James Corden on his show's London episodes, balancing serious topics and comedy
James Corden is taking the "Late Late Show" to his home country this week.
He shot a special open for the London episodes, with the first of three airing Tuesday night. Corden and his team spent the last few days on the streets of London shooting skits, including a Mary Poppins crosswalk musical.
CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti tagged along with the late-night host for a behind-the-scenes look.
As the comedian rode a double-decker bus through the streets of London last week, he received a warm hometown welcome.
Corden was shooting the opening sequence of "The Late Late Show" and band leader Reggie Watts was along for the ride.
Corden even photobombed a couple as they took pre-wedding photos in front of the London Eye, capping off a long day that began with a conversation atop the double-decker bus.
Of being back home, Corden said, "It's really nice, the whole thing's been just a real dream of mine really."
His homecoming lineup is packed with stars.
"We have Nicole Kidman, Kit Harington and a brand new 'Carpool Karaoke' with Ed Sheeran," Corden said.
The show's YouTube page hit 10 million subscribers in April with hundreds of millions of views counted on his "Carpool Karaoke" videos.
"I don't think there's a secret, it's very difficult if you make a show that starts at 12:37 in the morning to find how you'll make that impact. We know that we have to find our audience and our relevance wherever we can and the great thing about the internet is that it's not predicated by any big lead-in or news story," Corden said. "This is who our show is and this is the show we want to make and we want to provide to you some light and levity at the end of every day."
That light and levity have made Corden a bona fide late-night star.
But he's also taken a serious approach to the recent terror attacks in his home country. Corden and his team have had to re-think Tuesday night's episode in light of the most recent attack in London.
When asked how he finds a balance between the serious, including politics, and the funny, Corden said, "I think we balance it as well as we can. I'm always very conscious of the fact that I didn't grow up in America, I'm from a tiny town called High Wycombe which is about 40 minutes that way ... and so I think it would be foolish to feel like I can speak to parts of America that I've never even been to."
Corden made a video highlighting the ease with which he could travel to London just after the proposed Muslim travel ban.
"Yeah look, I don't consider our show to be not political, I just don't think we can dedicate our whole show to that, I don't think that's where my strengths lie. I'm a 38-year-old British guy who's lived in America for 27 months. When the president proposed that ban, I think it hit everybody in our office quite hard and we thought, well, freedom of travel should be simple for every legal immigrant, not just the white and Christian ones and that's what we wanted to say. So we never shy away from it, we're just conscious of the fact that I don't know if we've earned the right to talk to people. If an American comedian came over here and started talking to me about the general election, I'd be like 'what do you know, you didn't grow up here. How do you know what, how people are struggling in Liverpool?' you know," Corden said.
The love and adulation Corden has felt in London so far will no doubt be with him in front of a hometown crowd.
