are as skilled as Corden at this routine.
An extended sketch in which Corden and Hanks joined for a manic medley of riffs on Hanks’s movies was a bit too extended.
The sight gag of Corden in a Meg Ryan wig for “Sleepless In Seattle” was already wearing thin by the time we got to the same wig with “You’ve Got Mail” 20 seconds later.
The better extended sketch was the first one, wherein an impressive gallery of stars pitched in for a short film purporting to show how Corden got the gig.
It started with CBS CEO Leslie Moonves telling his staff they would fill the “Late Late Night” vacancy the usual way, by tucking a “lucky ticket” inside what looked like a candy bar.
After the likes of Simon Cowell, Billy Crystal, Lena Dunham and Katie Couric opened their packages and came up empty, Corden found one that had been dropped on the street.
Naturally that was the lucky ticket, so he headed off to an L.A. warehouse for some intensive host tutoring by Jay Leno.
Practicing with the likes of Allison Janney, Corden was bad enough that Leno started slapping and waterboarding him. Nothing like a good waterboarding joke to signal where this show may be going, eh?
Finally Meryl Streep straightened him out, though Leno calmly declared after Corden left that “in three months this show will be mine.”
Meanwhile, Corden looked to be enjoying it.
He sang his goodbye at the end, not forgetting to mention again how humbled he feels by the new job.
Judging from his first show, which isn’t always the wisest thing to do, Corden seems to be from the school that feels it’s better to close the day with a good glass of wine than tequila shots.
