The Late Late Show

It has had guest hosts since Ferguson left and Henson  takes over later this month . Kunal Nayyar hosted for 3 days last week and did the most entertaining job of any of them. Here's the Friday show, the whole thing, couldn't find an  excerpt, but at the 26 minute mark you will  see that Britt Robertson has really grown up since last seen, by me, on Under the Dome. Of course she's done other projects since then, but I didn't see them so the change is quite dramatic.

You can click on the 26 minute mark and only have to watch the commercials in the preceding break.....without having to watch the whole show leading up to that point.

http://www.cbs.com/shows/late-late-show-guest-hosts/video/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3007460/The-stars-don-t-want-sit-couch-producers-nervous-viewers-won-t-eyes-James-Corden-makes-debut-host-Late-Late-Show.html

I think James will do okay. I don't know what the fuss is over having both guests on the couch at the same time. Conan O'Brien does it routinely, for one. Other late night talk shows do it too.

His long term success will depend on what sort of guests he has, especially the female guests. When Ferguson was the host he, or whoever does that, would schedule female actress/guests that we, or at least me, had never heard of and often they would turn out to be really hot/nice/great and I would make it a point to watch their shows.

Of course he would also sched. well known folks too, Mila was a frequent one, so it's good that Corden is starting out with her. I'll be interested to see if he scheds. Ariel Tweto, the Native girl from Alaska who became famous in Flying Wild Alaska and is now a media hostess in LA. She was a personal friend with Ferguson and he took her with him on his Scotland trip several years ago, along with Mila.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3573025/?ref_=fn_nm_nm_1

His criticism from Letterman is a big plus. Anytime you are criticized by a brain dead, quasi- Commie, you know you are on the right track.

They really outdid themselves on the premiere show. Of course they won't be able to maintain that level every week.

In the beginning they did a comedy skit showing how James got the job. CBS put a "golden ticket" in one of hundreds of large chocolate bars. Various big name stars received them and eagerly tore off the wrappings only to be disappointed that they weren't chosen. After Chelsea Handler bought a choc. bar from a street vendor and tore off the wrapper while walking away, James came by and saw it laying there. He picked it up and sure enough it contained the 'golden ticket'.

So he was told to report to a warehouse with a small sliding door in the big door.  He knocked and Jay Leno slide back the door. James convinced him he was 'the chosen one' so Leno brought him  in and coached him in monologues. Arnold S. trained him with weights, Alison Janney taught him how to laugh at guest's jokes, Shia Leboef taught him how to be negative and 'dark',  etc., etc. Leno did water board him at first, and when he woke up Meryl Streep was bending over him telling him that he was "the worst she's ever seen".  

Then Mila and Tom sat on the couch together and James interviewed them while sitting in chair right next to them rather than behind the desk. That's a good touch. He told a story about sitting in an outdoor cafe in England with his wife. A paparazzi kept taking their picture, he thought, so he finally got up and asked him to stop because he was just trying to have a nice dinner with his wife......

"I'm not taking your picture mate".  That's Mila Kunis sitting over there !"  

That cracked Mila up. She remembered that incident.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/mila-kunis-admits-married-ashton-kutcher-report-article-1.2159158

They did a long sequence showing made up vignettes  of  dozens of Hank's movies 5 seconds at a time with Hanks reciting famous lines from each.

James' parents were in  the audience and Hanks hugged them when he came out.

The set looks bigger and more "prosperous" than the Ferguson days. The only negative, for me, is that they have a 'house band', which Ferguson never had.

But all in all it looks like a promising start and James has some comedic talent for skits and can even sing. So that puts him 'one up' on all the other late night hosts.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=you+tube+james+corden&form=PRUSEN&mkt=en-us&refig=49fb0348f96b4afe876963e185b2d67c

This saves me posting some pics...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3010289/How-cuddly-Corden-smiled-way-American-hearts-Funnyman-James-backed-star-studded-cast-proves-critics-wrong-Late-Late-host.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3009585/Tom-Hanks-defends-manspreading-subway-style-James-Corden-s-Late-Late-debut.html

This is turning out to be the best late night talk show, even including Fallon, Kimmel, and of course Letterman.

