James Corden says he inadvertently repeated Ricky Gervais joke
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Call the joke police, there's been a comic-on-comic crime.
The Late Late Show host James Corden gave his side of the story Tuesday after observers on social media noted that one of his jokes the night before sounded very similar to a Ricky Gervais quip from a 2018 Netflix stand-up special. In short, Corden said he didn't knowingly rip off his fellow funnyman.
"Inadvertently told a brilliant Ricky Gervais joke on the show last night, obviously not knowing it came from him," Corden tweeted. "It's brilliant, because it's a Ricky Gervais joke." He then graciously offered a plug: "You can watch all Ricky's excellent specials on Netflix."
The controversy began when Corden joked about Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter on Monday's Late Late Show. "When you see Elon Musk talk about Twitter, he does this thing where he goes, 'Well, it's the town square.' But it isn't," Corden said. "Because if someone puts up a poster in a town square that says, 'Guitar lessons available,' you don't get people in the town going, 'I don't want to play the guitar! I want to play the piano, you piece of s---!' That sign wasn't for you, it was for someone else. You don't have to get mad!"
Shortly after, viewers began to point out the joke's similarity to one told by Gervais in his special Humanity. As you can see in the video below, Gervais' joke similarly commented on the egotism of Twitter users and how people act like the world revolves around them: "It's like going into a town square and there's a notice for guitar lessons and you go, 'But I don't f---ing want guitar lessons!'"
In a since-deleted tweet, Gervais appeared to call Corden out for bogarting his joke. "[Corden's] bit about the town square advert for guitar lessons is brilliant," he wrote, showcasing some of his trademark sarcasm.
Gervais also replied to a tweet asking if Corden had asked for permission to use the joke. "No," Gervais tweeted. "I reckon one of the writers 'came up with it' for him. I doubt he would knowingly just copy such a famous stand-up routine word for word like that."
Corden has been in the news a lot lately. Just last week he found himself apologizing for being rude to restaurant staff in New York City.
Keith McNally, owner of the Manhattan hot spot Balthazar, had posted on Instagram that Corden was "the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago," and as such he would be banned from the eatery. After making peace with McNally, Corden was unbanned from the restaurant (or was he?).
Related content:
- James Corden apologizes for restaurant complaints: 'I made a rude comment and it was wrong'
- James Corden now unbanned from NYC's Balthazar after he 'apologized profusely,' says owner
- Ricky Gervais anticipated backlash to new stand-up special: 'Everyone's gonna complain'
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