Someone at CBS apparently looked at a calendar recently, as the network has finally noticed the months-long gap between Craig Ferguson’s final day hosting The Late Late Show and new host James Corden’s debut. When Ferguson steps down after his final appearance as host on December 19, the show will fill in the gap with a wildly disparate roster of rotating guest hosts.
Variety reports that Drew Carey will kick things off with a week of hosting when the show returns on January 5, and then return to host the final week before Corden’s debut. Between those weeks, however, we can look forward to a parade of delightful-to-dispiriting names including Judd Apatow, Will Arnett, Wayne Brady, Jim Gaffigan, Billy Gardell, Sean Hayes, Thomas Lennon, Kunal Nayyar, and professional writer of creepy songs John Mayer. CBS has yet to release the scheduling information for the guest hosts, presumably hoping you’ll flip on the show and once again mistake John Mayer for Johnny Depp.
In a particularly unusual move, CBS announced that daytime gabfest The Talk will also take over The Late Late Show’s nightly time slot for the week of January 12. It’s calling the nighttime episodes of the show “original after-dark editions,” which frankly makes it sound like Sara Gilbert and company will be stuck doing some sort of The View/Red Shoe Diaries mash-up. The Late Late Show airs at 12:35 ET.