The Rise and Fall of James Corden

The appointment of James Corden as the new The Late Late Show host took everybody by surprise, but as his exit looms, some pundits wonder whether his career will ever reach the same heights again.

Taking over from Craig Ferguson in 2015, Corden became known for shaking up late night TV as we know it, forever redefining the format and becoming a household name in the process.

During his late night tenure, the British import introduced American audiences to his widely popular Carpool Karaoke segment, which has racked up billions of views on YouTube, with videos starring big names such as Adele, Stevie Wonder, BTS and Harry Styles.

He made his mark in the American show business landscape hosting major award shows such as the Tonys and Grammys multiple times. Corden also starred in hit films Into The Woods, Ocean's Eight and the much-maligned film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Cats.

"Corden's biggest impact on pop culture has been the Carpool Karaoke concept," David Schmid, culture expert and professor of English at the University at Buffalo told Newsweek. "He's earned a place in the pantheon of quirky, affable, and funny last night hosts. He'll also be remembered as a reliable awards show host that audiences found easy to identify with."

Corden is due to host his final Late Late Show on April 27 and while he has kept a lid on what fans can expect, Corden has revealed it will be "iconic" and there will be an hour-long Carpool Karaoke special.

Although the identities of the celebrities taking part are being kept secret, he has confirmed that K-Pop stars, BLACKPINK will appear and that Tom Cruise will be at the pre-show finale to film "one final over-the-top sketch."

The dad-of-three was prompted to leave the Late Late Show to move back to London, where he rose to fame as the co-creator and star of the critically acclaimed and massively popular dramedy, Gavin and Stacey. The show is so well-loved in his native U.K. that 17.1 million tuned in to a one-off Christmas special in 2020, almost 10 years after the show came off air.

He also starred in a number of West End productions, including The History Boys, and hosted the sports panel show A League of Their Own.

Once he made the move across the pond, his onscreen persona had a makeover from a "cheeky chappy" to an affable and goofy host, which left "a lot of Brits a little baffled at his success in breaking America," according to Hannah Yelin, reader of media and culture at Oxford Brookes University and author of Celebrity Memoir: From Ghostwriting to Gender Politics.

"His star image was built around the 'cheeky chappy' persona, which is essentially watching a man-child at play," she told Newsweek. "Carpool Karaoke was good, wholesome fun, and it was ever surprising that the biggest stars wanted to be part of that. Perhaps he fitted the Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins mold of chipper cockney lad in the American imagination."

The comedian said his decision to go home was so he could spend more time with his family and that he always knew hosting the Late Late Show "was an adventure and I never ever considered it to be the final destination," a fact he confessed during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore show.

Corden's rise to A-list status in the U.S. has not been all plain sailing. The star has been plagued with accusations of bad manners, box office flops, rude backstage behavior and presenting a fake "good guy" persona on screen.

One director even described Corden as "the most difficult and obnoxious presenter" he'd ever worked with. Craig Duncan directed a skit for A League of Their Own in 2013 and recently spilled about his experience in a YouTube video.

"Well, if you have had a big celeb yell at you—it impacts you for a long time. This video is me standing up to it and citing James as an example of the bad behavior that the industry ignores all the time," Duncan said in the comments of the video.

Then there was the infamous run-in with the restaurateur Keith McNally, who temporarily banned Corden from his New York City eatery, Balthazar, after multiple complaints from staff for bad behavior.

McNally described his fellow Brit as a "tiny cretin of a man. And the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago."

While McNally eventually overturned his ban, and Corden made a public apology, more bad press followed when he was accused of joke stealing, the ultimate sin for any comedian.

He was accused of using a joke by Ricky Gervais during a monologue on The Late Late Show in November 2022. Corden claimed it was an inadvertent mistake and called Gervais the next day to apologize, with the latter implying the two had buried the hatchet.

These missteps are causing a kind of "schadenfreude" for audiences who find it "so delicious when someone is caught being so very mean and rude," according to Yelin.

"When a public image is built around an impossible performance of Peter Pannish good cheer, it's fun to watch the darkness everyone knew must be there spill out by accident," she said. "In Corden's case it was such a contrast to the one note public persona that it cracked under the strain."

Whether Corden's post-Late Late Show career can weather these controversies remains to be seen.

"Once the public is fully aware that a show host is not who they say they are, it's very hard to earn back that trust," said Mark Goldman, reputation management expert and co-founder of Goldman McCormick PR.

Goldman told Newsweek: "For the foreseeable future, I can't fathom Corden capturing the imagination of a new audience. I don't think he's finished but I do think he's going to be in celebrity purgatory for a bit."

Corden's gender might work in his favor when it comes to surviving the controversies, unlike his peer Ellen DeGeneres, who faced backlash after alleged unpleasant behavior over the years.

"I think the puncturing of Ellen's apparent likeability delivered a fatal blow to her career, but I think Corden has already been forgiven and will be allowed to move on. Why? Good old-fashioned sexism, in my opinion," Schmid said.

"Our standards for what's considered 'acceptable' conduct for male and female celebrities are just as distorted as our standards for men and women in general," he said.

Although "Corden's career has been somewhat checkered," the host "has always bounced back," Schmid said.

"Although The Late Late Show may turn out to be his career peak, I expect him to stick around for quite some time," he said.

Schmid also felt confident that Corden would continue to have a stellar career in the U.K. where "audiences know more about his full range and versatility as a writer and actor."

"I think he has the potential to continue to have a successful career in the UK, and he'll certainly continue to work in the U.S., but not at the same level of visibility as a talk show has given him," he said.

Yelin believes the key to Corden's future success lies in his ability to present a more versatile persona.

"The question now is can he build a more multi-dimensional image that can hold two things at once, that permits a natural range of human emotion, rather than a narrow caricature?" she said.

Newsweek has contacted Corden's representatives by email but they declined to comment.