James Corden has hadn't the friendliest of welcomes from talk show king David Letterman. The British star will take over hosting duties on Letterman's companion show The Late, Late Show from March, but The Late Show host isn't convinced James is the man for the job, launching a jaw-dropping tirade against the Into the Woods actor last night.
Corden is set to take over the helm of Letterman's 12:35 a.m. sister show on March 9. Craig Ferguson aired his last show in the slot just before Christmas, with guest hosts filling in for James until he flies over. And while CBS bosses are said to be "in awe" of the funny Brit, Letterman, who is retiring from his show in May, seems to have a problem with the star's commitment. The 67-year-old was a guest on The Late, Late Show on Wednesday night, when he suddenly started questioning why Regis Philbin was filling in as host.
David Letterman slams James Corden's new hosting gig on The Late, Late Show (CBS)
"Did they give you this show? I thought it was that chubby guy that got the show, from Great Britain, from England," Letterman asked Regis, as fellow guest Howie Mantel started to look really uncomfortable. "Why isn't he ready? Well, let me ask you a question - when they said to you, 'Regis, come to New York and do a show?', did you say, 'Meh, I need four to five months to put my things in order'? No. You were here. You were here Monday, right? They call you Friday, you're here Monday. Where's the tubby kid? Who's taking over the show."
"Well, let me ask you this: how bad does he want to do a show? There aren't that many shows. How bad does he want it? Where is he?" Letterman continued. Regis tried to be the good guy, insisting "He wants it, he loves it," but Letterman wasn't done, insisting James, who will relocate to New York with his wife Julia and their two young children, should have started on the show immediately, especially as he has reportedly been paid at least £2million for his first year whilst CBS has also contributed £700,000 to help James and his family with the relocation costs. "Really? Well, where is he? Why are we talking to you? I'm just saying, if I've invested my money in a guy to do a show and he says, 'I'm going to need a couple of months', I think that's a flag. This guy - where is he? Is he even in this country? Don't you think that's a question that should be answered - where is the guy? I do."
James appeared as a guest on Letterman's show last year (CBS)
"Let me tell you this, and God forbid, I don't wish ill on anyone but I think something's gone wrong or he'd be here." Letterman did say one nice thing, calling James "a good guy" and adding "I've met him. He seemed like a very nice fella." James appeared on Letterman's show during the Into the Woods promo rounds at the end of last year, with the two appearing to get on pretty well. The outburst appears to have come out of nowhere, with Piers Morgan, who had his own turn as a US talk show host when he replaced Larry King on CNN in 2011, tweeting:
"Nasty stuff from Letterman re @jkcorden - same kind of jealous old TV guy crap Larry King pulled on me." Piers' show was cancelled in March last year after poor ratings, while the Brit's anti-gun stance didn't go down well with a wide portion of his US audience. Let's hope James proves to be more popular...
