Knowing you, you're probably wondering what I thought of the first installment of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. I think I didn't see it. I have a good excuse but I can't tell you what it is just now. But Mr. Noah's debut is safe on my TiVo and I'll get to it soon.
I did watch both Colbert and Corden last night. Colbert had a pre-recorded bit about personality tests that was as good as anything he did on his Report and the rest of the show was pretty decent. They still have a lot of bugs to exterminate but already I like this show more than anything I've seen from Fallon, Kimmel or even O'Brien since he took up residence on that cable channel you never heard of before he was on it. I also like Colbert's Late Show more than anything Dave or Jay did in that time slot the last few years they had it. I look forward to Colbert getting better but I'm satisfied with what he's giving us now.
I really want to like James Corden. I think the problem with his show is that it doesn't have an organic feel to it. Colbert's program looks like someone (Colbert, most likely) sat down, looked at his personal strengths and designed a show around them. Corden's feels like they decided what elements should comprise the show in that time slot, went out and found someone more excitable and lovable than Jimmy Fallon and stuck him in that format. As talented as he is at some things, stand-up and the kind of remote bits Letterman and Leno used to do just don't flow naturally from Mr. Corden. He also gushes an awful lot about guests he doesn't seem to have known of before someone booked them for his program.
Like I said, I want to like him but it ain't easy. I'm now watching whenever he has on a guest I like. Last night, it was Carol Burnett and she was great every time he talked to her. When he was talking to his other guests, she looked pretty bored with the proceedings. That's the problem with bringing them all out at once.