The Last Late Late Show: Chapter 2 — Carpool Karaoke

0:05 it's one of the most indelible bits now

0:07 in late night history do you mind if we listen

0:10 to some music oh I'd love to should we see

0:12 what's on Theo what on the radio when we were

0:17 developing the show we were really looking for something

0:19 that would be exciting and different and really like just

0:23 grab the bull b its horns we knew that we

0:25 needed like some bits temp Poes in a way

0:28 that you could hang the show on jaylo no

0:30 jay walking Letterman had stupid petrick and top 10

0:34 lists Kimmel had Mean Tweets Fallon had liptin battles

0:38 and thank you notes and we were like what is

0:40 our thing we were very aware that no one

0:42 knew who James Gordon was and we realized that if

0:44 we were waiting for people to come to us they never would we had to go to them

0:48 we were just showing the writers some different things

0:50 that I'd done at home and Ben and I

0:52 had done a couple of sketches that were quite

0:54 successful for comic relief he had this character Smithy

0:56 that he played on a sitcom that he wrote

0:58 called gaver Stacy hello hi is that Smithy who

1:01 this and he' got in a car with George Michael

1:03 and George Michael at the time had just come out

1:04 of jail comic relief they need me to go

1:06 in now so we had this really funny idea that bizarrely

1:09 George Michael agreed to that James would pick George

1:12 Michael up from jail and drive him to his meeting

1:14 can I come to leave and James had put on a Wham song and they'd sung it together

1:20 your I love it it really really resonated with people

1:24 we started to think well hold on a sec

1:26 maybe cuz we can't get people to come to us maybe we go to them and maybe they

1:29 drive around and they listen to their music and they

1:33 sing along can I put the radio on yeah

1:35 please yeah and I had just so happened that I

1:37 had watched Kirby Your Enthusiasm the night before where

1:40 Larry picks up a hooker on his way to baseball

1:43 so that he can go in the carp Lane to get there quicker get in the car Ben

1:46 said what if you were driving the biggest stars

1:50 in the world and you need them to help you get to work to beat the traffic and I

1:54 said and James went and he goes karaoke thank

1:57 you and he walked out and slammed the door I

1:59 just left I went home I was like we got it so we had this firecracker of an idea

2:05 which allowed us to go and get people to be

2:07 on the show and hear their hits and have

2:09 a great chat with them well then we couldn't

2:11 book a soul for it carpo karaoke was a hard

2:14 concept to get across to people you want me to sit in a car and then sing along

2:18 to my own songs while driving with a guy

2:21 that I don't really know anything about on a show

2:23 that hasn't been on television yet so we spent

2:26 2 months before the show came out pitching everybody

2:28 carpo karaoke and everybody said no think of anybody

2:32 you like in the whole world in music if they're

2:34 alive they said no I had some friends at Epic

2:37 and they asked if um one of their newer

2:39 artists could come and do a showcase for us

2:42 we had employed more and more people and so we decided to have a pizza night out

2:46 on the balcony Loris Swanson was there and she was

2:49 the head of Epic publicity at that time

2:51 and was really close with Mariah Carey and James pitched

2:54 her the idea I took her into my office

2:56 and I played her me and George Michael singing

2:59 in the car and I said this segment will be

3:01 brilliant with Mariah Carey and she said well Mariah Carey

3:04 does Love George Michael so if I could show

3:06 her the George Michael clip then maybe she'd do it

3:09 cuz she's got her greatest hits album coming out

3:11 Laura said all right let me call Mariah and I

3:13 think she called her right then and she

3:16 said yes in that moment it changed the trajectory

3:19 of the entire show no question well I know she

3:22 said yes to it without fully understanding what it was

3:24 because when James got in the car with her she

3:25 didn't want to sing I'm not taking today I

3:28 was up all night and it's so funny she

3:32 didn't even really know what the bit was her publicist

3:34 has just said go on you should do

3:35 this it'd be great I remember thinking no one's told

3:38 Mariah Carey what this is because I can remember

3:40 you got in the car and said I'm not singing

3:43 today and I was like well because I okay that is a big part of it got it

3:49 I just kept just trying to just wear her down

3:52 with a sort of youthful exuberance I know you're

3:56 I mean it's a new car cuz I don't

3:57 know how to change the radio station but we can

4:04 we got such a chill great version of Mariah

4:07 it wasn't like destined to go viral you know she

4:09 just was having some fun what do you remember

4:11 about that day I remember having fun with you in car once she was in the car

