WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 652 - James Corden

Episode Date: November 5, 2015

James Corden knows a thing or two about hosting a talk show. The host of The Late Late Show trades notes with Marc about their respective jobs, and James explains that he got the gig by accidentally pitching it to CBS executives. Marc and James also nerd out over some favorite films, and James reveals why he believes there are only two types of actors in the world. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's winter, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost almost anything. So no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats. But meatballs, mozzarella balls, and arancini balls? Yes, we deliver those. Moose? No. But moose head? Yes. Because that's alcohol, and we deliver that too.

Along with your favorite restaurant food, groceries, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing.

With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies

what the fucking ears what the funkadelics what What's happening? Mark Maron, this is my podcast. Welcome to it. Today on the show, James Corden of The Late Late Show. And then before that, I don't know what. That's not true. I did a little research. He's done some other things. But that was one of those situations. It's interesting. As a comedian, there's a few jobs that comedians can do in show business you can do stand-up you can write you can act in a tv show you can host so james corden comes out of nowhere seemingly to host a major talk show and a lot of us were

like who the fuck is this guy where the fuck this guy come from now it's not like i was up for the job but you start to think in terms of of jobs available to your peers and it uh back in the day it might have been who's who am i going to be jealous of for getting that job but now it's just sort of thinking in terms of comics in general and this guy seemingly came out of nowhere and a lot of us were like what what, where, who, why? And I talked to him about that. He had a little of that going on himself, as it turns out. It really was a pretty great conversation. I enjoyed talking to him.

And, you know, that's what you learn. I didn't know anything about him, and we had a blast. We had a nice chat, interesting guy, interesting background, comes from a part of the world that I'm not that familiar with and always enjoy hearing about. That's why I need to talk to people. It's got nothing to do with this show. I don't know if you people realize that. I need to talk to people so I am engaged in the human process and I'm not falling.

Let's say tumbling. falling, let's say tumbling, tumbling and bouncing down a tunnel of self. Got to stay out of that one, man. Especially if you've tapped that mine. You know what I'm saying? That's all I'm saying. I need to talk.

It's not about the show. It's about engaging with other people. And I think that some of these talks that I do here help others do that, and I'm happy. I never knew that what has happened is helping in that way. I'm not checking in much with current events. I'm detached from it. And I guess it's because I don't manage my time properly or because I just honestly don't give a shit. I'd rather have the tactile experience of running my thumb across my fingers in a moment of immediate dark reflection of the temporality of my body and my being.

What's Trump up to? what's Trump up to? Nope. I'm going to run my hands along my arm and realize that, wow, I am an animal and I am a physical being. And I have to appreciate that and build from there and realize that my experience here on earth is temporary, but can be enlightening to myself and others and i could also learn how to give and accept love and move through the world with some grace and purpose that trump's an asshole right fucking amen what this is a it's a goddamn circus this election so far i want to feel my feet on the pavement perhaps i'll walk down my driveway with no shoes on and be very aware of the tactile experience of the new cement under my feet and realize i'm a human being on the planet earth with with with with very little time and i have to make the best of that time wow wow man we're in trouble man this shit

is crazy kardashians that's what maybe i'll lay down i'll lay down on the dirt and just wait maybe i'll do that hey um one thing you might have noticed folks about the uh the clip set of lorne michaels that we've been playing in preparation for the dropping of the lorne episode is that pretty much everyone who talks about lorne has a lorne michaels impression so as we approach the lorne michaels episode of wt. Here is a super cut of many famous people doing their Lorne impressions. All right. So enjoy this and I'll talk to you on the other side of it. You could have eight SNL folks in a row and they would all do a bad impression

of them. Do you talk to him now? Yeah. Oh, you do? Yeah. We're, you know, we're, we're friends.

Oh, yeah? Yeah. Like, he'll call and like, hello. He's like, hello. Hello. He's like, are you watching Jersey Shore? Love this season. I think that Snooki's really made a change.

I realize, oh, I've got the gig. So, but I'm so shocked that I don't, I don't react with any excitement. Yeah. And then we stand up and I go, oh, gosh, thank you. I'm going to shake your hand.

Because I didn't know. He's like, do whatever you have to do. Lauren says from his thrown on high, the moment at the end of that sketch, that's the moment

you became a star. I wasn't on the air for the next four weeks. I'm like, if there's a lady and a dude, what are we making fun of local news? What the fuck is that? He's like, no, no. He's like, well, you'll be, he had some crazy,

he was like, you'll be Fred Astaire and she'll be Ginger. You'll give her the sex, the comedy, and she'll give you the sex. And I was like like the dancers what i don't know what he was fucking talking about the guy would be a monster news anchor oh my god i really feel that way lauren and he's like no that's pretty much the feedback i get from everyone and

so then i call uh hello i was like hi lauren how you doing? So we want to move you into the cast. Great. When? Monday. So, you know, just, you know, when it comes time to write, just write something you can score on. And we walked in and he started telling me this and he went, so you're moving to California? And I said, yes. And he went.

Like he just kind of like. Like. That's what he did. He went, and I was like, yeah, you know, it's just been great working here. And then I think it's just, you know, and he was like, oh, you know, I get it. And you have kids and, you know, and you have to, you know, but, you know, they have backyards in Westchester too. So he got the sketch, he goes, Wayne's World. Lauren looks around, he goes, do we really want to read it?

And I went in my hand and went, hell yeah! That's a joke. And then he looked up at me and sort of like, are you ready? This table will kill you. It's fascinating to watch when someone's like, I'm not going to do that sketch. He's like, no, I know, you're not. And when you do it, it will be fine. And the person's like, no, I know, but I'm not going to do it. And he's like, you're not doing it, nor should you.

But I think when you find yourself doing it, you're going to end up doing it. It's amazing. He's incredibly persuasive that was entertaining yes yes it was and folks i promise you i promise you you will hear the real lorne the real lorne michaels on wtf talking to me very soon. All the stuff I've been talking about for six years is finally coming to a head, my friends. Yes. What will happen after that? Who knows? I will try to move my vessel of blood, muscle, and bone through time with grace and purpose. I got an email from a trainer in my neighborhood

and I'm going to take the chance. I'm going to make the leap of faith and I'm going to go train and I'm going to make my vessel perfect or I'm just gonna feel better this perfection thing's overrated i was perfect for like 30 seconds yesterday and uh didn't enjoy it did not enjoy it the music you're about to hear folks is by kelly pratt who also makes music under the name bright moments he sent this to us and we thought it was pretty cool. So enjoy this. All right. Right now we are going to talk to an actor who is now the host of The Late Late Show. It's on weeknights at 1230 a.m. on CBS. I was on it with Jason Segel and Carl Reiner. I will be on it again at some point, I imagine.

But this is me and James Corden. I will be on it again at some point, I imagine. But this is me and James Corden. It's winter, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So, no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats. But meatballs, mozzarella balls, and arancini balls? Yes, we deliver those.

Moose? No. But moose head? Yes. Because that's alcohol, and we deliver that too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, groceries, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region.

