The late-night landscape keeps changing on us and on Tuesday, March 24, James Corden officially stepped in for Craig Ferguson on The Late Late Show on CBS. And the changes didn't stop there when Tom Hanks and Mila Kunis appeared on The Late Late Show With James Corden. Corden didn't change the late-night format of starting with a monologue, introducing his bandleader (Reggie Watts), and then heading to his desk in the opening of the premiere. But when the celebrity guests stepped out, he came out from behind the desk. Both Kunis and Hanks were interviewed at the same time on a couch with Corden sitting next to them on an office chair — *gasp* — sans desk!
Although this is a serious game change for American late-night shows (as Hanks noted), it's probably not a big deal for the British host as it's already something being done across the pond. The Graham Norton Show on BBC America has the same kind of seating arrangement and I've always enjoyed watching mismatched celebrities all chat together alongside Norton. So, although I was hoping for more of a dramatic change from Corden with his takeover as host, I will take this tiny change. Plus! Corden has a bar on his set — the first of its kind. (I'm pumped even though it's sponsored by Bud Light.)
But seating wasn't the most exciting thing to happen when you have Hanks and Kunis on the same couch. The show was already getting buzz before it aired due to Corden looking like he proved that Kunis and Ashton Kutcher are married. Kunis never confirmed or denied the info in the initial promo clip — and the full episode didn't offer any more information.
Then Corden and Hanks did a sketch highlighting Hanks's impressive acting résumé. They seriously covered a huge chunk of Hanks's IMDb page as they reenacted scenes from Forrest Gump, Big, The Money Pit, Turner & Hooch, Sleepless in Seattle (complete with Jonah's bear), Saving Private Ryan, Captain Phillips, A League Of Their Own, That Thing You Do!, Catch Me If You Can, Cloud Atlas (well, they didn't really reenact a scene from that one), Philadelphia, and Toy Story. And that wasn't even all of the movies that they tackled.
Of course, it was an excellent decision to have Tom Hanks be one of Corden's first guests. I mean, can you go wrong with having America's most-loved actor start your show? (And how appropriate that Corden's title opening sequence features him standing next to a Zoltar fortune teller machine like from Big.)
But the fun didn't end there with Hanks yelling at the Internet for accusing him of manspreading and Watts asking Hanks what he thought people were like in 1806. Hanks gave the bizarre question a bizarre answer with a theory of life B.V. and A.V. (before velcro and after velcro — obviously) and that the people of 1806 were B.V., thus a lower form of human. Kunis piped in at this time to point out that according to Star Trek, Vulcans introduced velcro to humans. (Kunis also gave Corden's wife a gift.)
Quirky and fun, Corden showed that he's more than down to be a lovable host who can lead witty banter between two Hollywood A-listers. Now, if we only knew if Kunis and Kutcher are actually married . . .
Image: Monty Brinton/CBS
