James Corden Responds After Getting Called out for Stealing Ricky Gervais' Joke

By Daniel S. Levine

The Late Late Show host James Corden is at the center of another controversy. This week, he was accused of stealing a famous joke Ricky Gervais made about Twitter in a 2018 standup special. Corden denied plagiarizing Gervais, who also weighed in on the issue.

During Monday night's Late Late Show episode, Corden joked about Elon Musk's recent Twitter takeover. "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 began, via Insider. "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!"

After the episode aired, viewers pointed out that this joke sounded similar to one Gervais made during his 2018 special Humanity. Gervais was making a similar point, about how Twitter users will get mad about his tweets, even if it was not directed at 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!'" Gervais joked.

A fan later asked Gervais if Corden asked him for permission to use his joke. "No. I reckon one of the writers 'came up with it' for him," Gervais tweeted. "I doubt he would knowingly just copy such a famous stand-up routine word for word like that."

Corden insisted he was not aware of the joke. "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. You can watch all Ricky's excellent specials on Netflix." In an apparent show of goodwill, Gervais retweeted Corden's message.

This was the latest controversy of the season for Corden. In October, Balthazar owner Keith McNally said he banned Corden for allegedly being rude to the servers at the New York restaurant. McNally later lifted the ban after apologizing. However, Corden told The New York Times he didn't believe he did anything wrong. McNally has continued to dispute Corden's version of events on Instagram.

Corden opened his Oct. 24 episode by acknowledging that he made a "rude comment" in the "heat of the moment" when his wife was served a dish she would have had an allergic reaction to by accident. "I didn't shout or scream. I didn't get up out of my seat," Corden told his audience. "I didn't call anyone names or use derogatory language. I have been walking around thinking that I hadn't done anything wrong, right? But the truth is I have. I made a rude comment and it was wrong. It was an unnecessary comment. It was ungracious to the server."

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