See app for details. It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will get a Dan Dawson bobblehead courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th

at 5 p.m. in Rock City at torontorrock.com. It's weird because like in the States, I don't know how it feels for a guy who grew up in Britain that, I mean, like it seems when you're in Britain, like, you know, once you get out of the cities, you're like,

wow, it's really fucking beautiful. And yes. And here, everything's different. And expectations. I really wonder what uh what people's experiences versus their expectations like how much have you traveled here uh a bit yeah i mean i've lived in new york for i've lived in new york at two points in my life sort of one for six months one for sort of seven and a half months

and that was great and then living here and then the only other place i've really been is like florida you know what i mean going to like disney world with the kid uh no when i was a kid so i haven't been back for a very long time but uh yeah when i was like sort of 16 17 yeah it's funny because even when i think of like just generalizing like florida as a place it's sort of like there's there yeah it's funny because even when i think of like just generalizing like florida as a place it's sort of like there's there's a hundred cities there's a hundred different types of place there well that's the thing so i've been to orlando i haven't been anywhere oh you've got it really oh yeah florida i've really seen i really feel like i know it as a place go up north

to the southern that as you go north in florida it actually becomes more southern yes in in uh in disposition but the weirdest thing about when you arrive i can remember so vividly the first time i came to la i came here how old were you uh i was what would have been like 27 for show business well what happened was i had gone through quite a bad breakup with a girlfriend yeah and um my agent had said oh they want to put you on tape for this thing and i was so sort of lost do you remember what it was it was um oh i do it was the j roach film with zach galifianakis and paul rudd that was based on the french movie or was it was it the institution movie no i don't remember no it was based really famous based on a french film ah dinner for schmucks oh right there it is okay so said i wouldn't go see that movie just based

on the billboards well i didn't go and see it but i did audition for it yeah but at the time yeah when it's like deal paul rudd stell, Jay Roach, who I love, and I read it, and anyway, I was like, I'm not going to get this. This is a part that's written for Zach Galifianakis. Oh, it was that part. Oh, 100%. And I was like, he should 100% play this role. No, no, no, they want to see everyone.

They're really like that. They brought you in to pressure Zach. Well, I don't know that that's true, but I went and auditioned. I said to Jay Roach at the time, I was like, so you're just seeing people in case Zach Galifianakis can't do this, right? And he was like, no, absolutely not. About two years after that, he came, or three years after that, he came to see me in a play in New York and had forgotten that we'd met.

And I said, oh, you don't remember. I came in and auditioned for you, and you told me, and said to you you're seeing people in case jack zach galifianakis can't do this and he went yeah yeah that's what was happening yeah but he had forgotten all about it but anyway i came to la you're shattered i was not in the best state of mind and i came to la and i remember thinking saying to her oh so where's the middle yeah where's the middle bit where we're at all yeah where's the central thing and and when you realize there isn't one and when you realize essentially los angeles isn't really a city it's a collection of disparate towns then you just go oh okay well i'm just gonna find the town yeah where's the town my family will be happiest in.

And so now I feel I'm very much enjoying it. But you're a beach guy, so you decided on the beach. Well, I don't know if I am a beach guy, but my wife would like us to be a beach family. I don't think I'm a beach guy. Do you not get a lot of beach in Britain? Well, you don't get a lot of sun in Britain. But there's water. You're surrounded by water a bit, right britain yeah but there is there's water you're

surrounded by water a bit right yeah but you did but it's no there's no sun so it's just it's just cold like a sad beach it's a coldness you never experience here like the other day when it rained here when it rains here i am fascinated by the whole people freak out it might still be snow it's amazing how much people are sliding. Their cars are sliding. People don't understand what to do with their wipers on the car. It's like the news just becomes all about rain. Sure. Oh, my God.

It's raining. Staying. Wash away. Evacuate your house. It's like, what are we doing? If we had the rain that you had here at home i on i promise you my dad would be like we should have a barbecue this weather is perfect this weather is terrific nice to cook outside yeah exactly where'd you grow up in britain though i grew up in a very small town called

high wickham which is uh in between if you head out of london towards Oxford, it's about an hour outside of London in a valley. Yeah. So it's pretty. It's surrounded by prettiness. The actual town of High Wycombe is quite a, it's painfully ordinary. I mean, and I, you know, there's, it is. Like you can drive through it and not notice anything? The High Street is the same as any other high street in any other town in Britain.

How did you end up there? Well, my dad was in the Royal Air Force, so was a musician, and was based in a place called Uxbridge, which was sort of close to London. And he was very adamant that he didn't want us to grow up on the Air Force base. He didn't think that that was a particularly... So he was a lifer? he was in it where he's a musician for 26 years in the air force what does a musician in the air force do well they play at all the big ceremonies and things like that so even of all sizes like even if it's a smaller ceremony that he's on contract in a way yeah yeah you're in the band but then he went to the first Gulf War. He went to the first Gulf War.

What did he play? Saxophone. He played a sax? No, they went as stretcher bearers. The musicians did? Yeah, they went as stretcher bearers, and nothing really happened, but they were there. It was incredibly traumatic for us,

but my dad was like, they were essentially just sat around not really doing anything. So that was when the coalition was formed and britain stepped in they sent some musicians down to carry stretchers and the war was sort of a bust in a way yeah the war didn't really i mean nothing like it was so strange because i can remember my dad's horrible they bond the shit out of place but there was not a ground war really there wasn't well where my dad was stationed he was in bahrain and nothing really happened and he said he could remember that one someone got appendicitis and all of these medics

just rushed into this you know go go go you know like he's like he's got appendicitis it's gonna be okay but um but there was a panic in the family huh huh? Because he was like... Oh, it was horrible for us. He was away like six months. I remember it so vividly. And how old were you? Like 11. So in your mind, it was just he's gone to war. Of course. Yeah.

And it's so strange. If I think back to that time where it was just inconceivable. Like my dad said, when he signed up to the Air Force. Yeah. It was inconceivable to him that there would even be another war. Ever. That war would ever be something that we would do ever again. I was optimistic.

Well, that's the thing. And then you think about it now, and you just think, well, I don't know when there won't be. Well, they've changed the business model of war. Yeah, it's so strange. You're not really fighting countries anymore. You're fighting, you know. Ideologies. Yeah, it're fighting, you know. Ideologies.

Yeah, it's very, very strange. You just throw a coalition together and, you know, that's how the business operates now. Let's throw a small coalition together of a bunch of people from different armies and go deal with this problem. I can't really, yeah, get my head around it. If I think about it too long, I really can't. What kind of sax player was he? Was he good? Jazz.

He was a big jazz sax player. Was he good? really good is he still around oh yeah he's played on when he came over when we launched the show he played with the band a couple of nights oh yeah and he absolutely loved it i've never really seen him as happy because now he's a christian book salesman what he sells the bible and christian cds and things door-to-door or what uh no two um two christian bookshops that's very specific very very specific and uh you know how did he get into that racket well he is a well him and my mother are both christ, and we grew up in the Salvation Army. And then... What does that mean? The Salvation Army...

I know what the Salvation Army is, but here it's sort of where you drop your clothes off that you don't want anymore. Well, this is the common misconception that the Salvation Army is a charity. And actually, it's a church first and a charity second. So... Was it started in Britain? Yes. A man called William Booth started the Salvation Army in Britain.

What was the angle? So it's an actual church. The angle was that this guy, William Booth, saw that basically that churches were becoming elitist places that weren't welcoming the poor or the marginalized or people around town and so he um yeah he would he he would uh he he did that he started a new movement where they would wear a uniform and they would march through the town and he would say all are welcome here and all should come here and be uh and are welcome in this church and they would go and feed the homeless they had a church he said this will also be a charity where people will go and feed the homeless. Bring your clothes.

We'll clothe people. We'll do things like that. And that's where. So it was actually right. It was a well-intentioned sort of honest Christianity by the book for all people. Take care of the poor. Yeah. Well, that's what it was.

And then oddly, that's kind of why my parents left recently. They left when I was about 18, 19. They left the Salvation Army because they didn't feel that that was what it was anymore. They felt like it had become, again, quite an elite. Like my mother's a social worker. My sister's a social worker.

