James Corden reveals Paul McCartney declined ‘Carpool Karaoke’ multiple times
According to comedy writer and television host James Corden, Paul McCartney turned down the chance to appear on Carpool Karaoke numerous times before finally accepting. The Gavin and Stacey star revealed that the former Beatle got “cold feet” but thankfully made the right decision.
Nearly five years ago, McCartney appeared in Corden’s popular Late Late Show feature for a 23-minute clip in which the pair drive the streets of Liverpool, retracing the legendary singer-songwriter’s roots. The stops included McCartney’s childhood house and the famous Penny Lane. All the while, the pair sang some of The Beatles’ popular hits.
The episode has racked up a whopping 68 million views and has been described by Corden as “quite possibly the best” feature the show had ever done.
However, despite the feature’s success, McCartney was hesitant to partake. “He said, ‘I’m in, I’ll do it, I can’t wait,'” Corden recalled in a resurfaced 2021 interview with PaleyFest LA. “Then, about a month later, the message came through to us that he’d cancelled; he didn’t want to do it. He’d got cold feet for some reason. Then he was back in again two weeks later.”
“And then about eight or nine days before we were due to fly to Liverpool to do it, it was one of those nights where I woke up around 1am and did that thing that we all shouldn’t do, which was just wake up and immediately look at my phone,” Corden continued. “And there was an email saying, ‘Look, I’m sorry, I don’t know how to write this; Paul has changed his mind. He just feels this is the wrong sort of thing for him right now. He’d still like to do it one day.'”
Corden recalled feeling frustrated at this point. Without consulting his team, which he would normally do, Corden responded to McCartney, saying the cancellation was “unacceptable.”
“I said, ‘I completely respect your decision not to do it, but I need you to understand what the knock-on effect is for our show’,” he added.
The US show had already sent team members to Liverpool to plan the feature, and Corden asserted that they didn’t have the budget to “sustain” the expenditure without the “finished product.”
“‘I guarantee you, I promise you, that it will be great. And the reason it will be great is that you are Paul McCartney’,” he concluded his message.
As we know, Corden’s persuasion did the trick. “And the next day [McCartney] said, ‘Alright. I’m sorry. I just had a wobble. I’m back in. I’ll do it’,” Corden added. However, McCartney even showed reluctance on the morning of the shoot.
The former Beatle was hesitant to set foot in his childhood home as he hadn’t been there since he left in the 1960s. “I just went, ‘Paul, your only day’s work today is to have a great time,” Corden said, “‘and if you have a great time, this is going to work’.”
Despite McCartney’s reservations, the feature showed the pair seemingly having a great time as they travelled around Liverpool. Corden revealed that McCartney texted him the following day to thank him, admitting that he “had a blast”.
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