Extended interview: James Corden on his favorite "The Late Late Show" memories and more

[Music] thank you welcome I'm Tracy Smith and this is Here Comes the Sun a closer look at some of the people places and things we bring you every weekend on Sunday morning as host of The Late Late Show on CBS for the past eight years James Corden reshaped late night TV with wacky musical sketches that have become viral Sensations now he's moving on Corden signed off in April and now he's looking forward to the next chapter Ben mankowitz caught up with The Versatile actor and comedian just before his final bow Gordon transformed a familiar format the couch and desk remained but the guests appeared together with segments that made it more a viral variety show than anything else ready take carpool karaoke [Music] later in the show James Corden on the guest who got away there must be guests you wanted to get and couldn't I mean it's a fairly lame question in some regards but how about somebody you almost got and thought you were going to get more excited about and then it fell through for all the reasons that those things can fall through oh there's a few of those I mean so many of these things are just logistical that's what I mean the thousands for it to fall through yeah there were a few carpools that I really wanted to do like I really really wanted to do Paul Simon then a new exhibit celebrates the history of newspaper Comics all preserved thanks to one passionate collector Luke Burbank has the story the library is currently displaying just a sample of the Trove of cartoons some two and a half million pieces in all that bill Blackbeard amassed over 30 years of collecting it's called man saves Comics this is Little Nemo in Slumberland by Windsor McKay one of the greatest cartoonists in history one of the earliest Fantasy Comics you have a complete run of Hugo Hercules it's from 1902 and it's essentially Superman 30 plus years before Superman existed that's all coming up right here on Here Comes the Sun James corden's final show as Late Late Show host on CBS aired April 27 2023 among the Hallmarks of his tenure were the celebrity driven sketches including spill your guts and carpool karaoke but perhaps no one was having more fun than the host himself making it even more difficult for him to walk away here's Ben megowitz for eight years he's been Reinventing late night television on cbs's The Late Late Show Johnny Carson never jumped out of a plane with Tom Cruise karaoke with Bruno Mars Stevie Wonder even Barbra Streisand [Applause] there's a cliche that many in Hollywood stop traffic with crosswalk the musical James Corden does it literally [Music] [Applause] it's fun watching you sit around the table with Kim Kardashian and asking her to you know rank the style choices of her sisters that's fun well I think that's the currency of our show I think Joy is the currency we've always wanted to create a show that is joyful that's uplifting a place where you feel like you can go and have a great time but Gordon at the top of his game is leaving the show and the country this will be my last year hosting the late Nation don't you dare the 44 year old is signing off and returning to London it is going to be a blast I promise you that we'll be right back we're more of the Late Late Show everybody like I'll always be copsmacked and amazed that this is a part of my life but my wife and I we always knew that this was an adventure and not a final destination is there something you'll miss the most more than anything I'm just gonna miss my friends that I've made here at the show I'm gonna miss the feeling of coming into this office every day and knowing that someone's going to make you laugh so I really push him on that before we get to why he's going sold out let's Marvel at how it began almost by accident it was inconceivable like I don't look like I should be hosting a TV show I'd never stood on a monologue Mark and done a monologue I'd never interviewed a guest nothing about this should work hasta la vista baby but work it did which speaks volumes about cordon's Talent virtually unknown in the U.S he was a familiar face in England on the screen and the stage mostly he was an actor a comedy actor I would probably just say I'm a performer that's probably what I am I just love performing it's all I've ever loved I've loved it since I was I don't remember a time that I didn't just love performance thank you success in London's West End brought him to Broadway or he won a Tony Award Best Actor in a play [Applause] station do a pitch me CH meeting with CBS Executives in Hollywood he had a sitcom they wanted it he turned them down the more I lived with it and thought about it I thought it's very unlikely that this will work on an American Network then they started talking casually about the hour after Stephen Colbert's show I said I think you've got an opportunity to have an hour there that Embraces the internet make a show that launches at 12 37 but people consume and watch all day because that's how that audience are consuming their content now your traditional 12 30 audience are they're still watching they're just watching in a different way to a surprise CBS offered in the show were you afraid or did you fear failure better way to put it I don't know if I fear failure because I think that's an interesting thing failure you can only really judge anything by your own personal human growth so saying that you want the show to succeed but I in truth I think it was quite easy for me because I thought I was so convinced that it wouldn't work Welcome to The Late Late Show everybody but it did since night one I will really do my best not to let any of you down Gordon transformed a familiar format the couch and desk remained but the guests appeared together with segments that made it more a viral variety show than anything else ready take carpool karaoke advertise it's a crazy thing just the notion of driving around with an artist and singing their songs like it's I mean it's so simple and so perfect it's like it's it's genius well I think there's something very humanizing about it I don't care the songs are the glue that kind of hold it all together but there's an intimacy that comes from that interview which I think is and it's a humanizing environment it's what we all do we all sing these songs in