When Ian Karmel joined The Late Late Show with James Corden before its 2015 launch, the writers’ room consisted of just three people working out of a portable trailer on the CBS Television City lot.
Right next door was a drug-testing trailer.
“Every now and then somebody would walk into our room holding a cup full of pee,” Karmel tells Mark Malkoff on this week’s episode of LateNighter’s Inside Late Night podcast.
The group soon grew as Corden, executive producer Ben Winston, and more writers arrived, but one early idea remained: they were convinced the new show should not include a traditional monologue.
Then Jay Leno stopped by.
Karmel remembers Leno telling Corden that he needed a monologue because he was “welcoming America” into his living room each night. Afterward, Karmel says, the decision was made: “Well, Jay Leno says we need to do a monologue. We’re doing a monologue.”
Karmel would spend eight years with The Late Late Show, eventually becoming co-head writer. He also came up with one of its signature pretapes, “Crosswalk the Musical,” while walking down Fairfax Avenue near Canter’s Deli.
Spotting a crosswalk with a roughly 45-second pedestrian signal, Karmel realized that was enough time to perform a song from a musical—as long as everyone cleared the street before the light changed. His favorite installment was Les Misérables near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
The job also put Karmel alongside some of his heroes. He wrote a sketch for Mel Brooks and worked on multiple elaborate shoots with Tom Cruise, whose commitment impressed him every time.
“Surely at some point he stops being Tom Cruise,” Karmel says. “But he never stops being Tom Cruise.”
Also in the conversation: Karmel recalls the thrill of performing stand-up on Conan, working with Ellen DeGeneres on her return to stand-up, writing Corden’s response to Bill Maher’s call to bring back fat-shaming, and reuniting with Corden this summer on Fox’s FIFA World Cup After Hours.
Click the embed above to listen to Mark Malkoff’s full conversation with Ian Karmel now, or find Inside Late Night on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
