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James Corden's long history of — allegedly! — being an awful person enters a new chapter.
By John Sundholm — Written on Apr 07, 2023
James Corden lives a charmed life by any measure, but the more his former colleagues reveal about him, the more it seems like he hates every minute of it.
A UK TV director's recent story reveals even more insight into what it's like to work with the comedian and presenter — and indicates that James Corden being rude to colleagues goes way farther back than just his more recent "The Late Late Show" hosting gig that began in 2015.
TV Director Craig Duncan calls James Corden the most 'difficult and obnoxious' person he's ever worked with.
Duncan has been working in the entertainment industry for nearly 30 years, and recently posted to his YouTube channel about his experiences with Corden, as seen in the clips below.
He worked with Corden back in 2013 on the UK game show "A League Of Their Own" (not to be confused with the Amazon remake of the film of the same name) during Corden's days on the iconic BBC sitcom that made him a star, "Gavin & Stacey."
Before taking the job, Duncan was asked if he had experience working with "difficult" TV presenters. Duncan, whose resume includes work with The Three Tenors opera group, figured James Corden being rude would be a cakewalk by comparison, since "you can’t get more of a prima donna than an opera singer."
He quickly found that even opera divas were no match for James Corden when it came to behind-the-scenes nastiness.
Duncan says James Corden's rudeness began before the work even started.
Even after Duncan assured the people hiring him that he was more than equipped to deal with a temperamental TV presenter, they still invited him to observe Corden in a rehearsal first, just in case. Sure enough, even in rehearsals, Corden caused problems.
Duncan says in his video that when the rehearsal "came to a point where he had to read from a card," all hell started to break loose. "[There was] a joke in there, and he just looked at it like, 'That’s not funny, that’s not funny. It’s s--t.'" He then demanded it to be rewritten.
Duncan said he thought "it wasn't nice" to insult the writers' work, but "television is not for the faint-hearted," and he thought perhaps Corden was having a bad day. He made a mental note that Corden is "a bit stroppy" and shrugged it off. That changed pretty much immediately once he got on the job.
While shooting, James Corden exploded at the director and crew, hurling profanity and calling them 'stupid.'
Duncan described the atmosphere as immediately tense and there was "an anxiety" that flooded the studio as soon as it was time to shoot. Because of Corden's schedule demands, they had just five minutes to shoot the segment Duncan was hired to direct, a cooking challenge that involved four different "kitchen" sets with working stoves and ovens and contestants cooking food.
Despite the stressful environment, even the world-class French chef involved in the segment, Jean-Christophe Novelli, was handling it with aplomb, with "no 'difficult chef-ness' at all." That can-do spirit all changed when "old buggerlugs pipes up," as Duncan put it.
He says Corden exploded, yelling, "what the f--k is going on here? It’s so obvious how you shoot it, you’re stupid." Corden then went on a tirade screaming directions at the crew — that were basically the exact directions Duncan had already discussed with them. "I’m like, ‘He’s absolutely right guys, let’s do that, that’s the best thing to do," and then told Corden, "cheers mate" to get him off everyone's backs.
In the end, James Corden being rude caused so many delays it put him 45 minutes off his schedule — which was the reason for the rushed shoot in the first place — instead of the "six minutes" Duncan says it would have taken him if Corden had simply butted out.
Duncan ended his video with a pointed message for Corden. "Cheers James... well done treading all over my toes, but I don't really care because I got paid," he quipped before cutting to the chase. "I hope I never, ever work with you again."
James Corden has a long history of being rude to coworkers, but his fellow celebrities have never called him out until recently.
The accusations of James Corden being rude are myriad, including a public 2022 feud with Keith McNally, chef and owner of New York's iconic Balthazar restaurant, who called Corden "a tiny cretin of a man" after he berated a server while having brunch in McNally's restaurant. Corden at first denied the incident, then made a public apology on his show.
He has also been accused of stealing jokes from fellow comedians like Ricky Gervais and "Great British Bake Off" host Noel Fielding, and, perhaps most infamously, was witnessed by a fellow plane passenger angrily ignoring a woman and her crying baby who turned out to be Corden's wife and daughter Charlotte.
But his fellow stars have mostly kept quiet about Corden — until a couple months ago. In December 2022, TV presenter and Spice Girls member Melanie 'Scary Spice' Brown, aka Mel B, named Corden as one of the "biggest dickheads" she's ever worked with during an appearance on the UK talk show "The Big Narstie Show," as seen below.
When even your fellow celebs aren't willing to stay quiet about how nasty you are? That's when you know you've taken your salty attitude too far. He better hang onto his reported $70 million net worth good and tight — Corden's "The Late Late Show" hosting tenure ends on April 27, 2023, and with all these allegations and the public's growing dislike, he just might have trouble finding a new gig.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.