Best moments of James Corden’s final ‘Late Late Show’

James Corden said his goodbyes to “The Late Late Show,” CBS and America on Thursday night with a star-studded final show.

Corden, 44, announced his departure from “The Late Late Show” in April 2022, just before renewing his contract for an eighth and final year.

CBS revealed that after almost three decades, the network will be ending the franchise with Corden’s departure. They’re expected to replace the time slot with a reboot of Comedy Central’s series “@midnight,” executive-produced by “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert, according to Deadline.

He revealed on “The Drew Barrymore Show” that his decision to leave was a “very easy” one.

“Look, it’s not easy in any way to walk away from something that is so … I mean I’ll never work in a better environment than the one I work in now,” he said in January.

“Nothing about leaving the show was to do with not enjoying it. I love it, but the truth is it became a very easy decision because I always knew it was an adventure and I never ever considered it to be the final destination.”

Corden — who has hosted the show since March 2015 — is the fourth and last person to host “The Late Late Show.”

“I’m James Corden, and for the last time, this is ‘The Late Late Show,’” he started off the episode.

The night kicked off with a primetime special followed by the episode itself, with many fun segments and moments.

“Last Show” musical number

As Corden does, the talk show host started off the special with a musical number on the roof of the Television City building.

He sang a rendition of Donna Summer’s “Last Dance” — but his version was fittingly “Last Show.”

“Let’s blow CBS’ dough one last time / Go big or go home on my last day in the sunshine,” Corden sang.

James Corden and Tom Cruise star in “The Lion King”

The musical number was followed by a highly-anticipated bit with Tom Cruise which started out with the two of them flying fighter jets “Top Gun” style and Corden forcing Cruise, 60, into doing a Hollywood staging of “The Lion King.”

“You’re Tom Cruise, and you were born to be in ‘The Lion King,’” Corden jokes before Cruise ran away, hesitant to perform.

The duo sang “Hakuna Matata” for a live audience, with Cruise as the warthog and Corden as the fox — and Cruise belted the song and sang with his whole heart.

After the performance, Corden and Cruise had a “falling out” as Corden believed the actor would forget about him and befriend a new late-night host.

“When ‘Mission: Impossible 12’ comes out, you’re not going to think of me,” Corden told Cruise. “You’re going to be off BASE jumping with Bowen Yang.”

They made up with a duet to “Can You Feel The Love Tonight,” and Corden thanked Cruise for everything he’s done for him and the show, to which Cruise responded, “Shut up. You had me at hello.”

Carpool Karaoke with Adele

Adele, 34, sat in the driver’s seat alongside Corden, 44, “The Last Last Late Late Show With James Corden Carpool Karaoke Special.”

The video shows Adele sneaking into Corden’s house and waking him up, telling him that she will drive him to work for the final carpool, which elicits an emotional reaction from the late-night host.

Adele shared that Corden had been a big source of emotional support for her throughout her career, sharing that Corden and his wife Angela looked after her and her son Angelo, 10, after she filed for divorce from Simon Konecki in 2019.

They had all gone on vacation together in 2020, and Corden opened up about going through a difficult time.

“I felt so unsafe with you feeling unsafe,” Adele recalled, saying that she channeled that emotional conversation into the first verse of “I Drink Wine,” which she said is “some of my best writing.”

Corden shared with Adele what he’ll miss most about the show.

“I’ll miss everything,” Corden said. “I underestimated how many friends I made doing it. More than anything, I’ll miss going into work with my friends every day. I am going to miss Los Angeles. I’m just so certain it’s time for us as a family, with people getting older … it’s time to go home.”

A message from President Joe Biden

During the actual episode, there was a surprise video message from President Biden, in which he mentioned the time the two of them filmed a segment for last year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where Corden tried to get a job at the White House.

“After a day spent working for me at the White House, I’m surprised you lasted eight years at any job,” Biden laughed. “Thank you for all the joy you’ve brought to homes across America, and a special thanks for never asking me to sing in a car. I can’t sing worth a damn.”

Surprises from other late-night hosts

In a pre-recorded segment, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and David Letterman surprised Corden in his bedroom to make sure he didn’t give away any late-night host secrets, including that they don’t always watch the projects their guests are promoting.

They even tried to convince him not to leave the gig.

“James, have you thought this through?” Colbert asked. “What other job will allow you to break into song and dance every single night?”

The video then had a flash-forward to six months from now with Corden and fellow former late-night host Trevor Noah participating together on “The Masked Singer.”

James Corden finally gets hit by a car in final “Crosswalk the Musical”

Though not quite as famous as his “Carpool Karaoke” segment, Corden’s “Crosswalk the Musical” bits have been beloved in their own right. The segment sees Corden and stars making Los Angeles crosswalks their stage during red lights, with random drivers reacting in different hilarious ways.

In his final performance, he explained “When I moved here eight years ago, I had two goals. To bring live theater to the desolate cultural wasteland that is Los Angeles and to make friends with as many celebrities as I can.”

Jane Krakowski and Josh Gad joined Corden for the final traffic-stopping performance, singing “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” “Singin’ in the Rain,” and “Another Day of Sun” from “La La Land.”

After the performance, Corden ran back into the intersection, screaming, “Don’t honk at me. I am a star!”

One driver didn’t care and kept driving, hitting Corden with his car (in a stunt, of course).

To add to the drama, Krakowski and Gad gave Corden some comforting words to help ease the pain.

“You saved the theater, James,” Gad said. “You and Lin-Manuel Miranda,” Krakowski adds.

The final guests: Harry Styles and Will Ferrell

Will Ferrell, 55, and Harry Styles, 29, joined Corden on the couch as the final guests, and Ferrell came in with a bang — literally.

He took a sledgehammer to Corden’s desk and began smashing it, justifying, “It’s your last show, man.”

Styles shared some of his favorite moments as a guest on the show including filming a music video for his song “Daylight,” getting “Late Late” tattooed on him, guest-hosting the show twice, and last but not least, “I got hit in the nuts by Michelle Obama.”

During a shortened version of “Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts,” Styles was asked if there would ever be a One Direction reunion.

“I feel that it’s not a yes or no question,” the singer responded. “I would never say never to that. If there was a time where that was what we wanted to do, I don’t see why we wouldn’t.”

Whispers of the boyband reuniting on the final episode of Corden’s late-night run were circulating for a while and were pushed even further when the Mirror reported that they were rumored to reunite in full — but the show quickly shut down speculation.

The final farewell

After his guests praised him for his eight-year run, Corden reflected on his time as host.

“I’m thinking for a while, the last few weeks about what I was gonna say as we come to the end of the show after this wonderful adventure and I’ve struggled at times to find the words to sum up what this past eight years has meant to me. It is almost impossible. I frankly don’t know where to start,” he began.

“But I sit here now, today, with nothing but love, gratitude and pride. This show is everything I ever wanted it to be.”

He added, “All we’ve ever wanted is just be a little bit of light and levity at the end of your day. Thank you for letting me do this. Thank you for allowing me into your home every night.”

And of course, he ended the show with a farewell song called “That’s Our Show” on the piano, singing the lyrics, “So good night / Thanks for watching / That’s our show.”