In preparation for The Late Late Show With James Corden’s impending departure, CBS is looking to the past for inspiration. According to The Hollywood Reporter’s sources, the network plans to replace the Late Late Program series with a new version of the comedy game show @midnight.
After 600 episodes on Comedy Central, the show ended in August 2017. Host Stephen Colbert is returning as an executive producer for the show’s revival. Representatives from CBS said they had no reaction.
The show @midnight premiered in October 2013 on the basic-cable network and featured presenter Chris Hardwick asking three comic guests questions about the internet.
The new version of @midnight, which comes from Funny or Die and won two Emmys for creative achievement in interactive and social TV experience during its original run, is not likely to feature Hardwick directly.
Colbert’s other current producing duties include the Comedy Central shows Tooning Out the News and Hell of a Week with Charlamagne the God, in addition to his work on The Late Show. In April, Corden stated that he will be leaving the program in 2023 to focus on other endeavors.
He has yet to reveal when the last episode of his show—famous for its multi-guest interviews and signature “Carpool Karaoke” segment that spawned its own series—will broadcast. As a result of Trevor Noah’s departure from The Daily Show on Comedy Central at the end of last year, late-night television has been in a period of upheaval.
In addition, Desus & Mero on Showtime and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee on TBS both concluded their respective series runs that year as well. In its first January 1995 CBS airing, presenter Tom Snyder kept the Late Late Show’s content strictly to the news.
With succeeding presenters Craig Kilborn, Craig Ferguson, and James Corden, whose version premiered in September 2014, the show got more comic. In April of last year, Corden said on his show that he had never intended for his hosting gig to be anything more than “an adventure” in his life.
Corden has starred in the new Amazon series Mammals and has won a Tony Award for his performance. “I never envisioned it as my end goal, you know,” he remarked on The Late Late Show.
And I never, ever want the performance to go on too long. I hope that the act of creation will always bring me joy. And I believe a year from now is a good time to move on and explore what else is out there.
