CBS said it will mark the end of James Corden’s eight-year run as the host of The Late Late Show with a primetime special on April 27.

After The Last Last Late Late Show special, the final broadcast of the The Late Late Show with James Corden will be broadcast on CBS and streamed on Paramount Plus.

Tom Cruise will appear on the special for what the network described as a final over-the-top sketch. Cruise has appeared on Corden’s show with segments featuring him piloting jets, skydiving and performing in The Lion King.

Corden took over as host of The Late Late Show on March 23, 2015. The series has been nominated for 27 Emmy Awards and its Carpool Karaoke segment, featuring stars including Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber has blown up on social media. 

The show will be making room for a larger audience in its final months.

The Late Late Show With James Corden is produced by CBS Studios and Fulwell 73 and distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution. ■

James Corden will end his run as host of CBS' The Late Late Show in 2023, Corden announced Thursday during his show.

Corden started hosting the late-night talker in 2015, taking the reins from Craig Ferguson, who helmed The Late Late Show from 2005-2015.

"So, before we go to break, I've some news of my own to share with you," Corden told the studio audience. "Seven and a half years ago I started hosting this show and, there's no other way to put it, it has changed my life."

The host toyed with the audience first saying that he "signed a new contract" with CBS.

"That's really only half the story on this one. ... I've decided to sign for one more year on the show and this will be my last year hosting The Late Late Show," said Corden. "When I started this journey, it was always going to be just that. It was going to be a journey, an adventure. I never saw it as my final destination."

"I really think that a year from now that'll be a good time to move on and see what else might be out there," he added.

Corden shook up the U.S. late-night format bringing all of his guests onto the show at once. He also introduced popular segments "Carpool Karaoke" and "Crosswalk the Musical", racking up millions of views with them on The Late Late Show's YouTube channel.

Watch Corden's full announcement below:

The Late Late Show is produced by CBS Productions with Ben Winston and Rob Crabbe serving as executive producers.

News of Corden's 2023 departure first broke on Deadline.

James Corden, host of CBS’ Late Late Show, said he tested positive for COVID-19 and that new episodes of his show will be off the air for a few days.

In an Instagram post Corden said he was “fully vaccinated, boosted and because of this am fortunate enough to say I feel completely fine.”

NBC late night hosts Jimmy Fallon of The Tonight Show and Seth Meyers of Late Night have also tested positive recently.

COVID has also forced the delay of the Grammy Awards and the Bounce Trumpet Awards. ■

Pop star Ed Sheeran will have a week-long residency on The Late Late Show with James Corden June 28 to July 1 on CBS. Sheeran will perform each night, and the week will feature what CBS calls “the television debut” of his new single, “Bad Habits,” which comes out on an album with the same name June 25. Sheeran will appear in-studio for an interview and in comedy segments on the show throughout the week. 

The English singer-songwriter, who is 30, has four Grammys. His albums include one called + and No. 6 Collaborations. 

The Late Late Show is on weeknights 12:37 to 1:37 a.m. ET/PT. Besides airing on CBS, The Late Late Show can be streamed live and on demand on the CBS app and on Paramount Plus. 

Ben Winston and Rob Crabbe executive produce the late-night program. Reggie Watts manages the band. 

Nickelodeon said it reached a multi-platform deal with James Corden, Ben Winston and their production company Fulwell 73 to produce an animated movie and TV series based on the children’s book Real Pigeons Fight Crime.

“Real Pigeons Fight Crime is about a secret squad of crime-fighting pigeons, with high stakes and true hilarity making it a perfect fit for our audience,” said Ramsey Naito, executive VP, Nickelodeon Animation Production and Development. “By fusing the humor and expertise of the incredible team at Fulwell 73 Productions, we are ready to show kids what pigeons really do--fight crime, solve mysteries, take down bad guys, and keep neighborhoods safe!”