the car [Music] with Paul McCartney stop and say hello hello it goes down as a personal favorite record the segment with Paul McCartney was probably the Pinnacle of that as an idea [Music] going into his house which he hadn't stepped in for I think since he left and he said I just don't feel comfortable I feel weird about it I sort of go should we go in and he goes yeah let's do it and my God what have I done to deserve such memories you know given all that success and how much he's changed late night why leave now the answer is both personal and professional we really want our children to experience life in London we are blown away that they've even had the experience of living in another country [Music] it's how much you look at your professional life in your career and your personal life and your growth as a family that's what it is there's just so many other things that I'd like to try and see what I might be capable of okay that isn't what happened I don't want capable of largely anything it's what happens now I'm starring in a limited series mammals out now on Amazon Prime more than anything I'd sort of I just got to go and see what's out there he's also navigating a recent bump in the road the owner of a posh New York restaurant briefly banned him after a dust up with the wait staff well the third time Gordon apologized in a phone call and then on the air I made a sarcastic rude comment right about cooking it myself and it is a comment I deeply regret the owner lifted the ban but in this era of endless news cycles and social media the story won't die Gordon is clearly tired of discussing it this little round of Internet issue that has gone on it would it must have bummed you out perspective is really important you know we which we really try and make such a positive show try and seek that positivity and if you put your focus there that's what I just try and do is what I've tried to do every day that we're here you know have I missed anything did I miss any news Gordon has figured out one way to navigate these peculiar times don't have social media on my phone it's not a world that I sort of engage in he's been fully engaged in The Late Late Show now he's leaving it for good can you envision a scenario where you would return to late night television I can't Envision scenario where I would return as a late night host it'd be very very surprised if it hit or because it sounds like he's already been gobsmacked by his adopted country since 2015. I think America is a wonderful place it is a very very special place to work it's a very very special place to live and it's a very very special place to sit behind a desk and tell people to stick around and you'll be right back so I might be done in a minute okay we're done well done well done what a privilege it really really is up next an exclusive excerpt from James corden's chat you can only see right here on CBS News streaming stay with us foreign as promised here's more from Ben mankowitz's chat with James Corden I am so envious that you had the I don't know strength Vision to actually take social media off your phone how long has that been going on because I like two things my big move is like I move Twitter to the back page of the phone but I can't quite Let It Go well I think social media can can be a force for absolute good I really do that's been proven yes there is so many great things to happen there great connections movements all those things it can be an absolute Force for good um I think when you have to make it an hour of TV every day and you have to make 1200 of those in eight years and you've got three kids and all the things that come with life for me it's just it's a distraction that I just don't I don't really seek or need it in my in my life really I really really love just existing in in the world that I really that I love being in you know it must be yes you wanted to get and couldn't I mean it's a fairly lame question in some regards but how about somebody you almost got and thought you were going to get more excited about and then it fell through for all the reasons that those things can fall through oh there's a few of those I mean so many of these things are just logistical Thousand Miles for it to fall through yeah there were a few carpools that I really wanted to do like I really really wanted to do Paul Simon yeah because because he's one of the most important artists of all time but also my biggest one of my biggest memories of singing in a car is we would go on holiday when I was probably around about 14 was probably the first time we ever went abroad on holiday we always used to go to the to the coast to Bournemouth or to Devon and one year we were in a trailer in a caravan and it rained solidly for 10 days and my mum said that's it next year we're going to go to France and so we would drive from uh sort of a four-hour drive to the coast and then we'd get the ferry and then we'd drive maybe like nine or ten hours to the south of France and we would just listen to Graceland all the time some of my favorite childhood memories are me and my sisters singing along to Graceland and I always had this feeling of like wouldn't it be amazing to go to New York and sing with with him and we never got to do that but I still thank him for some of my favorite childhood memories and I I love him and yeah that was that was probably one that I was really I really wanted to do you don't really know what's next now you could you could have stayed and you would know exactly what was going to happen for the next couple of years well you would and you wouldn't you don't you know you know I think it's not about not knowing what's going to happen it's just about saying that fundamentally I think you ever have the opportunity to change up your life it will only be of benefit I think so I don't know about you but I feel and I've really felt this ever since having kids that are my eldest child my son is 12 and any parent I think would say that time is Playing Tricks on Me and it's moving at a rate that I am not comfortable with I feel like my son learned to read yesterday you know what I mean right and so actually anytime uncomfortable as it can feel that you can enforce change what you're doing is you're just slowing down time and you're adding chapters to your life as opposed to it being just one long book