My dad's a Christian book salesman. So they have a very much a... So they're helping people. They want to. And I think think yes they they they the they left the salvation army and joined a church which was actually at meets in a school at the end of our road because they they feel like uh churches shouldn't be they feel like church should be places that help people i think that's interesting i because yeah that my sense

of the salvation army is that they you know they're ringing bells on the street at Christmas. Sometimes there's a Santa involved. Yeah. Christmas caroling, I would go and do that every Saturday. Every Saturday morning, I would go and play the trumpet in a little town near us called Marlow. And we would stand on a roundabout in between a junction and just play Christmas carols. Was your introduction into show business? Well, the Salvation Army was my introduction

into show business. It didn't feel like much. It didn't feel like it was show business in the middle of a turning circle, just playing Silent Night on a trumpet. How many kids were usually involved in that? It would be like about seven or eight of us. So it was sort of sad.

It was a sad display. Oh, it was tragic. And you'd take a cup of tea with you, and you'd put your mouthpiece in the tea because it was so cold. You were worried. I mean, I just don't even. Looking back now, it was actually torture. You were doing God I mean, I just don't even, if looking back now, it was actually torture. You were doing God's work, man. Well, were we?

I don't know. So, well, that's interesting, because I don't know that, of course I didn't know that about the Salvation Army, but they've always been, there's something about practical Christianity that's sort of impressive, as opposed to, you know,

just sort of like passive christianity you belong to a church it's a community thing it's a social thing but they seem like their hearts are in the right place well it's a weird thing my dad always says whenever i sort of talk to him about you know various different things he just says you've got these he says you have to remember that churches are groups of people and wherever there are groups of people there are going to be huge mistakes and he just says uh you know and and and uh and he just says yeah i mean like sometimes i'll say to him you know what if this is all just what if this is just all just not true in any way religion religion sure just not true now is this a

conversation you had last week we've had it a few times and i go i go what if this is just not like you die yeah and you get wherever you're going and it just wasn't the case yeah none of this everything or nothing happened everything you've believed in yeah nothing yeah i go how are you gonna feel yeah and he goes well do you know what he goes i've had a great life uh-huh because i'm proud of all three of my children proud of the relationship i've got your mother i've traveled i've done here and i've lived the life i'm proud of i've lived the life i've wanted to live and then he goes but what if i'm right and you get there? He goes, spend a bit of time thinking about that.

He just turns it around. For a split second, you do go, oh, yeah. But that's like sort of perfect in terms of, you know, I think that having a righteous life and being able to own that and take responsibility for it and be kind of satisfied, it's such a tricky thing. It's a very difficult thing. Well, also, I think the biggest trick is, you know, like that there are many people who will talk about being Christians and talk about church and faith. And when you just scratch past the surface, there is very of their life which is remotely uh christian in any way if anything they're just joining a club whereas you know like whenever people say to me about my parents oh that's a christian because they're christians i go no no yeah but they're good christians yeah like they're really nice do you know what i mean they're like they're really cool

with whatever you want to do right there's no sense of uh i you know and i'm i'm very proud of them for that that there's not any form of judgment or uh you're wanting to impress any of this but also it seems that one way or the other your entire family i mean i I'm not outside of you. Perhaps you've framed your particular trajectory as, as service, but it seems, well,

no, it was the answer, but yes. But it seems like they've led, they lead lives of service. Yeah. I mean, yeah.

Yes. I think so. Social workers. very definitely. My mom, you know, being a social worker, my, my younger sister being a social worker's an insane job dude it's relentless crazy

and it's thankless and it's um painful and I didn't realize growing up quite how um quite what my mom's life was when she was going to work and then coming home and then just, you know, me just moaning about what we're having for dinner or whatever. And she's just spent the day dealing with drug addicts

and domestic abusers. Yeah, taking children into care and separating children from, sisters from brothers in families where they're worried that the father may be this. It's just a different when did you gain the appreciation when when did it sort of dawn on you that like oh my god well i remember when i tell you one thing i do remember is

um our school we had um do you have this thing? I don't know if this happens at school here, a thing called the Harvest Festival. No, that does not happen here. It's ridiculous, right? Maybe something like it happens. It's a harvest festival where basically you have to bring in like tins of soup and tuna fish or something.

Oh, yeah, we get that. And you come in. Yeah, whatever. And the harvest festival this year, and we were doing, what we were going to do in honor of the Harvest Festival, we're going to walk around our little village

in the school in costume. And so different people said, oh, you guys are going to be cows and you guys are going to be sheep. And I was put in a group, like six of us, as squirrels, right? You guys are going to be squirrel you guys are gonna another show business

story yes well and i'm about i'm about sort of seven eight yeah this time squirrels yeah so i do that thing that you do at school i just came home and went um hey mom in two weeks time harvard festival was doing this thing and i need to be a squirrel okay and mom's like yeah okay got it she's gonna make the costume. Of course, I presume that my saying that means that my mum knows exactly what to do and build a squirrel costume. Yeah.

So Sunday night before the Monday, I come home and go, hey mum, what's the deal on this squirrel costume? And her eyes looked in a way that just said, you know, oh my goodness, i have no idea i'm suddenly ringing bells right so there's nothing no shops are open it's 8 p.m on a sunday yeah so i went to school in a brown jumper a brown sweater yeah um a pair of my sister's brown leggings. Like tights. Yeah.

My regular sneakers. And then my mum stuffed cotton wool and two pairs of rolled up jeans into a pair of her tights. Yeah. And safety pinned it on my ass. That was it. That was my squirrel costume so i just basically looked like i had a huge turd just hanging off me while i'm wearing a pair of skin tight leggings yeah i get to school and there's some kids have got like wire bushy tails that are up they've got like paws yeah makeup everything i had nothing zero nothing yeah to the point it was that tragic that even the bullies were like oh his mum has really done him over there his mum has just so i and i remember, so we walk around the town, it all splits open.

So as it walks back, I've got a torn pair of tights hanging off my ass. I'm holding two pairs of jeans under my arms and there's just balls of cotton wool all just following me on the floor. And I saw my mum who had come home from work and was stood on the road. And she looked so sad and i can remember i got really upset when i got back to school and i remember the teacher saying you will realize one day what your mum has done today and you'll realize the work that she does and you and and this won't be a thing she was wrong it very much is it scarred me for life but you know it does play on your mind yeah yeah it's it's interesting when you have these you don't quite see your parents as people

for a while sometimes forever you know yeah definitely i mean i'd certainly my having children has made me realize you know you'll just go oh my goodness you really it's a chore yeah like wow you've got two i have two two my son is four and my daughter's 11 months yeah oh you got a baby so you're not even sleeping really we are now she's sleeping through but we moved to america when she was five weeks old so oh my god she's like fresh out of the oven there yeah 100 and just tough like you know and then just trying to launch the show and things like that but it was yeah let's get back let's go back there so your parents i mean i have to assume that on some level that your father was a musician he had dreams uh well i think my dad's dreams mainly were to get out of

the house that he was growing up in mostly he joined the air for yeah it wasn't good at all and joined the air force when he was 16 is he from uh big city uh no he's from well he's from a small he was from stoke-on-trent in the midlands yeah so yeah right in the middle of britain yeah it's from yeah every everything sounds like Hobbit. Well, it is. Well, he was even from, I'm saying Stoke-on-Trent, he was actually from, and you'll like this one, Utoxeter. Yeah, which does sound like it's somewhere.

It sounds terrific. Yeah, down in Middle Earth. Maybe evil. Maybe there's a battle of good and evil going on there. Mr. Frodo, we've got to go through Utoxeter. Come on, let's do it. You weren't in any of those movies were you i wasn't i did all down i did audition for sam ganges yeah oh yeah yeah i

did yeah but how how did you come upon um performing i just because you weren't a great squirrel and that wasn't your fault terrible squirrel was just a terrible squirrel. I just don't remember a time. I honestly don't remember a time where it wasn't what I wanted to do. I cannot remember. I didn't want to be a soccer player. I didn't want to be. You love soccer, though. I do, but, I mean, luckily, that was never something that I wanted to do. I didn't want to do that.

