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Trevor Noah Prepares James Corden for Life After Late Night: “It’s Amazing”
Trevor Noah Prepares James Corden for Life After Late Night: “It's Amazing”,Trevor Noah, James Corden talked about leaving late night, being glad not to have to cover the 2024 election and texting before Noah's Daily Show exit

Trevor Noah Prepares James Corden for Life After Late Night: “It’s Amazing”

James Corden and Trevor Noah on Thursday’s ‘Late Late Show’Terence Patrick/CBS Broadcasting

Thursday’s Late Late Show was the site of a meeting between departing late night hosts as guest Trevor Noah gave James Corden a sense of what to expect and look forward to after leaving the nightly CBS show.

Corden asked Noah, who is hosting Sunday’s Grammys, what life has been like since he left The Daily Show in December, since he too would be leaving The Late Late Show in April.

After joking the move was “the worst mistake I ever made,” Noah seemed happy to report, “it’s amazing.”

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“Everything comes to an end in life. Every journey has to come to its conclusion,” Noah said, looking back on his decision to leave the nightly Comedy Central show. “There’s always going to be the moments that you miss. Anything you enjoy doing well you’re going to miss certain elements of it. And then there are going to be new parts of life you discover: things you didn’t know you could do, things that you didn’t know that you wanted to do, waking up with your mind in almost a completely different dimension in a strange way.”

Specifically, Noah indicated he’s enjoying not having to stay so on top of the news.

“Now I read the news when I want to read the news,” he shared. “So now I’ll be like, ‘Oh, maybe I won’t read it in the morning. Maybe I’ll read it in the afternoon.’ Sometimes I read two days of news in one day, I skip one day. And you might ask me something and be like, ‘Hey have you heard about that?’ And I’ve been like, ‘No I haven’t but in a week maybe I will have.'”

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter for a cover story before his Daily Show exit, Noah talked about “what a grind” hosting a news-driven nightly talk show can be.

“You’re also running the show, so everything from HR to designing the set, you’re a part of, and it doesn’t stop when you leave the building,” he said. “There’s no moment when breaking news happens where I go, ‘Oh, wow, I don’t care.’ No, I have to care; being informed is part of my job.”

On Thursday night Noah shared that life after late night is “actually quite nice” and advised Corden, “I think you’ll enjoy it and you’ll miss everything that this was but then you’ll start to enjoy everything that the new journey becomes.”

Corden also revealed that the two had exchanged “essays” worth of text messages over the summer, noting that in one exchange, as Noah was asking questions, Corden sent over a long note and Noah responded, “Wow, this is deep. I’ve got some shit to think about.”

Noah also joined Corden at the desk earlier in the show for a segment of the Late Late Show’s “Side Effects May Include” series, where they shared some side effects of leaving late night and hosting the Grammys.

After joining Corden at the table, Noah joked it was “stifling” to be behind a desk again. The two then shared their joy at not having to wear suits, “pretend you watched someone’s latest film or TV show” or cover the 2024 presidential election. With respect to the latter, Noah joked the downside is “sadly not having the opportunity to amaze audiences with our perfect Trump impressions,” before they both launched into takes on the former president.

Talking about the Grammys, Noah joked that he was looking forward to thanking Beyoncé in person.

“If it wasn’t for ‘Break My Soul,’ I wouldn’t have quit my job,” he joked, with Corden agreeing.

Noah surprised viewers and Daily Show staffers when he revealed during a taping this fall that he was leaving the Comedy Central series seven years after replacing Jon Stewart. After Noah’s December exit, The Daily Show has since had various guest hosts sitting at the desk. Corden, meanwhile, announced last year that he’d be leaving CBS’ Late Late Show in the spring of 2023, saying Thursday night that his last show will be in April.