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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Harry Rutter

James Corden slammed for 'stealing Noel Fielding joke' days after Ricky Gervais backlash

Noel Fielding once accused James Corden of stealing one of his jokes in a Tweet that has resurfaced amid drama involving a Ricky Gervais gag.

The Late Late Show host, 44, has only just apologised for almost copying one of Ricky's jokes 'word for word' in a recent episode of his US TV show.

The Office star Ricky, 61, now admits he "felt sorry" for James and believes that one of his writers gave him the material to read.

Now, drama from five years ago has resurfaced amid the controversy – highlighting the moment Great British Bake Off host Noel slammed James for the same reason.

James faces a fresh row after drama from 2017 (ITV)
He's accused of stealing a joke from Noel Fielding (ITV)

Back in 2017, Noel accused James of stealing a piece of stand-up he performed at the 2010 'Just For Laughs' comedy festival, taking to Twitter to vent.

In the joke, Fielding suggests the 'best way to stop a mugger' is to whisper "oi, mate", which will lead to the knife-wielding criminal to drop their weapon to say "what is it?"

That year, Corden, while interviewing actor Matthew Broderick, he told the star he finds the "best way to avoid being mugged is to whisper, 'you're never going to believe what's happened'".

He explained the mugger would "put down their weapon and go, 'what?'"

James has apologised for using the joke by Ricky (CBS)

At the time, one eagle-eyed fan Tweeted: "James totally stole the whisper thing from Noel Fielding."

Adding fuel to the fire, Noel retweeted, saying: "Yes I believe this is my material."

The comments have now been unearthed amid the drama with Ricky, which James has since apologised for in an official statement.

He made the gag while addressing Elon Musk 's takeover of Twitter on Monday.

Corden reacted to the platform being compared to a town square, with the presenter dismissing such on his late night show.

Corden commented: "It isn't. Because if someone puts up a poster in a town square that says 'guitar lessons available', like you don't get people in the town go 'I don't wanna play the guitar! I wanna play the piano you piece of s***!'"

The gag was almost copied 'word for word' (Twitter)

The comment attracted attention on social media, with some people stating that it was similar to a joke made by Ricky in his Netflix stand-up special Humanity in 2018.

Addressing the response on Tuesday, Corden tweeted: "Inadvertently told a brilliant Ricky Gervais joke on the show last night, obviously not knowing it came from him."

He continued in the tweet, which was posted through his show's account: "It's brilliant, because it’s a Ricky Gervais joke. You can watch all [his] excellent specials on Netflix. J x"

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