Unlike his fellow late-night hosts who have spun topical humor into ratings jumps during the Trump administration, James Corden and his “Late Late Show” isn’t known for political material.
Celebrated instead for his show’s star-courting musical segments and spinoffs (“Carpool Karaoke” and “Drop the Mic”), Corden is a genial and reliably inoffensive choice for the Grammys, which turned to Corden last year to take over for LL Cool J, directing traffic between awards and performances.
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Bruno Mars, center, accepts album of the year for “24K Magic” with his production team onstage.
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Khalid, from left, Logic and Alessia Cara perform “1-800-273-8255” as the suicide hotline prevention number appears on screen.
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Alessia Cara performs her part in “1-800-273-8255” during an in memoriam tribute.
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Logic performs his suicide-awareness anthem “1-800-273-8255.”
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Chris Stapleton and Emmylou Harris perform “Wildflowers” during an in memoriam tribute to Tom Petty.
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Alicia Keys presents the award for record of the year to Bruno Mars for “24K Magic.”
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Sza performs “Broken Clocks.”
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Patti LuPone performs “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” during a tribute to Leonard Bernstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
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Ben Platt, right, performs “Somewhere” during a tribute to Leonard Bernstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
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Sir Elton John, left, and Miley Cyrus perform his “Tiny Dancer.”
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U2 appears via satellite as they perform “Get Out of Your Own Way” on the Hudson River.
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Kesha (unseen) is hugged by Bebe Rexha, Cindy Lauper, Camila Cabello and Andra Day after performing her song “Praying.”
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Kesha performs “Praying.”
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Chris Stapleton, left, accepts the award for best country album for “From A Room: Volume 1” from presenters Donnie Wahlberg and Hailee Steinfeld, who donned cowboy hats before calling his name.
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Janelle Monáe told the audience that “time’s up for pay inequality, discrimination or harassment of any kind and the abuse of power.”
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Maren Morris, left, and Eric Church perform.
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The Brothers Osborne perform as names of victims of tragedies appear onscreen.
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Rihanna performs “Wild Thoughts.”
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Shaggy, left, and Sting perform “Englishman in New York.”
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Comedian Dave Chappelle, left, accepts the comedy album Grammy for “The Age of Spin & Deep in the Heart of Texas” from Trevor Noah, right.
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Cardi B, left, and Bruno Mars, right, perform “Finesse.”
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Cardi B performs “Finesse” with Bruno Mars.
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Bruno Mars performs “Finesse.”
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Pink performs “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken.”
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Joe Saylor, left, Jon Batiste and Gary Clark Jr. perform a tribute to Chuck Berry and Fats Domino.
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Alessia Cara accepts best new artist Grammy Award.
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Karen Fairchild, left, Jimi Westbrook, Kimberly Schlapman and Philip Sweet of Little Big Town perform “Better Man.”
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Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar accept best rap/sung performance for “Loyalty.”
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Sam Smith performs “Pray.”
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Host James Corden opens the 60th Grammy Awards.
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Lady Gaga plays piano as she performs onstage.
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Mark Ronson and Lady Gaga perform at the 60th Grammy Awards.
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Comedian Dave Chappelle speaks onstage in between Kendrick Lamar’s performance.
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Kendrick Lamar, center, performs at the 60th Grammy Awards.
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Kendrick Lamar opens the 60th Grammy Awards.
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Paul Shaffer, left, presents the award for traditional pop vocal album to recording artist Tony Bennett, center, and audio engineer Dae Bennett for “Tony Bennett Celebrates 90,” at the pre-telecast show Sunday.
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Left to right, recording artists Zachary Scott Carothers, Eric Howk, Jason Wade Sechrist, Kyle O’Quin of Portugal. The Man, winners of pop duo/group performance for “Feel It Still,” accept the award at the pre-telecast show.
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James Fauntleroy accepts the award for R&B song during the pre-telecast show.
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Dwan Hill accepts the gospel performance/song award for “Let Them Fall in Love” at the pre-telecast show.
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Chris Stapleton accepts the country solo performance award for “Either Way” at the pre-telecast show.
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Members of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, winners of world music album for “Shaka Zulu Revisited: 30th Anniversary Celebration,” accept the award at the pre-telecast show.
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Jason Isbell accepts the American roots song award for “If We Were Vampires” at the pre-telecast show.
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Ice T performs with Body Count during the Grammy Awards pre-telecast show.
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Jazzmeia Horn performs during the 60th Grammy Awards pre-telecast show.
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Justin Hurwitz accepts the compilation soundtrack for visual media award for “La La Land.”
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Stile Antico performs at the 60th Grammy Awards pre-telecast show.
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Reba McEntire accepts the award for roots gospel album for “Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope.”
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Residente accepts the Latin rock, urban or alternative album for “Residente.”
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India Arie performs during the 60th Grammy Awards pre-telecast show in New York.
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Paul Shaffer performs at the 60th Grammy Awards pre-telecast show.
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Paul Shaffer and the W.M.D. Band perform at the 60th Grammy Awards pre-telecast show.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press) FULL COVERAGE: Grammys 2018 »
Last year, for the first awards show in the Trump era, Corden stuck to his usual script with self-deprecating one-liners and energetic musical segments. This year, he received what counts as a comedy seal of approval in 2018 — an angry tweet from a political figure.
As of press time, President Trump hadn’t weighed in on Corden’s most successful bit — a play on the Grammys’ spoken-word category with celebrities, including Hillary Clinton, reading select passages from Michael Wolff’s inside-the-White House bestseller “Fire and Fury.” But Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley did respond moments after the bit, writing, “Don’t ruin great music with trash. Some of us love music without the politics thrown in it.”
Though everyone, especially in the social media era, is a critic, the pre-recorded segment was Corden’s most inspired moment. He called upon music luminaries such as John Legend, Cher and Snoop Dogg to read passages from the book. “I can’t believe this,” rap nominee Cardi B said after reading a few lines. “This is how he lives his life?”
But the surprise cameo from Clinton earned a big response at Madison Square Garden, leading Corden to acknowledge it as maybe “the biggest cheer of the night.” It may have played a role a short time later when Corden raised his voice to introduce “the 44th president” before correcting himself just as the crowd began to cheer and instead brought out on Neil Portnow, president of the Recording Academy. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, James,” Portnow replied before his annual Grammy night remarks.
Oddly, bits more in tune with Corden’s usual wheelhouse fared far worse. An onstage attempt to riff with Jay-Z about showing him around New York didn’t get much laughter. A presentation of consolation-prize puppies to the comedy album nominees after Dave Chappelle’s Grammy win felt too hasty to build any momentum. And the less said about Corden’s pre-taped enlistment of Sting and Shaggy for an overlong “Subway Car Karaoke” segment that relied on tired New Yorker cliches the better.
Even so, Corden found more hits this time around than last year. Hosting the Grammys often has just meant staying out of the way between the awards and live performances, and the few places where those meet. Though the results there aren’t always agreed upon, it’s a hopeful sign for the show’s humor that the host isn’t determined to please everybody either.
