James Corden helped close Paramount’s Upfronts presentation in New York City on Wednesday. And with his exit from “The Late Late Show” on the calendar, he took advantage.
After making a “what are they going to do, fire me?” joke for calling out Paramount for going a little over “60 Minutes,” which was the theme of their presentation, he reflected on his time in late night.
“Now most of you know me as the host of ‘The Late Late Show,’ but really I just see myself very much the normal run of the mill bridge between Cialis ads to air after 12 midnight. That’s what I am,” he joked.
The Briton then noted that as he heads into his final season, he is keeping one quote handy.
“As you may know, this is my last year at ‘The Late Late Show,’ but there is a quote that’s been helping me through this difficult time: ‘Don’t cry, because it’s over. Smile, because you won’t have to cover another American presidential election,’” he said. “And I think that’s something I’ll hang on to.”
Corden then went on to make a joke – just like Stephen Colbert, who opened the presentation did – about the company’s moniker changes in recent years.
“I’ve loved being part of the CBS family. I love being part of the Viacom family. I love being part of the ViacomCBS family. I love being part of the Paramount Global family. And I love being part of whatever name they give us next week,” he joked. “I absolutely will have loved it.”
Since Wednesday was part of a long goodbye of sorts for Corden, he took the time to offer his appreciation to the Paramount family.
“Now finally, if you’ll allow me to say a couple of words, I genuinely mean this, serious, for a moment – this is my final Upfronts. It’s the last time I do this here at Paramount and I just want you to know how incredible the people that I work for here are,” he said. “They really really are. I know that this is often a time where people will come out and they’ll roast the network heads and things like that. But the people here at this place, at this network, they are – they’re incredible.”
