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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.
\u201cIn which James Corden basically does a Ricky Gervais joke word for word\u201d— Rupert Myers (@Rupert Myers) 1667301503
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.
\u201c@PaulFI9 @JKCorden @rickygervais I believe there is a writer looking for a new job now\u201d— Paul Anthony (@Paul Anthony) 1667299867
\u201c@PaulFI9 @JKCorden @rickygervais So many people blaming Corden for this as if he writes his own jokes. He has a whole team of writers on that show. Obviously one of them ripped it off. Joke wasn\u2019t even very funny.\u201d— Paul Anthony (@Paul Anthony) 1667299867
\u201c@BethBBee1 @PaulFI9 @rickygervais @JKCorden Such hosts have team of writers.\n\nHe was most likely given this one of them.\n\nGot trolled basically.\u201d— Paul Anthony (@Paul Anthony) 1667299867
\u201c@PaulFI9 @JKCorden @rickygervais The reality is likely someone on Corden's writing staff hasn't got something on the air for a while, got desperate, and plagiarised Gervais's joke. Corden doesn't write these bits himself. \n\nAn episode of Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip illustrates this really well.\u201d— Paul Anthony (@Paul Anthony) 1667299867
\u201c@PaulFI9 @JKCorden @rickygervais Not to defend James Corden, but surely this is a case of his writers completely throwing him under the bus in his last run. Seems too accurate to be an accident.\u201d— Paul Anthony (@Paul Anthony) 1667299867
Others who defended Corden made the claim that that's just how jokes work in the industry.
\u201c@KEEMSTAR Comedians steal jokes from other comedians have you just noticed keemnerd \ud83d\ude02\u201d— KEEM \ud83c\udf7f (@KEEM \ud83c\udf7f) 1667355105
\u201c@KEEMSTAR I mean, don't they all steal jokes from each other?\u201d— KEEM \ud83c\udf7f (@KEEM \ud83c\udf7f) 1667355105
\u201c@nypost A comic stealing another comic's joke? what's the world coming to...Inconceivable! (I stole that from 'Princess Bride')...\u201d— New York Post (@New York Post) 1667390612
And others hold the theory that a writer intentionally included the joke as some sort of revenge.
\u201c@PaulFI9 @JKCorden @rickygervais Not to defend James Corden, but surely this is a case of his writers completely throwing him under the bus in his last run. Seems too accurate to be an accident.\u201d— Paul Anthony (@Paul Anthony) 1667299867
\u201c@PaulFI9 @JKCorden @rickygervais Plot twist - it was knowingly given to Corden by one of his writers that he had treated like crap to get back at him, if so we\u2019ll played Sir, we\u2019ll played.\u201d— Paul Anthony (@Paul Anthony) 1667299867
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."
\u201cInadvertently told a brilliant Ricky Gervais joke on the show last night, obviously not knowing it came from him. It\u2019s brilliant, because it\u2019s a Ricky Gervais joke. You can watch all Ricky\u2019s excellent specials on Netflix. J x\u201d— The Late Late Show with James Corden (@The Late Late Show with James Corden) 1667321599
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.