James Corden aims to leave the late-night stage in a big way.
CBS plans to broadcast the last hour of its “The Late Late Show,” which Corden has hosted since March of 2015, on Thursday, April 27, and will add a primetime special that night to help mark the occasion.
Tom Cruise will reunite with Corden for one big sketch to air during the primetime special. Cruise has previously joined Corden on “The Late Late Show” for segments include daredevil stunts such as piloting fighter jets and skydiving. In this new meeting, Corden will have Cruise take part in an epic musical performance during “The Lion King” at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood.
CBS said additional details for the special will be announced in coming weeks along with guest stars who will join Corden during his last two months on the program. Corden is the fourth — and last — person to lead “The Late Late Show,” which has its genesis as a second late-night hour at CBS that was originally conceived as something to follow David Letterman and “The Late Show.” Letterman’s Worldwide Pants production company had oversight over the hour, which has been staffed in previous eras by Tom Snyder, Craig Kilborn and Craig Ferguson.
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Corden is leaving the show by choice, according to people familiar with the matter, and CBS is set to replace the hour with a reboot of “@midnight,” the former Comedy Central wee-hours game show, in a maneuver that would cut costs and also revive a programming concept controlled by the network’s parent company, Paramount Global.
The decision is indicative of the additional scrutiny TV executives are placing on late-night TV ideas. David Letterman’s retirement in 2015 spurred a flurry of experimentation in the daypart, with BET, TBS and HBO among those testing new concepts. These days, traditional late-night seems to be shrinking. WarnerMedia did not replace Conan O’Brien when he left his late-night TBS show in 2021. NBC did not replace comedian Lily Singh after two seasons of her 1:30 a.m. program, “A Little Late.” Comedy Central, which once boasted three daily late-night programs, now only airs one. As the traditional options shrink, however, others are taking new swings: Fox News Channel has gained some traction with an 11 p.m. panel program led by Greg Gutfeld.
The program plans to add more seats to the Los Angeles-area studio where “Late Late Show” is taped to accommodate those who want to attend before the series wraps.