Corden's idea of having all the guests come out at once and sit on the couch together is genius !  Seeing Beckham, Claire Danes and Bob Odenkirk all together is something you won't soon forget.

Bob told about shooting the first ep of 'Saul' where he was making Cinnabons. He said that the corporate office sent out an exec. to make sure that the depiction was accurate and she showed him how to make them. He said that now he can make real Cinnabons and knows all the procedures.

Corden also had a segment showing his parents announcing part of a NCAA basketball game. They know absolutely nothing about basketball. It was hilarious. They are natural-born comedians in their own right.....

Last night Emmy Rossum was on,  haven't watched it yet but it will be good.

Sounds like I better start taping this one.

Emmy never seems bothered by the paparazzi who are her constant "companions" whenever she appears in public.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3024395/Emmy-Rossum-sports-cute-new-puts-leggy-display-denim-hotpants-grabs-iced-coffee.html

Another thing I like about Corden's show is that he brings in interesting guests that otherwise I would never know about or see their shows. I don't remember ever watching anything on VH1, but these two sisters were on The Late Late Show and were interesting so I watched their show on VH1 and will keep watching because it's funny, especially if you like parody.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4175634/

When they were on Late Late I was trying to decide if they were twins although they had different hair, clothes, etc. But it turns out that Erin is older (they must be very close in age).

On the Barely Famous ep that I watched last night, they lament  that since their father was married 4-5 times (untrue in real life) they have so many half-siblings that they can't remember them all and hate to have to associate with them, then they rattle off the list of several dozen. Two of the young half-sisters, blond, starlet types, go to lunch with them and teach Erin how to use Twitter.  So the next morning she tweets how great she feels, and how the day is going so great, etc.  

Then she starts getting nasty tweets...."how could you be so insensitive," etc., etc. and then she learns that earlier that day a school bus had gone off a cliff in Malibu and killed all the kids on board (fictional of course). She wants to erase all those tweets but finds out she can't.

Of course she and her sister live in  a fancy house in Malibu, drive Land Rovers, the whole LA shtick...


Love Candidly Nicole? Barely Famous Is About to Be Your New Favorite Faux-Reality Show

18 March 2015 11:10 AM, PDT | Popsugar.com | See recent Popsugar news »

Pop culture junkies will already recognize the two stars of the mockumentary-style reality show Barely Famous: actor Sara Foster played Jen Clark on the new 90210, while her sister, writer and comedian Erin Foster, is a frequent guest on her friend Nicole Richie's own series, Candidly Nicole. In fact, the siblings' new series has some echoes of Candidly Nicole, as it skewers celebrity culture with the help of Sarah and Erin's famous friends; in the first handful of episodes, Courteney Cox, Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, and Richie all make cameos. Sara and Erin recently stopped by our La studios to talk about the "absurd" cult of celebrity in La and to talk about the show's unique concept. Barely Famous premieres tonight at 9:30/8:30 Central on VH1. »

- Lindsay-Miller

Another guest he had on this week was Grace Helbig. Never heard of her, she's a big YouTube 'personality' she's funny, so I'll check out her show on E!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir3Uxn9MwRk

http://www.bing.com/search?q=grace+helbig&form=PRUSEN&pc=U305&mkt=en-us&refig=2f90392a38ba4f909e6e6040e86fe3bb

This is still the best late night talk show.  One memorable moment from last month was when Christoph Waltz was a guest and he was impressed with the bass player in Reggie's band. She is very pretty, odd name of Hagar Ben Ari. Doesn't that mean 'son' of Ari in Hebrew , or is it not gender specific ?

