James Corden to Leave ‘The Late Late Show’ Next Year
In the world of late night, The Late Late Show always seems to be a flashpoint for change, even though it, historically, not been as big as The Tonight Show or its permanent lead-in, The Late Show. From Tom Snyder to Craig Kilborn to Craig Ferguson to James Corden, it has always been in the later slot, playing as a sibling to The Late Show, but been a spot that has gotten to divert itself, in so many ways, from a lot of the rest of late night for decades now. Ferguson’s monologue would often not be topical and be more of an actual fascinating dive into whatever he was thinking about, Corden did karaoke with celebrities in cars, etc.
As of today, the chapter turns yet again for The Late Late Show with James Corden announcing that he will be stepping down as host of The Late Late Show next year, making for an 8 year run. Corden is one of the newer personalities in late night (as compared to Colbert or Fallon), but he is far from the youngest with upstarts like Desus & Mero and Ziwe really shaking the late night format up on premium cable.
So, as you ponder how Corden went from taping his first episode in someone’s home to having some of the most viral clips in late night and what you might watch over and over again, the inevitable question of The Late Late Show’s future presents itself.
What will CBS do when 2023 rolls around?
Conventional thinking might point towards getting another charming Brit to take on the 12:30am slot, but we have been far from conventional for several years now. Late night itself is at a crossroads where it would seem the celebrity panel and topical monologue format devised by Steve Allen decades ago is too tired of a format to keep soldiering on. Of course, we always want great comedians to have bigger platforms and having your own late night talk show can be a great way to do that, but we also wouldn’t be surprised if the reshuffling of Viacom CBS into Paramount will see a different future for late night (and perhaps having only one late night talk show).
It’s all conjecture at this point (unless Paramount has already sent out a press release about their plans as we’re currently writing these words), but you can also spend this time pondering if Corden will do more CGI based movie musicals in the not so distant future.
Watch James’ announcement here.
After an incredible run, James announces that he will bid farewell to The Late Late Show in 2023. pic.twitter.com/k9KtKNmv5Q
— The Late Late Show with James Corden (@latelateshow) April 28, 2022
