James Corden claims that he “inadvertently” copied the entire joke from Ricky Gervais.

Gervais’ old joke was surprisingly similar to one Corden cracked during a recent “Late Late Show” monologue.

James Corden has found himself in the heart of another another controversy, moving from the egg yolk omelet frying pan into the fire.
In response to accusations of plagiarism, the presenter of a CBS talk program acknowledged that he “inadvertently” told a joke that was first uttered by comedian Ricky Gervais.

In which James Corden basically does a Ricky Gervais joke word for word pic.twitter.com/8MfkrBo8Y0

— Rupert Myers (@RupertMyers) November 1, 2022

Apparently unaware that he had borrowed a joke from Ricky Gervais, Corden tweeted on Tuesday, “I accidentally told a wonderful Ricky Gervais joke on the program last night.” The fact that it is a Ricky Gervais joke makes it amazing. All of Ricky’s fantastic specials are available to stream on Netflix.

A practically word-for-word joke that Ricky Gervais used in his 2018 Netflix stand-up special “Humanity” was parodied by Corden during the opening monologue on “The Late Late Show” on Monday night.

When Elon Musk talks about Twitter, he has this habit of saying, “It’s the town square,” according to Corden. But it isn’t, since residents of the town don’t scream, “I don’t want to play the guitar! ” when a banner advertising guitar lessons is put up in the town square. Then that sign wasn’t for you; rather, it was for someone else. There’s no need for you to become upset about it all.

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

— The Late Late Show with James Corden (@latelateshow) November 1, 2022

Viewers immediately criticized Corden for stealing the joke verbatim from Gervais’ stand-up performance, in which Gervais used an unmistakably similar comparison about guitar lessons to express his dislike of social media.

In his special, Gervais said, “That’s like going into a town square, seeing a big notice board, and there’s a notice: “Guitar lessons,” and you go, “But I don’t fucking want guitar lessons!” “Fine! That means it’s not for you. Don’t worry about it; just leave.

For his part, Gervais tweeted a video comparison of the two gags side by side and gushed, “The section about the town square advert for guitar lessons is great.”

When a fan questioned Gervais about whether he had authorized Corden to make the joke, he said, “No. For him, I believe one of the writers “came up with” it. He wouldn’t intentionally steal such a well-known stand-up performance word for word, in my opinion.

Gervais ultimately didn’t seem too bothered by the striking similarities, as he deleted his initial tweet and retweeted Corden’s apology. “Started to feel sorry for him,” he said when asked about it.

Given Gervais’ past inclination to pick on Corden, it’s a little surprise that they almost immediately buried the hatchet.

Gervais recently made light of Corden’s exclusion from the New York City eatery Balthazar due to his supposed misbehavior.

Gervais responded in response to a fan who questioned whether he had given Corden permission to use the joke:

Gervais recently shared a segment from his Netflix comedy “After Life,” making light of Corden’s exclusion from the Balthazar restaurant in New York City for allegedly acting inappropriately.

James Corden is the absolute worst. In the scene, Gervais responds to his coworker’s list of the top five dinner guests. Dinner party. Ever,” read the tweet that accompanied the scene. (There contains extensive NSFW language.)

And who can forget when Gervais made fun of Corden during his Golden Globes monologue in 2020 by referencing the actor’s widely panned performance in a certain renowned movie office disaster.

Gervais added on stage, barely controlling his amusement, “The world got to watch James Corden as a fat pussy.” “He appeared in the film Cats, too.”