[mks_dropcap style=”letter” size=”48″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#000000″]T[/mks_dropcap]alk shows are becoming ever more ingenious with their segments. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Late Show with James Cordon, Jimmy Kimmel Live and many others have short clips of their show’s segments on YouTube that can whip up a laugh or two. These talk show hosts are known to add entertaining bits to the standard sit-down interviews and almost all including celebrities to the routine. A certain Carpool Karaoke is making charts and increasingly attracting a large number of views on YouTube and here’s why.
Carpool Karaoke hosted by James Cordon in The Late Late Show with James Cordon is a simplistic but genius idea. This segment is unique to only Cordon’s talk show network and is one of the most creatively produced segments to gain international recognition. Cordon invites renowned musical artists (and Michelle Obama that one time) to his car for a 10 to 15 minute ride during which songs belonging to the artist will be played and blasted for them to sing along. In between songs Cordon makes a cue to start talking about their new albums and recent activities in a colloquial manner, rendering the segment an instant mix of promotion and entertainment in a somewhat natural, non-scripted style (even though it is).
The nature of car conversations is taken as an integral concept to Cordon’s Carpool Karaoke. With that he is able to exploit the casualness to consequently elicit an enjoyable experience for the guest celebrity and hence an equally pleasant experience for the audiences watching at home. Plus, it’s very unlikely that conversations turn awkward and hilarious jokes getting cringe-worthy when you can always rely on the playing of music. Cordon has creatively crafted a segment that distinguishes himself from other talk show hosts. Of course, Cordon’s musical background cannot go unacknowledged, as he himself is a virtuoso – his impromptu harmonization is impressive which adds to why Carpool Karaoke is so pleasant to watch. Cordon wouldn’t probably have thought about this segment if he couldn’t sing in the first place.
Topics for discussion by talk show hosts generally revolve around current affairs and there seems to be a pattern as to what the more favorable topics are. Number 1 on the list seems to be movies on opening weekend, TV shows during sweeps at number 2 and the latest music album release at number 3 – these top three topics all revolve around entertainment media and it perfectly fits with Cordon’s Carpool Karaoke concept. It may also be biased to think that we associate Cordon with mostly media- and entertainment-related news seeing that he is an actor. Nonetheless, politics came in fourth place, which may be due to the reluctance to touch on sensitive topics that would stir viewers away.
Celebrities who get invited to Carpool Karaoke are very famous ranging from all-time favorite Stevie Wonder to millennial’s favorites such as Justin Bieber and One Direction. Carpool Karaoke sessions with Adele remains to be the most popular among his clips on YouTube with Justin Bieber and Iggy Azalea trailing behind, respectively. Regardless of who the artist is we can see that Cordon is always enjoying himself with the company of his guest celebrities and this is truly fun to witness. Watch out for upcoming Carpool Karaoke sessions! We might be able to sing along and experience a whole new way of parasocializing with our favorite stars.
