James Corden apologises for using Ricky Gervais' joke 'word for word'
1 November 2022, 17:47 | Updated: 2 November 2022, 09:26
James Corden has been called out for ‘copying’ Ricky Gervais’ joke on the Late Late Show.
The host made the joke as part of his monologue on Monday night’s show.
He was taking a swipe at Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and controversial plans to charge verified users $20 a month for the privilege of a blue tick.
He said: “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. Because if someone puts up a poster in a town square and says ‘guitar lessons available’, you don’t get people in town going ‘I don’t want to play the guitar! I want to play the piano, you piece of s**t!
“The sign wasn’t for you, it was for someone else. You don’t have to get mad!”
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While the gag scored laughs from the audience, fans on social media quickly pointed out its similarities with Gervais’ joke in his stand up tours.
On Twitter one man said the speech had been taken 'word for word'.
On Tuesday night Corden took to the Late Late Show Twitter account to apologise.
He said: "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. You can watch all Ricky's excellent specials on Netflix. J x"
James Corden uses Ricky Gervais 2018 joke about guitar sign in Late Late Show monologue
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. You can watch all Ricky’s excellent specials on Netflix. J x
— The Late Late Show with James Corden (@latelateshow) November 1, 2022
Ricky Gervais' joke on the show is: “it’s like going into a town square and there’s a notice for guitar lessons and you do ‘but I don’t f*****g want guitar lessons!”
In which James Corden basically does a Ricky Gervais joke word for word pic.twitter.com/8MfkrBo8Y0
— Rupert Myers (@RupertMyers) November 1, 2022
In a now deleted tweet, Gervais quoted-tweeted the speech and said: “The bit about the town square advert for guitar lessons is brilliant.”
But after making the swipe he came to Corden’s defence, saying it must have been one of his writers who ‘came up with it’, adding: “I doubt he would knowingly just copy such a famous stand-up routine word for word like that.”
