What’s Worth Watching: Late Late Show’s New Man

James Corden
Art Streiber/CBS
James Corden

The Late Late Show With James Corden (Series premiere, Monday, 12:37 am/11:37c, CBS)

James who, you say? Just you wait. Anyone who saw up-and-coming comic actor James Corden (the Baker in Into the Woods, Hulu’s The Wrong Mans, Gavin & Stacey), a baby-faced 36-year-old Brit, display his crowd-wowing ways in his Tony-winning clown act in the 2012 Broadway hit One Man, Two Guvnors knows this is a talent to be reckoned with. CBS’s Entertainment chief Nina Tassler did, which is partially why another charismatically quirky but relatively unknown comedian from across the pond was tapped to inherit Craig Ferguson’s Late Late Show post-Letterman time period.

With Tom Hanks as an opening-night guest, musician Reggie Watts leading the band, and a functioning bar on the Television City set, this is a party scene we look forward to checking out. The late-night arena may be awfully crowded these days, but Corden promises a fresh, irreverent, unaffected approach to celebrity chit-chat. If all else fails, you should see him take a pratfall.