Too cosy for comedy: James Corden's TV show could learn from Simon Amstell

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/mar/24/what-james-corden-could-learn-from-simon-amstell

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Did you ever watch Simon Amstell on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, or Popworld, and think he was being unnecessarily cruel? Probably. Britney Spears cut short an interview in tears; where-are-they-now mainstay Preston flounced out when Amstell mocked his wife Chantelle Houghton. Noel Fielding told the press Amstell “ruined” Buzzcocks by being too abusive.

Related: James Corden's Late, Late Show debut: witty, inspired and horrendously charming

Comedy writer Ben Williams asks Amstell about this period in a Time Out interview this week, and Amstell – now (mainly) a super-sensitive standup comedian – gives an interesting answer. “I was not particularly sensitive to the feelings of the people being interviewed,” the Grandma’s House man admits, before explaining that he hoped his cheekiness would be too funny, or charming, to offend. “But” – he goes on – “when I watch those kinds of shows what’s offensive, to me, is an interviewer pretending that they like the interviewee, and that they’re great friends. People should be asking [these] other presenters if they feel ashamed of themselves for lying to the public for their entire careers!”

How interesting to read that interview on the day that reviews flood the web of James Corden’s debut on American comedy/chatshow programme The Late, Late Show. Were you to judge by the hype, and the reports of Corden’s first broadcast, you’d think he’d become president. “It really isn’t lost on me what a privilege it is to be given a show like this,” this latterday Uriah Heep tells his audience, “and I will really do my best not to let any of you down.” The reviews suggest Corden’s passed this supposed trial-by-fire, but what’s interesting is the criteria applied. Was he sufficiently humble? Check. Ingratiating? Check. Is he clubbable with guests Tom Hanks and Mila Kunis? Indeed he is, with extra brownie points for brown-nosing Hanks with a love-in sketch reprising the great man’s career.

I’m not blaming Corden: he’s doing what he has to do, and I’m sure he’ll do well. But – notwithstanding that several profiles of him in the US press describe him as a “comedian” – what he’s being asked to do is too reverent, too cosy to meaningfully be considered comedy. It boils down to the slippage between comedy and light entertainment. It so happens that comedians are the industry’s go-to people when chatshows need to be presented, when quiz shows need to be hosted. And why not? They can be funny, they can ad lib, they can endear themselves to an audience better than anyone.

But – at least where good comedians are involved – the transition requires compromise. Comedy wants you to say the unsayable; the celebrity industry would rather you didn’t. Good comedy is fearless; telly needs to keep its advertisers sweet and not scare off interviewees. The required skill of comedians-turned-presenters is to seem irreverent while rocking no boats. (Amstell, curiously enough, wasn’t a comedian when he started presenting telly. Comedy came later.)

Now, I appreciate that your Alan Carrs, Michael McIntyres and Rob Brydons need to be polite, and indeed that they and their guests may all adore one another as much as it seems. But I’m with Amstell in finding almost unwatchable the complacent mutual back-slappery of these shows – the more so because these hosts are comedians. You might find Amstell’s attitude disingenuous; you might think his “cruelty” as self-promoting as Corden’s humility. Probably he went too far, from honesty to rudeness. But give me upstart truthfulness any day over the frictionless, corporate “lying to the public” that’s often the norm on primetime TV.

Three to see

Je Suis Comedian: What Are You Laughing At?

Journalist Joyce McMillan, broadcaster Stuart Cosgrove and comics Imran Yusuf and Bruce Morton discuss the question “In the context of a multi-faith, multi-cultural society, are there areas which should not properly be the object of humour?” at this Glasgow comedy festival event.

• 26 March at Citizens theatre, Glasgow.

We Love Immigration benefit

A fundraiser for Migrants Right Network, at which all the acts (Abandoman, Paul Sinha, Ava Vidal, Romesh Ranganathan, and many more) are either migrants or from immigrant backgrounds.

• 30 March at Bloomsbury theatre, London.

Susie Essman

A return to Soho theatre for the foul-mouthed, “you fat fuck!”-toting star of Larry David’s magnificent sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm.

• 27-29 March at Soho theatre, London.