Following the announcement of Craig Ferguson’s departure from The Late Late Show on CBS, a hosting job he has held since 2005, CBS announced today that British comedian and actor James Corden will replace Ferguson.
Like Ferguson, Corden has made a name for himself as a popular performer in the UK, both as an actor on stage and in film and as a TV personality. He won a BAFTA for his work on the British sitcom Gavin & Stacey, and he later won a Tony for Best Actor in the play One Man, Two Guvnors, which premiered in the National Theater in West End London and moved to Broadway in 2011.
American audiences are more likely to recognize Corden as the guitar-playing roommate to Keira Knightley in John Carney’s Begin Again, and he’s also taken up the role of The Baker in Rob Marshall’s eagerly anticipated film adaptation of Into the Woods.
“I can’t describe how thrilled and honored I am to be taking over from the brilliant Craig Ferguson. To be asked to host such a prestigious show on America’s No. 1 network is hugely exciting,” the new host said in a statement, via The Hollywood Reporter. “I can’t wait to get started, and will do my very best to make a show America will enjoy.”
Corden’s Late Late Show will premiere in 2015 behind the Stephen Colbert-led Late Show now that David Letterman has announced his retirement. Ferguson meanwhile will soon start hosting duties of Celebrity Name Game on the CW. It signals a new shift for CBS’s late night landscape with two new hosts filling the ranks.