INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

‘Carpool Karaoke’ Was Inspired By George Michael In 2011

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 03:51 PST, Mar 6, 2017

Carpool Karaoke may be associated with James Corden, but it was the late George Michael who inspired the hit Late Late Show segment, according to News Australia.

While the world is still trying to recover from the shock following Michael’s death on Christmas Day last year, followed by the fact that he still hasn’t been buried more than two months later due to inconclusive toxicology reports, most of his fans only now realize that they had no idea the singer was the first ever Carpool Karaoke star.

When people hear the words Carpool Karaoke, they immediately think about Corden, the host of The Late Late Show. But most fans of the talk show have had no idea that Corden has Michael to thank for coming up with the original and entertaining idea for the segment.

The idea of Carpool Karaoke is for Corden to pick up a celebrity and drive him or her around the city, while the two of them joyfully sing songs together. Over the past 12 months, the segment has made headlines on several occasions.

The most famous stars of the Carpool Karaoke segment have been former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, Sir Elton John, singer Lady Gaga, and many others. While the segment was introduced as part of The Late Late Show in 2015, the idea has been floating in the air since 2011.

In his interview with Stephen Colbert last year, Corden revealed that it was originally George Michael who inspired the hilariously fun Carpool Karaoke segment. The host came up with the idea to create such a segment after recording a comedy sketch with Michael, who died on Christmas Day last year, for Comic Relief back in 2011.

“My original idea was to pick George Michael up from prison in a car.”

The late “Faith” singer had really been in prison. Michael was sent to prison to serve eight months back in 2010 for driving under the influence of drugs. Corden made a few changes to the Carpool Karaoke segment before turning it into a regular segment of his late-night show.

In particular, Corden said they had decided to remove the prison aspect, and it was still fun to drive around in a car while singing hit songs. Corden admits that when they recorded the original Carpool Karaoke sketch, there was something “very joyful” about it.

Although it had been more than four years since Corden recorded the original Carpool Karaoke sketch with Michael, the talk show host remembered it and made it a regular segment of his Late Late Show as soon as he took the helm of the show in 2015.

Corden took to Twitter on the day Michael passed away to pay tribute to the “Faith” singer. The talk show host admitted he has “loved” the singer for “as long as I can remember.”

“He was an absolute inspiration. Always ahead of his time.”

The Carpool Karaoke segment has become so popular that Apple struck a deal with CBS to acquire the rights to Carpool Karaoke last year, and it has now released the first teaser trailer for the upcoming series, according to Recode.

Unfortunately for fans of James Corden, the Late Late Show host won’t continue to host every episode of the new stand-alone series of Carpool Karaoke, but he will reportedly continue to make appearances. Not much is known about the upcoming series aside from what is shown in the teaser trailer, except that upcoming guests include John Legend, Alicia Keys, Shaquille O’Neal, and Will Smith.

In December, 2016, Corden recorded a Christmas special of the Carpool Karaoke segment featuring Lady Gaga, Adele, and many other big stars, according to Billboard. The talk show host decided to bring his viewers one of the best TV gifts imaginable!

When Corden took singer Mariah Carey for a ride for his Carpool Karaoke segment, it all started out innocently enough. Well, hardly anyone could expect the episode to turn into an all-star sing-along Christmas celebration!

When Corden asked the “All I Want for Christmas is You” singer to name the one “best” gift she would want for Christmas, Carey hesitated for a second and said she didn’t want to ask for something that’s too expensive. But she did have one request for Corden after all!

Carey asked Corden to sing her hit festive hit song “All I Want for Christmas is You!” While it all started out as a duet singing Carey’s hit Christmas song, the episode gradually transformed into verses with almost every celebrity who has done Carpool Karaoke this year, including Selena Gomez, Adele, Elton John, Demi Lovato, Gwen Stefani and many others.

[Featured Image by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]

Share this article: ‘Carpool Karaoke’ Was Inspired By George Michael In 2011
elton john lady gaga james corden Carpool Karaoke Michelle Obama George Michael
More from Inquisitr