I didn't want to do. There was just nothing else. I just wanted to perform and show off, really. What was your original sort of idea? Like, did you sing? Did you, I mean... I just wanted to do it. I wanted to do it all.

I loved singing. I loved dancing. I loved acting. I love sort of showmanship, if you like. What was the first time you did it? Well, I remember I used to do impressions. Who'd you do? Well, people like Michael Barrymore and Cilla Black,

who you wouldn't know. I don't, but it doesn't mean I don't have a lot of fans in England. Yes, or like Bruce Forsythe. Good game, good game. Nice to see you, to see you. And the audience would go, nice. And so I would do that. See, I don't know who that is, but I enjoyed that impression a lot.

And I would do a lot of that. At school? At school, at the Salvation Army on a Sunday, I would do little bits. Would you do in front of people? You'd be like, now here's my son. Your mom would do it in front of the audience at Salvation Army? Yeah. Uh-huh.

Yeah. I don't, I mean, I honestly can't put my finger on like when or a time. I just cannot remember a time when I didn't want to do this. And I can remember we would have this careers lady come into our school where she would talk about careers and what you're going to do and things. And I would say, I'm going to be an actor and she'd say well no you'd like to be an actor but you've got to have something to fall back on and i'd say well no because if you're just you're just contemplating any form of just a failure yeah like this this is this is what i'm gonna do that's interesting i don't think I've ever thought about it like that. Because, like, I always sort of, I know that you're compelled and you get it in your head and that's what you're going to do.

And some people, for whatever reason, have the fortitude to throw their life away and do that. Yeah. And sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. But I never really, I always thought, like, if if you have a plan b you're just a hobbyist or you're you're but but to frame it sort of like well that's that's actually setting yourself up for failure yeah well i also think it depends on what you think um what you consider to be making it like for me like just the doing it is the reward that's it just yeah yeah like whether it's like i feel like if you if you say you want you want to be an actor yeah and you you want to be an actor and you can eat yeah and you can live yeah then then that's that's it like

you're you've you've done it you're earning a honest dollar in a way well if you're making a living just if you can get by yeah an act yeah like then it's you're just one of the lucky ones right you just don't have to because it's if it's something that you truly love doing then you're never really in a position where you're just i don't know working as an insurance salesman with a dream of being an actor you know because you think well and that's that's the that's the thing i think but that's funny because like sometimes you know given what i've gone through i mean obviously our careers are much different but you know when i hear people that say that like oh i

always wanted to do that there's part of me that thinks like you're probably lucky you didn't you know embark you know like they're it's not that i envy their stability but there's something about living with the yearning or the heartbreak of not pursuing a dream but having an okay life that that as you get all along in this business and you see how heartbreaking it can be for some people where you're like you might have you might have made the right choice yeah absolutely but because also you you know you you do have to be talented and that's that that's the truth you do have to have an ability to do it so if you've got an ability to do it like i i just always believe that that and maybe maybe stupidly and foolishly that that true talent raw talent absolute talent will always get a shot

whether i like to believe whether it works out or not whether the stars align after that moment who knows but like actual raw time will always get a right if it doesn't destroy itself before it gets its opportunity well there is that yeah and also like you you know, I think that at some point as a talented person, you have to realize, you know, what your talents are. I think that helps. That, you know, like, I know what I can do, and I know what I might not be able to. I know what I'm right for and what I can handle.

Yes, well, that's the truth. I mean, because, yeah, and that can be quite a hard thing at times. To learn. To go, oh, okay, yeah, of course, I'd love to be Daniel Day-Lewis. But I don't know if I've got the necessary intensity to really fully commit 13 hours a day

to being President Lincoln. But at the same time, I don't know that he would be able to do this over here you know what I mean like you just gotta I like that the second

half of it is like yeah he couldn't do it I didn't yeah he couldn't he couldn't host a talk show he couldn't do a a sketch

you know what I mean yeah yeah yeah I'd love to see him how much would you love to see Daniel Day-Lewis in a comedy it'd be great because I just

I've got I just think he'd be amazing did you grow up looking up to that guy like who are your guys I do the big one for me was a guy I don't know if you'd have heard of but he is a I mean just for my money one of the greatest comedy actors I remember see as a man called Ronnie Barker uh-huh who was in a sketch duo called the two Ronnie's he then did he had a hit rate which is phenomenal is in the two Ronnie's which was at the time the biggest sketch show on television and then he did a he also had a sitcom

called porridge uh-huh which was written by Dick Clement and in the front a which was just I mean gobsmackingly brilliant sitcom. Ronnie Barker is his name? Ronnie Barker. And then he was also in another sitcom called Open All Hours, and was astonishing. And then he just quit and ran an antique shop. I have respect for that. He just went, I'm done, actually.

I'm actually done. And he opened an antique shop. He was interested in ant just... And he opened an antique... He was interested in antiques and he opened an antique shop and that was it. And then... Did you go to the antique shop? No, no, no.

Because he died quite a while ago, but he was absolutely... He was almost... He almost got coaxed out of retirement by Trevor Nunn to play Falstaff in Henry V at the national which if i think about it might be the most dream casting i could ever imagine but but him i

looked up to i was really a huge fan of his rowan atkinson um jim carrey yeah i saw jim carrey the other day in a whole foods and I don't remember the last time that I just like lost my shit. Yeah. Like I genuinely couldn't. He was walking towards me and I just froze in a way that I, clearly Jim Carrey is used to seeing people freeze.

And he went, hey man. And I went, I just think you're amazing. And then he walked off and he went hey man and i went i just think you're amazing and then he walked off and he was in the queue and i was going to my wife she was like you okay i was like he's jim and she was like all right but hold it together he's right he's literally eight feet away from you and i was going and i actually went to her i don't care care. That's Jim Carrey. And pointed in his face and he looked at me like, what are you doing? Did he know you? Well, there was an air of, oh, I've seen your face before. I don't think he would have ever thought, oh, there's James Corden.

I don't think he thought that. But I think he greeted me in a way that was to to say oh i recognize your face from a thing yeah and uh yeah but like yeah he was was that disappointing like i i do a no it wasn't at all i i'm i never expect anyone to have seen a second of our show but but but that's sort of weird because the difference between you and me in that situation be like oh i and i would be like hey do you uh have any interest in you know maybe talking and i do a thing you didn't well yeah but then but then see but like i think if i had a podcast like you do now then then because this is such an informal atmosphere this is such a nice thing to do right i don't know that you know that this is such a a joyously unpressurized environment. Right, right.

And actually, saying to someone, do you want to come on the Late Late Show on CBS? Yeah. It's a very, very different question. That's true. Whereas actually you saying, oh, I have a podcast,

which is hugely popular. Right. The President of the United States came on it, and I'd love to talk to you. Yeah. There's an air of, oh, wow, you'd like to talk to me?

Yeah, yeah. That's amazing. And I don't know that that happens on a talk show that's on, you know, four nights a week. Okay, so which Whole Foods? It was Brentwood. Brentwood Whole Foods. Don't go back. I've been every night wearing a Late Late Show with James Corden t-shirt. I haven't seen him.

Have you tried to get him on? No, I don't, you know. Were you just bookers? Of course. But I'm not going to go gonna go oh can you try and book jim carrey i saw him in whole foods last night why not well i'd write to him first i mean that's what we've done with like the the sort of you know the bigger people that we've had you write to him personally well we yeah we like you know to get like stevie wanderer and stuff like that

we just you know you just that that sort of mission started back in like june 5th right so the bookers start reaching out well yeah or we you know we reached out and we knew someone who knew someone and just things like that you know but so you book your show much the way i book mine that's hilarious pretty much yeah well no because then there's there's other there's other we know we have we have an amazing booking department but like sometimes when you're going after like ste... But I use bookers. Have you ever had that situation where they say, could you write a personal letter?

