James Corden Says Growing Up Without Letterman, Carson or Leno As Influences Actually Helped Him
Tuesday Morning James Corden told CBS This Morning that he owes his success to being born and raised outside of the US.
In an interview promoting Corden’s role hosting the 70th annual Tony Awards, the “Late Late Show” host was asked by the table at “CBS This Morning” how his late night talk show shines so uniquely amidst a packed line-up of talk shows vying for an audience. Corden attributed the show’s voice to growing up outside the US. With complete earnestness, Corden shared that he’s grateful he “didn’t grow up here” so his influences and childhood idols are almost unknown to American audiences.
“I think I feel very lucky that I didn’t grow up here,” he said. Letterman and Leno and Carson have never been on in the UK. So my influences are names which won’t mean almost anything to a lot of your audiences. People like Graham Norton or Chris Evans. Michael Parkinson. They were the people I grew up watching so they would be the greater sort of influences on us. Mostly we wanted to create a show that felt irrelevant of a time slot and a show that people could enjoy all the time.”
The hosts evidenced the popularity of Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke” bit as proof of his show’s innovativeness. Having these segments go viral is like striking gold compared to the strategic uniqueness of Netflix’s “Chelsea” with its longer diatribe about how this show won’t be like other talk shows, only to slip into the familiar mold set by “Conan” or “The Tonight Show”.
This past fall, American late night experienced a huge shake-up with the changing of the guard at “The Late Show” and “The Daily Show.” That Corden’s show shines so brightly is incredible considering only a year ago the host was a virtual unknown. As the hosts of “CBS This Morning” note, he had no talk show appearances or name recognition even among executives in the States.
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