James Corden took to the stage at Carnegie Hall for his final Upfronts as he prepares to exit from The Late Late Show.
He kicked off by joking that Paramount ad sales boss Jo Ann Sales promise to keep it to an hour “worked out well” as it overran. “Thank god, this isn’t a place that has to stick by a schedule,” he laughed.
He pointed out all of the historic performances that had taken place at the venue, including The Beatles and Judy Garland as well as Paramount promotional gameshow Climb That Mountain.
“What are they going to do? Fire me?,” he chuckled.
It appeared that he was going to get serious for a minute highlighting a quote. “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile… because you won’t have to cover another Presidential Election.”
“I love being part of the CBS family, the Viacom family, the Viacom CBS family and the Paramount Global family and whatever name they give us next week,” he added.
After a long segment on the company’s diversity strategy, Corden joked that the company is committed to representation, laughing that it cast “actual ghosts” in its breakout comedy.
“We have more storylines involving the FBI than they have at the actual FBI,” he said, joking that the core CBS audience was men who like cop shows, women who like cop shows, young people who like cop shows and babies that sleep in rooms where there are cop shows on.
He took a loving swipe at the Taylor Sheridan universe, pointing out Yellowstone and its prequel 1883 and 1932. “I can’t wait for 1997. It’s mostly Kevin Costner rollerblading,” he said.
Then the Gavin & Stacey co-creator did get serious for a minute, calling out the “incredible people” that work at CBS, namechecking the likes of Kelly Kahl, Thom Sherman and David Stapf. “It’s been one of the great honors of my life to host this show. They are always respectful,” he said. “I know you have many choices how you spend your money. They care, they respect the talent, I can tell you that firsthand, even if over the last hour it hasn’t always felt like it.”