I think it would make a difference if you reach out personally. And it's still a no. That's the worst one. Honestly, this would make a real difference. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's going to be a no on that. Maybe next time. It's not what it used to be, show business.

So did you go to acting school i didn't no i was at uh i left school um i went 16 and i started i went to college for a year to do a performing arts b-tech thing and then b-tech what is that it's like a national diploma so the idea is you would do that, then start, then, then go apply for drama school, go to drama school. All right. Right.

But I, um, I had signed up with like a, a local, I used to go to an afterschool stage school in High Wycombe, um, where they had a, a,

a real great time. I mean, it's an amazing stage call now and it's a much bigger thing than when I was there. But there was a little period where there was myself and then a few years below me was Eddie Redmayne and then a few years below him was Aaron Johnson, the actor Aaron Ted Johnson. So we were...

And like Eddie and I would be in like these sorts of end-of-year things where I would sing like sit down you're rocking the boat and then Eddie would sing like we're walking in the air from the snowman and stuff and and so I was doing I was in the in this BTEC National Diploma and I got um I got offered a part in a musical in the West End I auditioned for called Martin Gare that was written by the guys who wrote The Miserable and Miss Saigon.

How'd they find you? Well, I was with this stage school and they had an agency. So I spent pretty much my whole school life between the age of like 12 and 16 just auditioning for anything that I could audition for and I didn't get one job.

So they had an agency that worked with the company. That was part of the stage crew, yeah. And now when you saw Eddie Redmayne as a kid, you liked that guy. Good. Well, he was great. I mean, yeah, I mean, the greatest thing I could say about Eddie

is he feels very much, he feels like the same person that he was then. Like, he is... He looks like he's probably the same age. He's, yeah. But he's unbelievably uh warm and generous and uh did you see that movie of course yeah i mean he's he's astonishing and i think his new movie is going to be amazing too what's the finish oh yeah the danish girl he just looks

incredible and he's he's a he's a unbelievable he's more is he more along the lines of um who we were just talking about? Yeah. Yeah. Kind of. Right. I think, yeah,

I think there is, there is a, there is a, uh, yes. Yeah. Without question. There is a,

an, an element of, uh, well, my theory on acting is I think that there is two, there are two types of actors in the world and that's it. There are only two actors in the world and there are aliens and there are humans and neither are better genuinely sure neither are better there is no better right in

this they we just watch them in different ways so your aliens are uh you know daniel day lewis mark rylance merle street ray fines where you look and you go i don't know how they're doing that this is amazing yes yeah you go well she might be one of the few who cross over but yeah and i know what you're saying but you go i you look at them on a pedestal and go this is astonishing to me i don't know how they're doing that yeah and then there are actors who whoever they're playing and whatever they're doing are representing us the audience yeah philip seymour hoffman sure he's a great example of someone who is astonishing and amazing and yet finds a humanity right which you always it is representing can't hide it yeah you and so

you can watch like mark rylance or benedict cumberbatch playing hamlet and then you can watch like Mark Rylance or Benedict Cumberbatch playing Hamlet. And then you can watch one of my favorite acts in the world, an actor called Simon Russell Beale with the same text. And one you're watching going, oh, my goodness, this is I don't know how this is happening. And the other one going, oh, well, that's me up there. No, interesting. Yeah. And I think Eddie is an alien yeah and you are a human yes good I think that's true yeah I think I've never that's a beautiful way to look at it

I that's just what I've always thought and and I don't think there's any I don't think there's any better or worse he's just it's just the way that you you know Ralph Fiennes. Ralph Fiennes, astonishing actor, unbelievable. But watch him in Made in Manhattan with Jennifer Lopez. Yeah. And he doesn't seem at home. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it's interesting because a lot of those people are not,

they're not, like, they're not leading men in the way that, like, they're not thought of for a romantic comedy. They're not, you know they're they need to they do something larger than life yes and and something that that like you said is unexplainable it's a transformation that you can't imagine you would ever be able to understand johnny depp i think johnny depp same michael you know fast bender johnny depp's one of those interesting guys and maybe fast bender will turn out to be but i don't think so that johnny depp, it's rare that an alien becomes, like, a movie star personality. Yes. You know what I mean?

Very rare. Even somebody like Clooney, who is, like, one of the greatest movie stars we've ever had, is definitely a human. Yes. And not unlike, you know, even these people like Johnny Depp, who is arguably a great movie star, but he secretly is an alien. Without question. I don't even think secretly. I think just it's true.

It's an alien thing. And his performance in Pirates of the Caribbean is as astonishing as any other performance you'll see because you're like, with this text, this text, this whole idea, you're making me believe in this guy. This is amazing. You know. Did you see Black Mass?

I haven't seen it yet, but it looks incredible. It's heavy, dude. Yeah, it looks amazing. He's great. Yeah. He's great in it. Yeah, of course he is. I mean, he's, but you're right.

But that thing with George Clooney is a perfect example where george clooney whether it's michael clayton or it's what a great movie that is no one talks about that fucking movie it is amazing you know what saddens me about like you know about there's movies like that that are clearly sort of grown-up sophisticated intelligent movies and it really like no one talks about that movie but it's a fucking great it's a masterpiece that movie yeah well i mean more people talk about that movie than talk about others it's quite it's very odd some movies feel like they're just posters yeah no definitely you know what i mean they are it's like oh i won't go because of a poster oh that's a poster yeah you know what i mean it's very strange but um

you know yeah cluny's just incredible just a phenomenal uh presence yeah charisma that is unquantifiable, actually. Yeah, yeah. But he loves it. I mean, I think that's the other thing about movie stars versus actors. Yes. Is that, you know, movie stars, you know, thrive.

They're good at it. Yeah. They're good at the whole thing. The whole thing. Will Smith, Tom Cruise. Yeah, yeah. I mean, Tom Cruise is a lesson. They should show Tom Cruise on talk shows

to actors in drama drama schools going if you become famous yeah this is how you should be on a talk not on oprah specifically but maybe another one yeah but just look like you're happy to be there right that's both basically if you look like you're thrilled to be there you're halfway through and do it to a degree that they don't even care if you're hiding things yeah you just You just come out and just, oh, this is fantastic. This is great. That's the way to do it. Yeah.

I think he's, I've always said about Tom Cruise is that what he's really good at is focus and hanging off of things. That you give him something to focus on intensely or something to hang off of. It's great. I love him, Tom Cruise. I genuinely. I just watched Magnolia again. Oh, that film. That film is genuinely. Tom Cruise I genuinely I just watched Magnolia again oh that film that film

is genuinely I think it might be my favourite movie I sort of like I was sort of hard on it initially but then I watched

it again and I was like wow I didn't even remember seeing the last third of that movie and it's amazing the bravery in that film

which is where I think like Paul Thomas Anderson is probably the best film director I think around in recent years yeah is that film's got two openings the the sheer bravery of that movie to then like every i've never i don't remember a time i've been as aware that i'm loving something the first time i'm watching it i remember being in the cinema going well i'm loving this film you know well that's what i'm in i'm in the music the whole thing is this this cannot be coincidence this surely cannot be that and then when they burst into song but that's the amy man track and then the frogs

falling from the sky you're like what you've done it you've done it you've got this film made in a world in which this is everything you'd ever want to do yeah it's just astonishing oh it's beautiful to hear oh william h macy quiz kid donnie smith I mean come on Philip Seymour Hoffman Julianne Moore is unbelievable in that film Jason Robards it's crazy it's wall to wall

some of the best performances John C. Reilly great it's also well worth watching the there's some outtakes on the DVD

where John C. Reilly looks like he's the most fun person to work with on the planet yeah I bet you he is yeah it's so funny because the first guy person to work with on the planet yeah i uh i bet you he is yeah it's so funny because the first guy on imdb is pat healy yeah how did that happen i don't know all

right so you do martin gare yes and then you do the history boys which was a big break well that was quite a while after that i did um i did a movie after that with a director called shane meadows i don't know if you're familiar with shane's work he's there I did a film called 24-7 I said a black-and-white boxing movie with Bob Hoskins Oh fucking Hoskins oh man incredible and then and that film I managed to get an agent in London and then I had worked a bit different TV things little bits here and there And then I was in this play called The History Boys, which was a real turning point. My assistant's sort of like, he's in the original cast.

