Behind the Scenes of James Corden’s Final Episode of The Late Late Show
On Thursday, after eight joyful years of leaping from aircraft with Tom Cruise, urging guests to spill their guts, and lots of Carpool Karaoke-ing, James Corden bade farewell to CBS’s The Late Late Show in a star-studded final taping.
With guests Will Ferrell and Harry Styles in the studio (incredibly, Styles still has the words “Late Late” inked to his arm from a game of “Tattoo Roulette” in 2015), and special appearances from President Joe Biden and fellow late-night hosts Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Trevor Noah, and a grandfatherly David Letterman, Corden celebrated some 1,200 episodes of TLLS with both characteristic humor and touching sincerity—shouting out the hard work of bandleader Reggie Watts, head writers Ian Karmel and Lauren Greenberg, and the many more who have kept the show ticking along for nearly a decade.
Here, Vogue takes a special look behind the scenes of the show.
Photo: Terence Patrick1/15Corden in his Los Angeles office on Thursday.
Photo: Terence Patrick2/15The Late Late Show’s four Critics Choice Real TV Awards have pride of place.
Photo: Terence Patrick3/15Notes from Corden’s parents (both of whom were in the audience for the show) and Michelle Obama.
Photo: Terence Patrick4/15A live recording by Corden’s musician father.
Photo: Terence Patrick5/15Getting ready with groomer Jason Schneidman.
Photo: Terence Patrick6/15Executive producer Ben Winston giving Corden one last touch-up.
Photo: Terence Patrick7/15With executive producer Josie Cliff and former Late Late Show writers Nedaa Sweiss and Kate Presutti.
Photo: Terence Patrick8/15Reviewing his monologue with members of TLLS’s writing team: Nate Fernald, Tom Thrivini, John Kennedy, Tufan Nadjafi, Ian Karmel, Andrew Bushwitz, Tim Siedell, Kayleigh Lamb, Isabelle Andrews, and Andrew Moskowitz.
