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The Telegraph
The Telegraph
National
India McTaggart

Watch: James Corden repeats Ricky Gervais joke almost word-for-word

James Corden admits 'inadvertently' repeating Ricky Gervais joke in TV show - The Late Late Show/CBS
James Corden admits 'inadvertently' repeating Ricky Gervais joke in TV show - The Late Late Show/CBS

James Corden has admitted he “inadvertently” repeated a Ricky Gervais joke word-for-word in his TV show.

The 44-year-old host was called out for a joke that aired on The Late Late Show on Halloween, which was a direct repetition of a gag from Gervais’ 2018 Netflix stand-up comedy special.

Corden posted on his show’s Twitter account on Tuesday: “Inadvertently told a brilliant Ricky Gervais joke on the show last night, obviously not knowing it came from him.”

He continued: “It’s brilliant, because it’s a Ricky Gervais joke. You can watch all Ricky’s excellent specials on Netflix.”

The joke is about Twitter users taking things too personally on the platform, likening it to people getting angry about a poster in a town square advertising guitar lessons because they don't want guitar lessons.

One difference is that Corden's joke included saying the people were angry because they wanted piano lessons, whereas in Gervais' original joke, he just said 'Fine, it's not for you then, just walk away.'

The host was taking a swipe at Elon Musk’s recent purchase of Twitter and his controversial plans to charge verified users a fee to keep their blue ticks.

Gervais, who retweeted a clip of Corden repeating his joke on the show, said in the since-deleted post: “The bit about the town square advert for guitar lessons is brilliant”. 

The clip of Corden went viral online, with many quick to point out the blatant similarities between his gag and the one Gervais wrote for his Netflix special Ricky Gervais: Humanity

When a fan asked the British comedian and five-time Golden Globes host whether Corden had asked for permission to reuse his joke, Gervais said: “No. I reckon one of the writers ‘came up with it’ for him. 

“I doubt he would knowingly just copy such a famous stand up routine word for word like that”. 

The Late Late Show has since deleted the video clip of Corden making the joke from their Twitter page. 

Corden has been embroiled in controversy in recent months after the manager of a French restaurant in New York publicly banned the famous comedian following alleged “abusive” treatment of staff.

Keith McNally, the manager of Balthazar in SoHo, posted on Instagram that while Corden was a “hugely gifted comedian,” he was also a “tiny cretin of a man”. 

The row was over an incident when one of the server’s had delivered an egg yolk omelette to Corden’s wife with some egg white still inside. 

McNally said Corden had been “extremely nasty” and yelled “like crazy” to the server. 

The restaurant ban has since been lifted, but the damage to Corden’s reputation was widely reported. 

After the incident, Corden apologised to the manager over the phone but branded the row “silly” and said he “hadn’t done anything wrong on any level”.

He said: “I feel so zen about the whole thing. Because I think it’s so silly. I just think it’s beneath all of us.”

Spot the difference

James Corden joke:

"If someone puts up a poster in a town square that says 'guitar lessons available', like you don't get people in the town going: 'I don't want to play guitar! I want to play the piano you piece of s---!'.

"Well that sign wasn't for you. It was for somebody else! You don't have to get mad about all of it."

Ricky Gervais joke:

"They choose to read my tweet, and then take that personally. 

"That's like going into a town square, seeing a big notice board and there's a notice - guitar lessons - and you go, 'But I don't want f---ing guitar lessons'.

"There's a number there... 'Are you giving guitar lessons? I don't f---ing want any!'

"Fine, it's not for you then, just walk away. Don't worry about it!" 

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