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C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 1 7 143 J ames Corden is one busy entertainer. As the Emmy-award-winning host of "The Late Late Show with James Corden" on CBS, his extremely popu- lar segment "Carpool Karaoke" has become an enormous hit on YouTube with approximately 2 billion views. The infectiously silly and gregarious Corden has picked up such guests as First Lady Michelle Obama, Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber, Adele, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mariah Carey, Madonna and Lady Gaga for a spin in his black Range Rover. Corden ferries his celebrity passengers around Los Angeles and other locations while belting out popular tunes and often swapping clothes with them while picking up fast food and waving to excited passerby. "Late Late Show" guests have included Bryan Cranston and Jessica Biel performing a mock soap opera using Kanye West song lyrics, a Broadway Musical "Riff-Off!" with a fiery Neil Patrick Harris and a "Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts" segment with Khloe Kardashian choosing to eat a fish head instead of answering a sticky question about O.J. Simpson. Corden hosted the 2016 Tony Awards to much acclaim (and has won a Tony himself) and is set to host the 59th Annual Grammy Awards this February 12. On March 18th, Corden comes to the Carmel area for the first time to host the 2017 Comics for Kids event that benefits the Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County. The affable actor and comedian recently spoke with Carmel Magazine in the middle of a typically jam-packed day. Carmel Magazine: I'm a gushing fan of your "Carpool Karaoke" videos. I keep watching you online—like the one you just did with Bruno Mars—and thinking you're genuinely having the best time of your life. James Corden: Oh yeah, I mean that one with Bruno was incredible. Just amazing. I never thought I would get to meet Bruno Mars—let alone hang out with him and sing songs with him in the car. It's crazy. CM: Right, but you seem so comfortable and natural. Do you ever get nervous when you're with those people? JC: Not really…I probably used to. But now I just sort of think, 'Well, this is only a waste of time if I don't enjoy it.' If I don't enjoy it, then it's pointless. CM: You have a really great singing voice… and you're very cheeky. That's why it's so much fun… JC: You're very kind. I'm just constantly amazed how much people like it. It's thrilling for me. CM: How do you manage to drive, and dance with your hands, and sing and hit your notes… JC: Well, we are driving in a convoy of a few cars. We are in the middle. The biggest rule for the show really is to drive in a straight line away from the sun...and it's Los Angeles so you can never go very fast anyways. You're traveling at like 10 or 15 miles an hour. It's pretty easy really to do those things. CM: What about when you were with Michelle Obama? Were you shocked that she agreed to do the show? JC: Well it was her idea. They came to us and asked if it was something we would do because they had this wonderful song ["This Song Is for My Girls," benefitting the Peace Corps' Let Girls Learn Fund] to try to help with girls' education. And they felt like our segment was a good place for it to jump out. But look, just going to the White House and driving around that circle [with Michelle Obama and hip-hop artist Missy Elliott] was incredible. It really was. Continued on next page…