He's a real actor guy. It was a real, I mean, as plays go, it was incredible. And it's Alan Bennett, Nicholas Heitner, who I think is the best theater director in the world. I really do. And yeah, it was just a thing which, you know, you sign up for a play for six months and then three years later you're still doing it,

but you've made a movie of it and you've travelled to Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, and then we finished by doing sort of six and a half months on Broadway. Do you think that sort of solidified your sort of place that gave you the... Well, oddly, it kind of didn't because I'd done quite a bit of TV work and I did a film with Mike Lee called...

How was that? Amazing. Which movie was that? I did a movie called All or Nothing with Mike Lee. Because his movies are just like... One of the great sadnesses in my life is that I have not and I can I can fix it is that I haven't kept up with his movies well this one is particularly dark and I'm very very proud of it I play Timothy Spall and Leslie Manville's

son and it's basically the whole film is set across a weekend on one estate in London and it's uh I think there are real moments of beauty in the film as uh Sally Hawkins is in the movie I'm just trying to figure out if I if I've seen it which what was it about it's set on a council estate in London it's basically about the the inhabitants of that council estate it's hard to pinpoint what's a council estate a council estate is a council estate is a house where basically the the state is as you put people up in these high-rise blocks of flats okay in a in quite a rough area of london and and it's just about it's about love and family really is what it's actually about but it's it's a tough watch but i had done that and i've done the film with

shane and i've done a couple of TV things. So when the History Boys happened, and became this unbelievable play, all of the boys, there was eight boys, similar age in the film, all coming in with these film scripts under their arm for different roles they were being considered for or offered for. And I would get like

the two pages of that script for like the guy who plays a news agent or so you were a punchline yeah or like a bubbly judge yeah in something and i'd be like oh i always thought that i would oh okay i'm and it felt like people at home were saying, oh, no, we think you're very good. We think you're very good for this. You're really not going to be the star, you know? And so that was when myself and my friend Ruth Jones, who is an unbelievable actress and writer at home, she hadn't written anything at home before this,

and nor had I, and we just said, we should, why don't we write a TV show together so I had been at a wedding where I sort of came back thinking I don't know

that anyone had shown a wedding on television like one I'd actually been to yeah and we started talking about maybe writing a show about our couples and family

and we wrote this show called Gavin and Stacey which to everybody's surprise it launched on a small cable channel called bbc3 which not everyone in the uk has and our first episode launched with like 500 000 viewers and and by the time we ended it's big right that's uh it's not big it wasn't big then right it wasn't small for that channel it wasn't small for that channel but it was kind of fine right and then we um when we ended the show we did like 22 episodes over three years

we did we only do seasons of six or seven episodes i love that about british television yeah it makes sense to me and we um by the time we ended it we ended it on bbc one and i think we had like 14 million viewers so it was on the air for three three years yeah and it sort of became it pretty much became like the number one comedy in the country well that's amazing because i don't know the show because i i didn't uh like i'm not up to speed with british comedy british television like i'm sad that i don't know who ronnie barker, but I didn't grow up with it. Sure. I mean,

I know it's available and I could have done a little more research, but I guess it's just not going to happen for me and you. No. I'm not going to be like, I love that one episode.

Well, it's a long time ago. But people do, I do get occasional people like Kristen Schaal was on the show the other day. Yeah. And I'm thrillingly, for me,

who's a big fan of the series. Well, there's definitely people in my community, in the comedy community, who are huge Anglophile, you know, like British comedy fans. Yeah. But I've always, it's sort of fascinating to me the intimacy of what I picture

the BBC's business model to be and the opportunity they seem to give comedic talent because there's a lot of people I've talked to in here like Dylan Morin they seem to give comedic talent because there's a lot of people I've talked to in here um like Dylan Morin um and you know like uh Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright yeah I've not talked to Ricky Gervais but it seems that you know if you have a profound comedy talent and you have an idea that you'll get a shot well Ricky is Ricky and Stephen are the best example i think where they made a little short film steven was on i think uh i think steven merchant was on a bbc young directors thing while he was also working at

the radio station with with ricky and carl pilkington and uh he made a little i think like a five or six minute teaser with this character that ricky used to do around the place called cd boss and then the bbc said oh will you make a pilot we'd like to make a pilot and and what's amazing is ricky and steven said well we'd like to direct it and the bbc went okay having no prior and and that's where in for me the bbc are incredible like we made our show with um for the bbc through a company uh called baby cow which is run by steve coogan yeah henry normal and we would take all of our notes from the bbc or from henry or from ste or from Steve would be, they would all start with, this is your show. No one knows this show better than you.

So what we're giving you now are not notes, they're suggestions. And if you don't like them, throw them in the bin. And if you do, take them, but it's your show. And so immediately as a creator of a show, you are so much more open to hearing a network's point of view on your show, as opposed to, we don't like this on page three, and this has got to change on page five,

and we also think this character needs more of a thing. You're immediately on a defensive of like, whoa, hang on, stop trying to change my show. What are you doing? So, and I kind of think that's a place where American networks in a narrative sense, for narrative programming, could really learn from that, I think.

Yeah, I don't know what the difference in the business model for how American television was sort of built, you know, on towards moving towards syndication or holding viewers in a certain way. A lot of that stuff has fallen away. So you get a lot of these people that you can't even trust. Yeah. So I imagine that having the BBC who trusted Steve Coogan, I imagine, because he had that. What was his famous character?

Alan Partridge. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, they just, well, what was his famous character? Alan Partridge. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, what they do, but even more than that, to trust Ricky and Steven, two guys working at a radio station, to go, yes, we will let you direct, produce, and write this series. Yeah, it's crazy. Is unheard of, actually. Yeah.

And lo and behold, that freedom creates what I think is one of the greatest sitcoms that's ever been made. You know, I really do believe that. And the British Office, what, there's only like 12 episodes, right? Yeah, I think there's 12 and a Christmas, and sort of a 90-minute Christmas special. I love that. And it's sort of like, I guess because, you know, you don't have this grail of 100 episodes making a billion dollars that, you know, you can sort of, you know, limit your expectations, do as many as you think are necessary. Well, that's what I would often say to friends of mine.

I remember telling, I forget who it was, saying what Ruth and I earned for Gavin and Stacey. And he nearly fell off his chair at how low it was he's like you're mad what are you doing an american and yeah and i said no no i said you're absolutely right i said however what we lose financially compared comparatively right i always thought we were being paid very very well that's the thing is like when we started this conversation i mean it's nice to earn an honest living of course for doing what you do yeah but but what really counts is is a you have this creative freedom which is unheralded you don't you're making the show that you want to make and b it's never going to be pulled off the air it you will always get to tell your story now granted come the end of it you might be telling

that story to four people but i can remember when we were writing gavin and stacy and when i wrote my the next show i wrote with my friend matthew baines in the show the wrong man's all we would say is how great would it be if this was just one person's favorite show if sat around a dinner table somewhere someone said oh you know the show i love gavin and stacy and everyone goes i haven't seen it what is it and they go nice i love it that's all we were ever really hoping for you know hoping for like awards and you know did you win awards uh we did yeah yeah yeah so you did like you did several you did that sitcom which was your. You appeared on a lot of stuff. You've done all the things that one does as a television personality in Britain.

