James Corden Says He "Inadvertently" Stole Ricky Gervais "Brilliant" Twitter Joke - 8days Skip to main content

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James Corden Says He "Inadvertently" Stole Ricky Gervais "Brilliant" Twitter Joke

James Corden has been accused of stealing a joke from Ricky Gervais's stand-up special.

 

James Corden Says He "Inadvertently" Stole Ricky Gervais "Brilliant" Twitter Joke

James Corden has apologised to Ricky Gervais after “inadvertently” using one of the comic’s jokes practically word-for-word on The Late Late Show.

The TV host’s apology came after Gervais tweeted a clip from Corden’s monologue on Halloween night where he joked about Elon Musk’s US$44 billion (S$62 bil) takeover of Twitter.

In the clip, Corden 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, ‘cause if someone puts up a poster in a town square that says, ‘Guitar lessons available,’ you don’t get people in the town going, ‘I don’t wanna play the guitar! I wanna play the piano, you piece of s***!’

“It’s like, ‘That sign wasn’t for you — it was for somebody else. You don’t have to get mad about all of it.’”

The joke was almost similar to one Gervais made in his 2018 Netflix special Humanity.

Responding to accusations that he stole the joke, Corden tweeted on Tuesday (Nov 1): “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.”

Gervais had previously retweeted a clip of Corden repeating his joke on The Late Late Show and said in the now-deleted tweet: “The bit about the town square advert for guitar lessons is brilliant.”

The After Life star said he removed the message as he “started to feel sorry” for Corden.

When asked to weigh in on the alleged plagiarisation, Gervais said: “I reckon one of the writers 'came up with it' for him. I doubt he would knowingly just copy such a famous stand-up routine word for word like that.”

The Late Late Show has deleted the video of Corden making the joke from its Twitter page.

Corden's latest scandal comes a week after he apologised on his show for being rude to the waitstaff of the New York restaurant Balthazar. 

— BANG SHOWBIZ

Photos: TPG News/Click Photos

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