Skip to main content

James Corden does his best Macklemore in promo for Carpool Karaoke special

Carpool Karaoke Primetime Special: Coming Tuesday
Earlier this month, CBS confirmed that it would air a one-hour primetime special featuring the best of Carpool Karaoke, a popular viral segment from The Late Late Show with James Corden. Now, a one-minute promo video has been released to whet viewers’ appetites for it. It doesn’t really preview much of what’s to come; but it does put Corden’s singing/rapping/performing prowess on full display.

In a music video format, Corden emulates Macklemore, and sings his own version of the popular song Downtown called Primetime. In it, he declares that “viewers will watch it, critics will judge it,” adding a nice rhyme detailing the fact that ruining the Mona Lisa during the silly promo will make the show “way over budget.”

We also get a glimpse of Jennifer Lopez, who will be featured in a new edition of the recurring segment at the end of the special.

In his regular Carpool Karaoke segments, Corden picks up a musical guest and they drive around town discussing life, their career, and other topics, interspersed with some raucous karaoke. Past guests have included everyone from current bubblegum pop stars like One Direction and Justin Bieber, to musical icons like Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John, and divas like Adele and Sia. They sing their own hits, and sometimes the songs of others, such as the time when Adele rapped some Nicki Minaj.

Often, the shenanigans go above and beyond: Corden has ended up in a cheap motel with Coldplay’s Chris Martin, gone clothes shopping with Bieber, and dressed up like a lion from The Lion King with Sir Elton.

It has been rumored that the primetime special will be testing the waters for a possible television series based on the segment, similar to the show Lip Sync Battle on Spike, which is based on a recurring segment from Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show.  

Corden’s new special will air tomorrow, Tuesday, March 29 at 10 p.m. (9 p.m. Central).

Christine Persaud
Christine has decades of experience in trade and consumer journalism. While she started her career writing exclusively about…
Deadpool & Wolverine: Everything we know about the film formerly known as Deadpool 3
Deadpool and Wolverine stand together in Deadpool & Wolverine.

In retrospect, we should have suspected that Deadpool & Wolverine wouldn't keep its most famous co-star out of the title. In 2022, Ryan Reynolds coaxed Hugh Jackman into reprising his role as Wolverine for the first time since 2017's Logan. Once that happened, the name Deadpool 3 didn't fully convey how monumental this film would be.

So Marvel Studios has officially retitled it as Deadpool & Wolverine. Jackman has also humorously rebranded the film as Wolverine & [expletive], which would make this R-rated flick a lot harder to market!

Read more
5 years ago, Game of Thrones aired its last great episode. Here’s why it still holds up
Jamie knights Brienne in episode 2 of Game of Thrones season 8.

Many fans would likely agree that Game of Thrones went out not with a bang, but a profound whimper. After dominating pop culture for nearly 10 years, the hit HBO series concluded with a trio of episodes that were universally reviled by both fans and critics alike. The show's lackluster, ham-fisted finale led to its popularity seemingly vanishing into thin air. In the five years since it aired, time hasn't been kind to Game of Thrones season 8.

To this day, many people still discuss the series' final season with a mix of bitterness and disbelief, and those fans won't find any disagreement about the quality of Game of Thrones' last few chapters here. As disappointing as its eighth season remains, though, April 21 marked the five-year anniversary of its noteworthy second episode, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. The fan-favorite installment ranks not only as its season's best chapter, but also as the last great episode that Game of Thrones ever produced.

Read more
Everything coming to Netflix in May 2024
Two men look at each other in Bodkin.

Unfrosted | Official Trailer | Netflix

It's sad to see April end. Not only was the weather nice, but Netflix was killing it with a lot of its original programming like the thriller series Ripley with Andrew Scott, the true-life story Scoop, and the cathartic drama Baby Reindeer, which became a surprise hit late in the month.

Read more