4:17 and those hits play and she's singing along to them there's

4:21 something sort of irresistible and joyful about it and that's

4:25 James Gordon's ability to extract the best of people

4:29 when there sitting together in that car you have

4:31 to remember we are a show that no one knows who we are and within 4 days

4:36 that Mari Carey clip had 14 million hits and 14

4:39 million hits for a brand new show like ours

4:41 is Sensational and suddenly we were like oh we could

4:43 be on to something here and immediately became clear

4:46 why it was special you never get to hear

4:48 your favorite artists singing their big hit songs and it

4:53 was just so relatable cuz we all sing Mariah Carey

4:55 in our cars and so to see Mariah singing

4:58 her own song songs in the car was just like

5:01 immediately incredible I don't think any of us would

5:03 have been here if you hadn't said yes to carpo

5:05 karaoke before this show we obviously are like forever

5:09 grateful and loyal to Mariah for doing this carpal

5:12 karaoke might sound like a bit of a harrowing

5:14 thing for your brand new host to do driving around

5:17 La of all places and driving around incredibly famous

5:20 people all around town not really knowing where they're

5:23 going that seems crazy that was a good deed

5:25 that was cool and it was very difficult for people

5:27 to kind of wrap their head around it but once

5:29 people saw what it was people were clamoring to do

5:32 it the sooner you realize that you're a d

5:35 the reason why it really took off was because suddenly

5:38 you were away from cameras you were away

5:39 from publicists you away from managers makeup artists security you

5:42 away from everybody it was just James and that person

5:45 in a car isolated so we would be getting

5:47 these unbelievable interviews with these Mega stars that You'

5:50 never usually see being as relaxed and easygoing

5:53 as that but also singing a minute of all their greatest

5:57 hits what was the carple that surprised you most cuz

5:59 there's been some bloody brilliant ones and a few

6:01 ones obviously Stevie Wonder changed it a lot because I

6:07 think when he did it other artists were like

6:09 icons Legend well if Stevie W has done it I'll

6:11 do it you know are you sure you're okay

6:13 to drive because this is making me feel a bit

6:16 uneasy my hands are on when Stevie Wonder did

6:22 carpool Stevie Wonder's greatest hits suddenly was in the top

6:26 10 on iTunes and it hadn't been on a chart

6:29 in decades then I think that was an eyeopener

6:33 for the industry itself to say like oh

6:35 this is a way that uh we can really showcase

6:37 our artist you don't think there's any of your music

6:39 in this car just saying well then you don't know me you don't know me at all

6:43 and suddenly we had a bit that was a behemoth

6:46 and it became bigger than or any bit

6:48 in the history of Lake night and then we got

6:49 Justin Bieber that was the other big one I came as soon as I could you are a is

6:54 one of our only ones that I've done multiple

6:56 car pools with and so we've had the privilege

6:58 of seeing different moments of him during his career do

7:01 you see what we're doing right now do you see

7:04 what we're doing right now James really brought out

7:06 the side of him you had never seen before

7:08 you definitely had never seen Justin Bieber like doing

7:10 a Rubik's Cube and it's so exciting for a fan

7:13 to see their favorite artist singing their favorite songs

7:16 I Love You The Pinnacle moment was Adele hello

7:19 oh thanks for this the biggest artist in the world

7:22 at that moment she obviously had this amazing relationship

7:26 with James I can't work out if I should wear a wigwig or have a weave I mean