you're adding absolute chapters and that's how I felt coming here to do it the feelings that I feel right now in my entire being I haven't felt this since we decided to to make this jump and move eight and a half years ago and both are daunting in in different ways you know yeah but there's also clearly I mean just tell by the tone of your voice there's also a sense of excitement to it yeah I think I think to be able to have new things come into your life you've got to make space for them and I love this show so much I love what we've created and I love the team that we have the environment of making the show is just I'm just so proud of everything that we've done very serious collection of Funny Pages [Music] welcome back it said one person's trash is another's treasure but in the case of an extensive Comics collection now on display one man's horde of newspapers saved over 30 years turned out to be a gold mine preserving the art and history of newspaper Comics Luke Burbank takes us inside the exhibit only a handful of people knew what Bill Blackbeard was really up to for all those years it was a real situation of you know some one person's trash is another person's treasure the treasure that Blackbeard and by the way that's his real name was storing from floor to ceiling in his San Francisco home was maybe the largest most comprehensive private collection of American newspaper Comics ever assembled he was single-minded Caitlin mcgurk is curator of comics and cartoon art at the Billy Ireland cartoon library and museum at the Ohio State University he felt a calling to preserve this type of material that no one else really cared about you know um I mean common guard is kind of an underdog of the art world the library is currently displaying just a sample of the Trove of cartoons some two and a half million pieces in all that bill Blackbeard amassed over 30 years of collecting it's called man saves Comics this is Little Nemo in Slumberland by Windsor McKay one of the greatest cartoonists in history one of the earliest Fantasy Comics we have a complete run of Hugo Hercules it's from 1902 and it's essentially Superman 30 plus years before Superman existed you might be wondering why it fell to one eccentric scholar to do so much of this preservation and why it matters well because there was a time long ago before the internet when things were not saved digitally meaning a Sunday morning comic with its vibrant colors and social importance could be lost forever if no one saved that particular issue of that specific newspaper why do you think newspaper Comics maybe didn't get the respect that they deserve people have historically viewed newspaper Comics or comics in general as something that was just meant for kids or made for the masses and so it was kind of neglected for from the start for that reason but they were important for a whole variety of reasons from early representation of same-sex relationships to Black Time Travelers two entertaining the kids on a Sunday wow okay so this is what a kid in 1904 yeah might have made on like a Sunday afternoon yeah you could put this together at home yourself and this was you know affordable accessible entertainment for children from all different walks of life there were of course libraries that were converting their collections of old newspapers onto microfilm but that meant the rich colors of the comics would be lost to history microfilm is entirely black and white photography and it's film so it gets covered in scratches and just after a few uses by patrons can be rendered unusable which is where once again Bill Blackbeard stepped in he essentially you know with his wife and some volunteer friend friends got a van and started traveling around the United States amassing these discarded bound volumes from newspapers so that he could clip the comics section out of it and save it in his house the only room that he didn't have newsprint in was the bathroom because he was worried about how the water would affect the paper decades later Blackbeard was facing eviction from his California rental home so he sold his collection to the university but getting all that material to Ohio that was no small feat it arrived in 1998 in six semi trucks so it's 75 tons of newspaper clippings and 25 years later they're still taking stock we're at about 30 to 40 percent that has been processed we have a lot of material that we still have to get through Jenny Robb is head curator of comics and cartoon art overseeing a small team tasked with cataloging and properly storing all those materials are there boxes that haven't been opened yet um there are boxes that have not been opened in decades what has been opened and stored at exactly 64 degrees for archival purposes things like the entire 1931 run of Blondie so if you want to read Blondie you can just start at the beginning and read right on through and there are the names you might be less familiar with like Elsie Robinson she was incredibly famous in her time she had more than 20 million readers and just to put that into perspective that's double the number of subscribers today to the New York Times Allison Gilbert co-wrote the first biography of Robinson a single mother who created an editorial cartoon and syndicated column Empire that ran from the 1920s through the 1950s she was able to take on subject matters that perhaps weren't tackled in other parts of the paper as readily feminism marriage gender equality pay inequity racism capital punishment Bill Blackbeard passed away in 2011 but not before his life's passion the preservation of an ephemeral and often underestimated art form had been safely transferred to a new generation sort of like something out of a superhero story I have to imagine he'd be pretty excited to see that this is where it all LED we hope that he would be proud and we've discovered such incredible things in here and we're so grateful for what he did thank you I'm Tracy Smith thanks for joining us we'll see you here next time on Here Comes the Sun foreign

Channel: CBS Sunday Morning

Views: 44,518

Keywords: James Corden, Ben Mankiewicz, The Late Late Show, Carpool Karaoke, Luke Burbank, Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, Columbus, Ohio, Bill Blackbeard

Id: OR9dyECez_M

Length: 22min 36sec (1356 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 06 2023