Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that James Corden has hit on a fundamental facet of human nature: we like to know that celebrities ride in cars like the rest of us. (Also, they like to sing while they do it.) Corden’s The Late Late Show has turned this simple observation into massive online success, with the show’s YouTube channel recently surpassing 1 billion views.
Well, that number is probably about to jump again, because tonight’s segment of Carpool Karaoke managed to snag not just one superstar, but three. Billed as “Gwen Stefani Carpool Karaoke (w/Surprise Guests),” the video starts with the standard Carpool Karaoke treatment: some No Doubt, some solo material, a surprisingly crude joke about Corden’s dick. Then Stefani and Corden are joined by two more guests: George Clooney and Julia Roberts, who climb into the car to gamely promote their upcoming financial thriller Money Monster.
And while it is possible, intellectually, to tell yourself, “I am being manipulated by my attachment to the pretty people on the teevee,” it’s a lot harder to deny the charm of Roberts, Clooney, Stefani, and Corden all spelling out Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S, as they drive around L.A. Clooney, especially, exhibits levels of charisma that can only be expressed as George Clooney-esque, busting out lines from O Brother Where Art Thou?, and encouraging Corden to take a shaky solo verse on Queen’s “We Are The Champions.”
It’s not clear how Corden will eventually top this latest experiment in online virology. Presumably, he’s got top likeability scientists hard at work, trying to figure out how to get Tom Hanks, a baby in a duck costume, and your childhood dog from when you were 10 years old into a Datsun for another trip around the block.