Tom Hanks performs his filmography with James Corden
After weeks of stand-ins, The Late Late Show officially has a new host: 36-year-old James Corden, who came in hot on his first episode. After a touching introduction to who he is and what he hopes to do with the show, Corden welcomed Tom Hanks as a guest, then proceeded to take America’s crush through his greatest hits at breakneck speed. It was wonderful to revisit Wilson, Shopgirl and That Thing You Do, and to hear sweet, sweet Hanks shout “There’s no crying in baseball!” Obviously Corden got hung up on Cloud Atlas, because what was even going on there, but a successful part of the bit was a fun surprise: Corden makes a great Meg Ryan.
Mitt Romney sits down with Mitt Romney on Fallon
Fallon reprised a classic SNL bit this week, imitating Romney talking to himself in a mirror backstage before heading out for the actual interview. Fallon makes a better politician than Romney makes a comedian, but both get a few zingers in there about the state of the union (“Zayn quit One Direction—thanks Obama”), his political rivals (“Is that email personal or work?” “It’s from Hillary Clinton, so both”) and his upcoming charity boxing match against Evander Holyfeld (“Won’t be the first time we’ve lost to a black guy”). The two wrap it up with a secret Romney handshake and a classic Fallon breaking of character. It’s the most human Mitt’s seemed in ages. Ha, ha-ha Ha.
No one knows anything about college basketball on Kimmel
Lie Witness news is technically the same joke every time, but damn if it doesn’t work. This round, about NCAA basketball, pushed the liars-on-the-street even further, goading them into inventing companions with which they’d watched “newsworthy” games. Bonus points to the specificity-dodgers who played it safe with general enthusiam: “I love basketball,” “Sports are wonderful” and “Everyone’s my favourite”. Nice try, but we see you. LW also got topical this week by asking interviewees about Robert Durst’s shooting abilities: “He killed it in Texas, he killed it in New York, apparently when he went out to LA, he killed it there too. Do you think anyone will be able to stop his shooting spree?”
Will Ferrell won’t talk about his bird
Ferrell visited the Conan set to promote his new film, Get Hard. He was happy to talk about show business, the film, and working with Kevin Hart, but he refused to discuss his personal life, which included the exotic white bird perched on his shoulder throughout the interview. Ferrell got increasingly and hilariously agitated, as cameras zoomed in on Professor Feathers and Conan asked whether or not it was a cockatoo (“You’re so dirty. Always going for the easy joke,” said a disgruntled Ferrell. “You’ve made it so weird.”).
Mariah Carey does in-car karaoke with James Corden
“The traffic’s so bad – if I haven’t got someone with me the commute is just a nightmare,” Corden says, driving his car through LA. His seatmate turns out to be none other than Mariah Carey, and his car’s stereo just so happens to be queued up with Carey’s greatest hits. Despite protests that she won’t be singing at all, she jumps immediately into it, singing along with Corden and then having a fun little accent-off. Carey and Corden also turn out to have more than vocal chemistry, with the songstress flicking Corden’s ear, batting her eyelashes, and telling Corden “I know I’m your dream lover” as he drives through LA. Late night TV: when celebrities flirt.