And then you do this huge movie, Into the Woods, with Meryl Streep, who must have been amazing to work with. Phenomenal, yeah. How was it like being with an alien? It's just incredible. I mean, I've never really worked with anybody quite like it. There's nobody like it. Well, also she, the greatest thing I can say about her, and it's my favorite thing in people, is when she takes her work unbelievably seriously. She is incredibly serious about the work that she does.

And she doesn't take herself seriously at all right and that for me makes for the perfect person to work with because i this there's i really can't bear i don't like it when people don't take their work seriously and the only thing i hate more than that is when people take themselves very seriously and if they're doing both of those oh it's just the pits when people think that they're you know changing the world and they're not putting the work in yeah but um she is astonishing yeah amazing and was she amazing was she nice oh my god it'd be on nice like nicer than nice she's so aware of how you feel when she walks in the room that she just does everything she can to put you at ease in that situation i just i i love and adore her yeah so now there's i'll just i'll lay it out

here in america you know as a comedian and as somebody who talks to people that yeah you know when that spot opened up on the late late show yeah and they were auditioning people that i knew i i never got the call but that's fine i'm not everybody's cup of tea but then you know out of nowhere we're all like who yes absolutely who the fuck is james corden were you of course but it was sort of like it was unprecedented in a way you know that that that process what how did that come about i don't even really know you don't well i mean you just got a call from your agent no i'll tell you how i don't i had uh come to america and i was i had and this is sort of off you know it's off course for you in a little bit i've done a play in new york called one man two governors and uh and it was a really great play a brilliant play and i had some very

nice reviews from it and i won the tony award that year and uh i didn't know this but like nina tasler the president of cbs and les moonvers is a cbo c yeah the ceo of cbs had seen that play and uh and were quite determined for me to do something on their network i didn't know any of this at all so i am i sort of i had an idea to make a tv show and i was going to make this tv show and here yeah and i had an idea for a narrative comedy basically about heartbreak and now and and uh and relationships and things like that and um so you had a pitch um yeah i had like a few fragments of ideas. I talked to people and I was very, very wonderfully out of it. And I decided I was going to make the show for HBO.

And I went and I saw Les Moonves and Nina Tasler. And we were talking about this. And then we started talking about Late Night. And we had some talks about Late Night. And I was just saying, I was saying I think that steven colbert is the the best appointment they could ever make i said i think it's amazing and i said i think the trick after that show is you've got to sit the other end of the seesaw i think there is no point having two shows that are similar back to back like operating at the same nowhere else in television would you say from 9

till 10 we're going to have a medical drama and then 10 till 11 we're going to have another medical drama with the same diseases yeah and uh and they just sort of go well what would you do and i was like well i think i would bring all the guests out together at the same time and try and make it feel a bit more conversational i'd sort of try and do a bit more like sketch silliness songs dances just silly things like try and give people make people smile because steven's going to take care of politics he's going to take care of all of that and we would just like to be a place a warm place that will make you smile before you fall asleep and um and i wasn't really even really sort of pitching you weren't selling talking about in general and they and and then and then they said would i like to do it and i

felt very very reticent about it i really wasn't because i just didn't hadn't considered it as something that i would want to do and i didn't think it was something that i wanted to do and i i i love acting so much i really do i love being part of a company i was enjoying the uh i was enjoying the different things i was getting to do so i was going to write this show for hb and i was going to do a a broadway revival of a funny thing happened on the way to the forum the stephen sontar musical and that and I was going to do both of those things. And then the more I thought about it, the more it just became clear to me

that there was no way I wouldn't regret this and that I would much rather... Taking the opportunity. Yeah, that I would rather regret doing something than not doing something. Sure. And if it doesn't work, if it's just awful, then I'll just go home, you know.

And then I started thinking about it and thinking, well, actually, for my family right now, at this point in our lives, to be around them in the way. Like, I actually made the decision in South Africa when I was Skyping my son on my birthday from a prison. No, a prison in Johannesburg. We were filming in a prison in Johannesburg. For what? For a TV show I'd written called The Wrong Man for the BBC. And I was like, this is only going to get harder. My wife was pregnant at the time.

I was leaving them. And from what I can work out, no one really ends up on a therapist's chair going my dad was just around too much right he gave me too many cuddles at the weekend and and they were so unbelievably open and receptive to making the show whatever we'd like it to be i thought okay yeah i'll i'll i'll jump yeah, I'll jump. Yeah. And we'll see, you know. And I still feel like we're sort of still jumping, really.

You know, I'm interested to see where it lands. Did you feel like that there was a sort of, this guy's, who the fuck do you think he is? I didn't actually. Until you sat here? No, I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. Because I guess no i didn't i didn't i i didn't uh because i i guess i never really saw it as that sort of slot i didn't really see it right i always thought yes of course like if you were going into like the slot that steven's just taken on

yeah then yeah i think i would absolutely feel that but i think i thought okay well i was very conscious of the fact that when we needed to hit the ground running, right. That we needed to have a really good first few weeks, like that there was no time to explore and I will find out what the show is on the air. Like I felt that very much. Did you do that? I think so. I think we had, I think our first,

I'm immensely proud of our first episode. I feel like it I think we had, I think our first, I'm immensely proud of our first episode. I feel like it, it gave us, I feel like if anyone was waiting to say those things. Yeah. That I feel like in our first episode, the best we could hope for was, all right.

Yeah. Okay. It goes all right. You know, a lot of energy in. All right. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, like the bit we did with tom hanks i feel is like a really strong solid bit we did a a sketch that i thought was like a you know a pre-taped film sketch yeah you've got good writers i know those guys yeah and i was very conscious of wanting to find people who hadn't necessarily written in late night before you know young guys yeah young guys who who would be hungry to make a young and vibrant show. Well, it's sort of interesting because you came in with that, you know, that tiredness, you know.

It's very funny because, you know, when you talk about the work early on, when you're on stage or doing that, there's something a little thankless about a daily show. Yes. Because even like, there was a big realization I had when I used to appear on Conan a lot. Sure. Like I'd do the old show and now I do this show a lot.

But when I'd go do Conan, which was four times a year, three or four times a year, five times a year, like I'd get off and I'd be like, all right, where's the party? Yeah, yeah. That feeling of sort of, I did it. And then you just realize just a bunch of fucking people at work it's just the same the next day yeah and and that is it made me respect them more well that is the best and worst thing about it because the truth is if you there is that there is another show tomorrow so if you do one

where you've missed the mark slightly oh i thought I thought that idea was going to be there. Just, yeah, I didn't really. Yeah. Right. I don't know why I have it, but you go, do you know what?

It's gone. There's another one tomorrow. Right. Where it's, where it's hard is when you go, oh, that, that was a good show. Yeah.

Like we had a show last night. Mel Brooks was on the show. I did a sketch with Mel Brooks. I did a stupid dance with River Dance. And we had a pre-tape bit which was me and joe theismann throwing fast food at each other as a as a stunt driver from fast and the furious drove through a drive-thru uh-huh and i was like that felt like a good show yeah and it's and it's gone now that's it it's gone like you're like right okay yeah next show okay here we go you know and that's it but there's something very um gratifying about that and you just you know you just gotta get your

head down and just keep going for it and just keep working and is the uh is the group format working because i did the show and i had a nice time and i noticed a couple things that stood out for me having done a lot of those kind of panel shows is that one um there were not enough dressing rooms for me and i was i was put into a weird someone's i know that was not your fault that was that was not our fault that was because i'll tell you why that was the wiz khalifa and fallout boy yeah we're performing together on another show we were pre-taping it for another show but we didn't have a musical act on your show and they were they were very much coming as a collective right and uh wiz khalifa did not think that and just went into your room and went i'll go in here and shut the door and lay down, which is not ideal.

