Though late-night television programs are looking quite different as of late after stay-at-home orders were enacted in California and New York due to the coronavirus pandemic, that didn't stop James Corden from celebrating a special day for CBS' The Late Late Show.
In a video filmed from his home, Corden announced that Monday marked the Late Late Show's fifth anniversary. To commemorate their landmark, Corden shared that they would be rebroadcasting the late-night show's first episode — a plan that had to be changed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"Today is the fifth anniversary our our Late Late Show first ever airing here on CBS,," Corden said in a self-recorded video. "We had so many big plans for tonight for the show we were going to give to you and for obvious reasons we can't give you that show right now. "
Though unable to carry on with their original plans, Corden took the time to reflect on their first episode, one he recalls feeling nervous over. "I think back to it, I'm filled with nerves and excitement and a feeling of when that curtain opened and I walked out for the first time, I didn't know if I was going to fall flat on my face or if this was all going to be okay."
"I never thought that day that I'd be here today talking to you 5 years on. That first episode is also important to us bcause it makes think of Tom Hanks who was our first ever guest on the show. Thoughts go out to him and Rita [Wilson] in Australia right now. Our thoughts go out to all of you wherever you are."
Hanks and Wilson, both 63, made the announcement on social media earlier this month that they tested positive while in Australia as Hanks was filming Baz Luhrmann's as-yet untitled Elvis Presley biopic. "Two weeks after our first symptoms and we feel better," Hanks wrote in an update to fans Sunday.
"This is the strangest strangest time and all we've ever wanted to do on our show was bring you some light in the dark in the corer of your room every night and we're going to do our best at some point to continue to do that. Thank you for this last 5 years for letting me talk to you every night. I never expected it to be quite the journey that it's been," Corden said in his concluding statement of his video.
After the coronavirus pandemic began impacting everyone around the world and the entertainment industry, Corden and other late night hosts have had to find new and inventive ways to entertain their self-quarantined audiences such as posting monologues on YouTube or creating a daily digital series from their homes.
Watch Corden's message below.
