James Corden denies intentionally ‘stealing’ Ricky Gervais’ 2018 joke on talk show
James Corden denied intentionally stealing a joke originally made by Ricky Gervais back in 2018.
“Inadvertently told a brilliant Ricky Gervais joke on the show last night, obviously not knowing it came from him,” Corden, 44, tweeted on Tuesday. “It’s brilliant, because it’s a Ricky Gervais joke. You can watch all Ricky’s excellent specials on Netflix.”
During Monday’s episode of “The Late Late Show,” Corden had been discussing how new Twitter owner Elon Musk compared the platform to a “town square” and joked, “But it isn’t, because if someone puts up a poster in a town square that says ‘guitar lessons available,’ you don’t get people in the town [who] go, ‘I don’t want to play the guitar! I want to play the piano!'”
He added, “Well, then that sign wasn’t for you. It was for somebody else! You don’t have to get mad about all of it.”
Following the show, netizens were quick to point out that his commentary was nearly identical to a joke Gervais delivered in his 2018 Netflix special, “Ricky Gervais: Humanity.”
“It’s like going into a town square,” Gervais said in the special, according to CNN. “And there’s a notice for guitar lessons and you go, ‘But I don’t f–king want guitar lessons.'”
When Twitter exploded with accusations that Corden had ripped off Gervais’ comedy bit, “The Office” star, 61, shared that he didn’t think Corden intentionally stole the joke.
“No. I reckon one of the writers ‘came up with it’ for him,” Gervais tweeted on Tuesday, adding, “I doubt he would knowingly just copy such a famous stand up routine word for word like that.”
Corden subsequently confirmed that he had unknowingly quoted Gervais’ joke.
The “Carpool Karaoke” host has been the topic of discussion in recent weeks after being accused of rude behavior and banned from a trendy New York City restaurant.
Last month, restauranter Keith McNally claimed that Corden was “the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.” He added that Corden was a “tiny Cretin of a man.”
Corden swiftly called McNally to apologize and was unbanned but found himself in hot water when he told the New York Times that he did nothing wrong.
McNally blasted Corden, calling him a liar for denying that he exhibited abusive behavior towards his staff.
“I wish James Corden would live up to his Almighty initials and come clean. If the supremely talented actor wants to retrieve the respect he had from all his fans (all 4 of them) before this incident, then he should at least admit he did wrong,” McNally said.
Corden finally changed his tune and admitted that he was “ungracious” towards his server and apologized for his actions.
“I made a rude comment,” Corden said, adding, “And it was wrong. It was an unnecessary comment. It was ungracious to the server.”
Some restaurant owners have since come forward saying that Corden has been nothing but a delight at their own establishments.