That's the only time that's ever happened. Well, I'm glad I had it. That's the only time that's ever happened. I'm glad I had a single experience in someone else's office. You really did. And I promise the next time you come back, you will have a great dressing room. Literally, I get there. It was funny because I get there.

There's this great dressing room. There's food out. There's a party going on. And they're like, no, no, no. You're in Josie's office. I know. I'm really sorry about that. They walk me outside.

I'm truly sorry no it's okay i really am it was it was it was it's fine it was so far beyond our control well i like whiz is not someone you really just go yeah yeah he just doesn't have that yeah he doesn't have that no i understand i'm just busting balls but the um the thing that because i'm i'm sort of fascinated with the dynamic of creating a, not necessarily a panel, but like having more people out there at once without a topic specific show. You don't see that much in America. Like, you know, Politically Incorrect used to do a thing where they'd have four people

out, but you know, you had things that we were all, everyone was commenting on the same thing. And to generate a genuine conversation in that environment is tricky. And I noticed it was, it was me, Jason Siegel and Carl Reiner. and i think that the wild card was that and i don't know i'm just going to ask you like i've interviewed carl before and you know he's obviously amazing and you know he's an elder spokesman and yes and and but that's also the thing that you realize once he's out there it's like you you can't really interrupt well no you can't and and that's but then you know i just find great pleasure in that and i just think i just mostly it's well you know does it work in general are you finding that the guests are

playing off each other yes very much so like but yeah very much and and i think um i think guests enjoy, I think lots of guests enjoy the notion of not just a fixed eight minutes on there. I think actually, oddly, because you would imagine it would be different, but when you think about it, it makes complete sense. sense i think the the people who feel uh least comfortable i think uh in that environment are comedians because you are um comedians the very notion of being a standard comedian is so i talk you listen yeah i'm bringing some stories yeah here we go yeah and that is the format of lots of talk shows do you know what i mean? Lots of talk shows are, you know, if you're a stand-up, oh, I've got a great thing about supermarkets. Sure. So if you could ask me a question about going to the supermarket,

that would be wonderful. And that is kind of difficult to juggle on our show because you never quite know where the conversation's going to undulate and move to. because you never quite know where the conversation's going to undulate and move to the only thing i think is i think let me i mean i think there are five other shows where the guests come out at the same time sorry come out individually yeah and ultimately it just comes from a place of like we have to give the show a reason to exist it we can't it is not enough just because there has always been a late late show after the late show that there should be yeah we've got to give it a a reason and we've got to make it feel and look different yeah you know reggie in it but you know yeah i know just like a phenomenal presence in that environment and um i found it good i found it refreshing and in in in like uh for me as a comic who's who's done the story format yeah you know

when i heard it was gonna be me and jason who i know yeah and carl who i've interviewed yeah you know my i i wasn't i wasn't upset at all and sort of like how am i gonna get this in i was like i was sort of like this can be easy well that's it and that's that's the truth of it that's what most people find is actually it's a joyous thing where you think well actually if this was if if if in fact we took these cameras away and this was a dinner table and we were all eating yeah this would be joyous yeah this would be great like we had a show with uh jane fonder lily tomlin and elizabeth banks and i've just never had more fun just the three late and we were just chatting we it genuinely i didn't get through half of the car you asked you that's great you didn't have to be self-conscious no because you go with okay we

talked about this project and then we're going to talk about this project later so actually this is so when uh lily thomas is talking about something and Elizabeth Banks asks the question and it's not mine. The joy of sitting back and watching that flow is wonderful. And some nights are harder than others. But then that's the case for all talk shows. Yeah. You know. And how are you easing into the monologue and everything?

How are you feeling about it? I'm finding that, well, again, that's another sort of thing where we try to do something, you know, to not do 15 jokes. But just interacting with an audience as James Corden. I'm enjoying that. I'm enjoying that. I'm enjoying we have some really terrific writers who come together, and we just tend to do the monologue about one topic. Yeah, yeah, I like that. Which is very easy some days and much harder other days. Sure.

And that's the truth. Well, because you're in. Yeah. Like, if midway through the thing's not working, you're like, oh, boy. Well, what you can't do is go, in other news, Donald trump said you know the idea of doing yeah but we you know i feel we've had some we've had some really good ones we've had some ones that i'd like to do better but we you know i'm start what i'm realizing is i'm finding it a lot easier to do them those monologues and things when they are about something of any substance sure

and i think of at the start we thought oh our show we'll just do stories about facebook yeah and actually what you realize is if it's about something it doesn't have to be funny all the time yeah if you're doing it about yeah kim davis yeah and uh her coming out of jail and refusing, still refusing to issue gay marriage certificates and the prospect of her going back into prison. That's a topic where you go, well, actually, regardless of the jokes, this is an interesting thing to talk about. And that's where I hope that our show over the next six months, we could find a little more substance and depth in that it's the thing i've realized that i've enjoyed doing which i think at first i thought the show would would just be like the atmosphere and yeah but uh and i think we can retain elements of that but at the

same time i would i would very much love the show to find a greater sense of depth in the places where it's possible to that's great yeah and what's your what's your contract for uh well five years oh yeah so you're in yeah i mean they can sack me you know what i mean they can they can sack me at any point right i don't think i can leave so you better like it yeah there's the best of it yeah well and we're gonna try to and i really am finding more and more out about it every day i mean you know it's very it's kind of it's tough you know to just come in to just sight unseen yeah but then at the same time

there's something very freeing about that sure so now like to wrap up tell me about like I've had a couple of knights

in here and you're an officer of the order of the British Empire yes what does that mean I don't well

it means that you are given it's below a knight. You're not a sir. Yeah. Are you a duke? No, I don't even know if anyone's a duke anymore. I don't know, but. You're an OBE.

An OBE, yes, which is the order. Who gives that to you? Well, it's issued by the queen. But you don't get to hang out with her. I didn't get mine from the queen. I got mine from Princess Anne. And you, yeah yeah was it exciting it's really exciting for your parents it's really i know i know i'm and i'm saying like genuinely your first thing is i i should i don't deserve this i should say no to this this is not something yeah you should say

ah there are so many particularly growing up in the household of two social workers of thinking well this is something that you getting being given this for services to drama is not so but however then you go well that's funny because that's exactly what a social worker does yes services it's a drama you're absolutely right whereas actually the truth is um you know then you think well i yeah you owe it to my you know for my mom and dad going to buckingham palace sitting there name read out giving this thing it's it's a it's a wonderful wonderful lovely thing yeah and they loved it there of course it's great we went for dinner we went for lunch with champagne it was just oh it was it was lovely and that that is yeah that's so

that's what that is but i'm not entirely sure what i meant to do with it well congratulations thank you very much that means the world and congratulations on the show great talking to you it's such a pleasure i've loved every single second of it yeah i like that james corden guy i would i would have uh i would have uh maybe lunch with him at some time i would sit across from him again and and chat about things see that see what's going on with that i i can play guitar a little bit Thank you. Boomer lives! It's winter, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So, no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats. But meatballs, mozzarella balls, and arancini balls?

Yes, we deliver those. Moose? No. But moose head? Yes. Because that's alcohol, and we deliver that too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, groceries, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton.

The first 5,000 fans in attendance will get a Dan Dawson bobblehead courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5pm in Rock City at torontorock.com.