James Corden has spoken of his surprise at the success of his late-night chatshow in the US, while hinting at bringing the popular Carpool Karaoke segment to the UK.
In an interview with the Radio Times, Corden, who hosts The Late Late show on CBS, said he and the team behind the show did not expect the level of success they had enjoyed.
And the 38-year-old actor, comedian and host said they were working on possible plans in the UK.
His comments come after the latest British attempt to mimic the US late-night chatshow format, the Nightly Show, was met with scathing reviews and falling ratings.
Carpool Karaoke, which sees celebrities sing along to a range of music from the passenger seats of a car being driven by Corden, has amassed more than 1.2bn views on YouTube.
Corden, whose breakthrough came with his role in the movie of Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, and whose household name status was cemented in the UK with his performance as Smithy in the sitcom Gavin and Stacey, said he and his team “never thought we’d hit the ground running as fast as we have”.
“It’s taken us all by surprise, the success, especially of that particular segment,” he told the magazine.
Corden told the publication he had no plans to mark the two-year anniversary of The Late Late Show.
“But we do have some stuff planned this year – which might involve being in the UK,” he added.
“We’re talking about it now, really. We don’t know if we’ll be able to get it together but it’s certainly something I’d love to do, for sure.”
The Nightly Show, which has bumped ITV’s flagship News at Ten bulletin back by 30 minutes for the next eight weeks, was presented in its first week by David Walliams. John Bishop, Davina McCall, Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc are lined up for future slots.
Reviews variously called it “awkward”, “unfunny” and “as flat as a Shrove Tuesday pancake”.
The show’s ratings more than halved from the first to the second episode, from 2.8 million viewers on the Monday to 1.2 million on Tuesday.
