Viewers clearly want more of James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke, as the recurring segment from his late night talk show The Late Late Show with James Corden, got a primetime TV special. The series has become Corden’s viral video golden egg, and CBS has obviously decided to cash in in primetime as well.
The one-hour special, which aired on CBS last night, March 29 at 10 p.m. (ET), featured some of Corden’s favorite moments from the viral sensation Carpool Karaoke, including Adele rapping Nicki Minaj, Jennifer Hudson singing his fast food order at the drive-thru, and Stevie Wonder serenading his wife on the phone. There were also some new segments, including a group performance of hits from Grease at a busy Los Angeles intersection. Each time the light turned red, the fully-costumed group would jump into the middle of the street and perform their choreographed routine. (Corden, was, of course, Danny Zuko.) But the highlight of the special was a new Carpool Karaoke with singer and actor Jennifer Lopez.
In Carpool Karaoke, Corden picks up a celebrity musical guest in his car, and proceeds to conduct a casual interview as they drive, both singing along to the artist’s own tracks, and, in some cases, even others. The hilarious nature of each one has resulted in hundreds of millions of YouTube views. Some are seriously revealing, such as when Sia discussed her battle with addiction and the reasoning behind covering her face, or when Rod Stewart discussed his youthful transgressions. Others are just plain funny, like when Corden and Elton John donned Lion King outfits to sing along to The Circle of Life.
In J-Lo’s, the most hilarious part was when Corden grabbed her phone and marveled at the A-list selection of contacts she has. He picked Leonardo DiCaprio, and sent a prank text. Minutes later, DiCaprio replied, seemingly believing it was actually Lopez texting him. They also belted out a few Jenny From the Block hits, both past and present, and discussed the possibility of a duo performance in Vegas under the catchy team name J-Lo and J-Co.
The first Carpool Karaoke aired with songstress Mariah Carey last March. Since then, there have been 17 editions in total (18 now with J-Lo), featuring everyone from rock icon Rod Stewart, to R&B legend Stevie Wonder, boy banders One Direction, pop sensation Justin Bieber (twice), and Adele. The edition with the British songstress has not only become the most-viewed Carpool Karaoke since it aired in mid-January, but also the most-watched late-night clip on YouTube overall, with a total of 84 million views and counting; something Corden made a point to bring up on the special before re-airing the segment. But all of them have been successful: Sia’s has raked in more than 26 million views in just three weeks, Justin Bieber over 66 million, and One Direction over 51 million. In total, The Late Late Show’s YouTube channel has more than 800 million views and 3.9 million subscribers.
Creating viral videos has almost become a requirement with late-night talk shows. Lip Sync Battle, which appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and moved over to The Tonight Show when he began hosting there, has even spawned its own highly-successful television series on Spike. So it’s not surprising that, according to The Hollywood Reporter, producers from The Late Late Show are looking to go beyond just this one-hour special honoring the segment, and shopping around a potential Carpool Karaoke series.
Updated on 03-29-2016 by Christine Persaud: Added details of the primetime special and the new Jennifer Lopez Carpool Karaoke segment.
Article originally published on 03-11-2016