Anyway it was interesting, she has probably never had that happen before, at least not from a famous actor, but James said that he gets many tweets about her. Here's video of the moment.  The other two women on the couch are the Foster sisters. Their show on E! is ended for the season.

http://www.cbs.com/shows/late-late-show/video/0D7F01A9-975C-4AC0-3C55-B5B711A4B111/reggie-s-question-christoph-waltz/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0910607/?ref_=fn_nm_nm_1

Not knowing anything about Jazz musicians I had never heard of her but she's a pretty big deal in the jazz world and is Israeli but there isn't much bio info out there.

https://www.facebook.com/hagarbenari

https://www.tumblr.com/search/hagar+ben+ari


Another funny bit was this:

http://www.justjared.com/2015/04/02/katie-couric-pulls-hilarious-april-fools-prank-on-james-corden/


Brooklyn Decker was on last night.....DVRd.......

You're right, Banjo. If it was the usual Hebrew naming thing she would be Hagar Bat Ari or Hagar Bas Ari (depending on if you are Ashkenazi (Eastern European i.e. Russia) or Sephardic (Southern Europeani.e. Spain, Italy) Odd to see "Ben" (which does mean "son of" ) as part of a woman's name.


OMG I don't think Katie Couric's bit was funny. I like jokes that mislead you but not ones that make you feel like $#$*t . Maybe it's because I think James Courdon is a nice man and would probably really care if someone was injured. Now if they had done that to Jimmy Kimmel (the man who thinks a bit about parents telling their children they ate all their Halloween candy or making children tell which parent they like best)....that would be funny.

Maybe Hagar's parents didn't pay attention to the naming conventions for some reason .... At any rate she has a lot more fans now than she ever would have if known only in the Jazz world.

That was a rather 'dirty trick' to play on James. You could see the panic on his face before Katie revealed the trick.

I'm not sure those stairs are such a good feature. No other talk show uses them and guests are often cautious about descending them....high heels/fancy dresses, etc. When Brooklyn Decker came down them, over 'half-way' pregnant, she held on to the railing all the way down and didn't high 5 any of the audience standing along side.

He's still on top !   Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Banks, and Lily Tomlin all on the couch at the same time ?!  Beat that !

I notice that Hagar hasn't been playing bass this week but she may be on vacation. She's still in the credits. There was one night last week where it looked like she had tinted her hair a deeper shade of red and was wearing bright red lipstick, then the next night she was back to "normal". What was that all about ? But her hair has seemed to be tending more toward red than what I thought was originally black, but the lighting may be a factor.

Hagar is back, that's good. But I'm telling you, they come up with the best stunts/skits.  At the very first of the show even before the announcement of it, they have the guests sitting on the couch doing "Talking Mentalist", about the rerun of The Mentalist just before them, now that Letterman is gone.  They have a mock-serious discussion a la The Talking Dead about the episode. But last night the rerun was CSI. This threw James into confusion. They didn't know what to say. His guests were Ellie Kemper, Nick Offerman, and Thomas Middleditch, all of whom were up to playing the part of dismay and confusion.

Then later they played the Feeling Whaat  ? game where they are blindfolded and try to guess what the object is by just rubbing their face against it. Thomas and Nick were on one team and Ellie and James on the other.  The first object was a bunch of grapes and Nick got that instantly. But neither Ellie or Thomas could guess the giant gummie bear although Ellie tried to bite it and got red stuff all over her face. Then the 'high point' was when James and Nick tried to guess the big, live, King snake.  They almost kissed it a couple of times and Ellie was freaking out just watching. The snake didn't seem to mind. Nick finally guessed it.  The last object was a Sumo wrestler.  Ellie was rubbing all over him, disgustedly, and James finally guessed him.  

If it were on early it would knock Fallon and Kimmel off the air.....

I've got to start taping this one! Thanks for the reports.

Will post pics later of Wed. nights ep, the cast of Jurassic World and a giant walking , talking T-Rex that insulted them.....

Bryce Dallas Howard is Ron Howard's daughter, the director, Opie on the Andy Griffith show when he was a kid. She has his exact nose....