The movie and the series are being developed to appear on all Nickelodeon platforms. The deal underscores elements of Nickelodeon’s content strategy, to build and expand the worlds of popular franchises. Nickelodeon’s new content slate is informed by the network’s ongoing research and insights into today’s generation of kids, who are the most diverse generation ever and expect to see themselves authentically represented in media and in the world around them; who want to make a positive difference in the world as they grow up; who consider social media stars as their top role models, alongside their parents; and who increasingly meet their much-desired need for family time by co-viewing entertainment content together.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Andrew McDonald’s book, illustrated by Ben Wood, was published in Australia and is now available in 10 territories including North America. 

“We are so delighted to be working with our great friends at Nickelodeon on these wonderful, charming and funny books, and can’t wait to help bring them to life for kids everywhere,” said Winston.

The Real Pigeons Fight Crime TV series is executive produced by Corden and Winston with Andrew McDonald and Ben Wood serving as consultants throughout development and production.

In a matter of weeks, COVID-19 has upended industries across the board, including entertainment and media companies that have had to close down studio productions. Many are now pivoting to social video as a way to connect with audiences and deliver a much-needed escape via entertainment content.

A new report from social video analytics company Tubular Labs shows how audience consumption of entertainment content is changing during the pandemic. It explores how influencers, especially late-night hosts, are leaning into video to keep their fans entertained. But first, some topline insights from the report:

Entertainment Category Reigns Supreme for Social Video

When it comes to social video, the entertainment category is the No. 1 creator genre on YouTube and Facebook for both views and uploads across the last year. Although entertainment influencers upload more videos, media companies make up a slightly larger share of views.

Related: Late Night Shows Are Back with ‘WFH’ Formats

Not only do U.S. creators account for the most views of entertainment content worldwide (132 billion in the last year), U.S. entertainment content attracts a global audience, with 35% of its views coming from outside the U.S.

"Digital video's reach has no boundaries,” said Rob Gabel, CEO at Tubular Labs. “With the world awash in anxiety and people physically separated, right now — more than ever — video entertainment is a catalyst for banding global citizens together and providing much-needed optimism during these unprecedented times."

When it comes to entertainment content types, the TV and movies category makes up the biggest portion of views on YouTube (112 billion in the last year). For videos uploaded between March 12 and April 3 as the coronavirus pandemic spread and many Americans were forced to shelter at home, TV-related content amassed 564 million views, with nearly half (253 million views) coming from late-night talk shows, led by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (A&E and American Idol also rank high).

Late-Night Hosts See Explosion in Views With “Stay-at-Home” Shows

With production studios now closed, late-night TV show hosts are taking to social video to bridge the gap and bring fans new content from their own homes — and it seems to be working. The ‘Home Edition’ of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon received a significantly higher V7 views rating (views in the first seven days since a video was published) in the last couple of weeks than the show did over the last year (1.2 million vs. 517K). Jimmy Kimmel’s series of quarantine “minilogue” videos reached higher V7 views than his show throughout the last year (1.1 million vs. 419K). And virtually hosting late-night concerts has been a successful approach, most notably for James Corden of The Late Late Show in recent weeks (962K vs. 599K).

"During this quarantine, celebrities are as human and relatable as ever,” said Gabel. “There’s something fun about seeing your favorite host broadcasting from their personal domain. It makes us feel a kind of solidarity because even celebrities are affected by the quarantine, and they’re still doing whatever they can to bring joy to fans around the world."

How Live Streaming Fits Into the Picture

While indie influencers are used to producing content live and are thus thriving in these times, media companies can tap into this trend too. Entertainment influencers are still getting more of people’s live watch time, but media companies have been catching up in the weeks after the outbreak, with 66% growth.

But there’s also an opportunity for media companies to tap into their rich content repository and repurpose their best performing evergreen content: 66% of the U.S. entertainment content watched from the start of the outbreak is content from 2019 or older.

You can download the full entertainment report from Tubular Labs here.