[Gary Baldy]

I agree- Corden was such a random person to choose to crack America- I’ve spent a fair amount of time there, and it’s always baffled me how he managed to get that gig. There are so many talented American comedians (who don’t get given the platform over there due to lack of panel shows, hence the “Americans aren’t funny stereotype”- the ones in the mainstream aren’t, but there are a few that perform at little comedy clubs who are hilarious) who would have made far more sense to liven the show up- instead they chose some obscure sitcom actor- Gavin and Stacey was a moderate hit here (I don’t mean the Christmas special revival a few years ago which was massive but as a series, I don’t think it ever hit any crazy heights) and a show no-one knew in the states- who was the exec that gave Corden that gig? It seemed to pay off fairly well for him (Carpool Karaoke was good fun) but I think James became much more arrogant after the American fame- there’s a real disconnect between him and the viewers now. Some celebs it makes sense to try and cross the pond- the likes of Simon Cowell, Gordon Ramsay, even Piers Morgan- because they’re the stereotype of the “evil Brit” that Americans love- then there’s the polished presenters such as Ant and Dec where even though they didn’t crack it successfully they were right to try them out because when it comes to natural hosting ability, there’s no-one better. Cat Deeley made sense- she fits the American image- they like having pretty ladies on screen- and her accent is very neutral- you can only really hear a slight Brummie twang. Craig Ferguson worked well because despite him being Scottish himself, he managed to adapt to the American market- and got their humour, whilst retaining his own unique style- I’m not sure they’d want him on there nowadays though- I feel Americans seem to get offended more easily than us Brits and that form of brutal humour doesn’t really go down too well in America, with the exception of those crap comedy roasts that are literally just hurling insults without any wit or structure to them- UK roasts better, because our roast jokes are actually layered and not just lazy “yo mama” jokes:

Then there’s the random ones like Corden, like Cheryl (the band she was in didn’t even crack the charts in the states, let alone them being able to recognise any individual member- though again like A&D her accent didn’t help- though I think she has a rather soft Geordie tone), like Steve Jones (why on earth would you pick Steve Jones of all people to go off to the states? It’d be like us getting Nyle DiMarco or some random model to host a show in the UK where nobody knows him), like Len Goodman (he doesn’t really have that “evil Brit” character to him- as much as DWTS producers treat him that way, he’s just a traditionalist grumpy fuddy-duddy but hardly a villain- I also think his sense of humour is very British so I’m surprised they thought he was a good fit all those years ago), like McIntyre (his humour’s very old-school variety, which again is far too British for the US audience to really “get”). Corden had a good run as host of the Late Late Show but 8 years is more than enough- he was lucky to get 2 or 3 to be honest- I remember being baffled by it when it was first announced he got the American job- I think most people were thinking he wouldn’t last 5 seconds, whereas now they’re wishing America would keep him. I wonder will James’s departure help rid him of this newfound ego? Will we get the old James Corden back- the lovable Smithy one, the funny League of their Own one? I hope so, but I’m not sure. As long as they don’t use his return to the UK as an attempt to resurrect the Nightly Show, you’re alright.