7:33 what I like is that you're coming to me

7:34 for this advice and it was really interesting the ratings

7:37 that we were getting on it 65 70 million

7:40 they were more than the Grammys SNL it more viewers

7:43 than anything our one because it broke all of those records

7:48 I think seeing how many people watch that Ma

7:50 artists like Bruno and Gaga and people like that go

7:54 oh hang on a minute yeah yeah yeah absolutely

7:56 I'll do this and I think the other big

7:57 highlight was being requested by the White House to fly

8:01 to Washington and do one with Michelle Obama I

8:03 hear you're here for a 145 tour and uh

8:07 have more time on my hands so you want to go for a spin they had a charity they

8:13 wanted to promote we were like this is unbelievable

8:16 is she really going to do this it was

8:18 just an incredible feat that this all came together

8:21 I think we like didn't tell James about it until

8:23 like that week cuz we were like there's no

8:24 way this is going to happen we would kind

8:26 of joke like yeah right like when we're in Washington

8:28 next week like we going through the motions that none

8:30 of us really believed that it was really going

8:32 to happen fast forward you're flying overnight with your best

8:35 mate James to go into the White House God

8:37 I remember like FaceTiming my mom from there just

8:40 going I can't believe I'm in the White House

8:41 and Michelle Obama's about to sing in a car

8:43 a highlight it in all of our lives like

8:45 it's just such a special moment for all of us this was a joy and I hope you like

8:49 the tour God if anyone told me that like Harville

8:52 karaoke would like be the significant in my life

8:55 yes it is a thing that people say to me

8:57 you know like oh we singing in the G you like when I went to the DMV to get

9:02 my license which I didn't have for the first

9:05 two years even the guy doing like my test

9:08 was like are we singing a song and I was like I'll sing whatever you want if you

9:11 just sign this and not tell anyone I haven't

9:14 had this for two years but it had a huge

9:15 impact on the music industry on our show

9:18 on James's career on all of us really it has

9:21 six seasons of a spin-off show of it it

9:23 has probably over a billion views in itself it's lovely

9:27 to see the impact they have online cuz like

9:29 for Paul McCartney it was so wild to watch in the- moments oh thank you so much

9:34 for this to help the Paul McCartney carpool which I felt was

9:39 special on the day that we shot it I

9:41 felt that we might have captured something good it was

9:46 also incredible that Paul hadn't been back to Liverpool

9:49 for our cameras and for James to get to experience

9:53 that with Paul like for the first time was

9:55 just such an incredible thing to capture and you

9:59 said this is going to be a trip I

10:00 must say right so it's such a special CB because

10:03 he goes beyond a CBO like again it's like

10:06 a piece of History I had a dream in the 60s where my mom who died came to me

10:12 in the dream and was reassuring me saying it's going

10:17 to be okay just let it be that's

10:20 the most beautiful story I've ever heard I think we

10:23 made something that was bigger than the show it

10:25 was the culmination of what that bit could have achieve

10:30 I can remember my granddad who's a musician

10:34 and my dad sitting me down and saying we're going

10:38 to play you the best song you've ever heard

10:41 and I remember them playing me that really if my granddad

10:44 was here right now he'd get an absolute kick

10:46 out of this he is we were all cheering up in the fall van like as James talked

10:52 about his grandfather and you know we're in Paul's house

10:55 the acoustic chamber everything sounds better in the I

11:01 think it's pretty close to perfect yeah we could never

11:04 have expected it to be what it was and we

11:06 still love making them you know we still love

11:08 making them and I hope maybe we can continue

11:10 making them even after the show's done I don't

11:12 [Music] know last ever carple with the gang Glenn

11:18 our director Tommy jar editor Jason C cameras Lauren producer

11:25 headwriter Last ever Carle where's the car there's the car

11:32 there's the car and this is what we are

11:35 looking at we're going to miss it gang we're

11:39 going to miss it going to miss it wav goodbye