James Corden Claims He 'Inadvertently' Told Ricky Gervais Joke Almost Word-For-Word After Getting Called Out

Late night talk show host and harsh restaurant critic James Corden has found himself in hot water yet again. This time, however, it has nothing to do with egg whites.

On Monday night's episode of The Late Late Show, Corden "inadvertently" told a joke that many recognized as a Ricky Gervais stand-up bit.

In the segment, Corden quipped:

"When you see Elon Musk talk about Twitter, he does this thing where he goes, 'It's the town square.'"

"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 going, 'I don't wanna play the guitar!'"

"Well, then that sign wasn't for you - it was for somebody else!"

"You don't have to get mad about all of it."

This bit was shockingly similar to a bit Gervais did on his 2018 Netflix special Humanity in which Gervais says:

"That's like going into a town square, seeing a big notice board, and there's a notice - 'Guitar lessons' - and you go, 'But I don't f**king want guitar lessons!'"

"Fine! It's not for you, then. Just walk away, don't worry about it."

You can watch the comparison video below.

In a now-deleted tweet, Gervais himself even posted a side by side video of his and Corden's delivery joking, "The bit about the town square advert for guitar lessons is brilliant."

Fortunately for Corden, many were quick to defend him, stating that this flub should be blamed on the show's writers.

Others who defended Corden made the claim that that's just how jokes work in the industry.

And others hold the theory that a writer intentionally included the joke as some sort of revenge.

Corden did take to Twitter to own the mistake stating:

"Inadvertently told a brilliant Ricky Gervais joke on the show last night, obviously not knowing it came from him."

"It's brilliant, because it's a Ricky Gervais joke."

Gervais also apparently forgave Corden for the incident as he deleted his original post. When a fellow tweeter asked about it, Gervais reposted Corden's apology tweet.