Only Tom Cruise playing Pumbaa can make James Corden’s ‘Late Late Show’ farewell even better

CBS announced Friday that The Late Late Show with James Corden will be airing its final episode on April 27.

Although it’s been a fun ride, it’ll be officially time to leave the station in a few month’s time. The show will be ending altogether and experiencing a reboot courtesy of executive producer Stephen Colbert. In preparation for the upcoming finale, James Corden has invited none other than Top Gun: Maverick star and acting legend Tom Cruise to be his very special guest star. We were left wondering what Corden’s final sketch might entail, that was until The Late Late Show‘s Instagram shared an image of Corden and Cruise side-by-side in handmade Timon and Pumbaa costumes.

We’re not used to seeing Cruise in such casual attire; he’s always spotted in dashing suits with perfectly quaffed hair and chiseled good looks. It almost feels surreal to see such a dapper, distinguished gentleman wearing the face of a warthog on his body and standing next to another grown man controlling a talking meerkat puppet. What a strange world we live in.

Running for nine seasons total, The Late Late Show has grown in popularity over the years since the debut episode featured the likes of Tom Hanks and Mila Kunis, who were Corden’s first-ever guests on March 23, 2015. That particular episode, by the way, managed to reel in 1.66 million viewers, which was the show’s biggest Monday night rating in more than three years. Some recurring segments on the show include “Carpool Karaoke,” where James and his guests sing songs in the car together while driving a planned route in Los Angeles, and “Drop the Mic,” where Corden and guest “spit rhymes” (as the kids say) in an on-stage rap battle.

Cruise, who’s one of the world’s highest-paid actors, returns as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One this year. Meanwhile, Corden looks to have extra free time as his schedule clears after The Late Late Show; he hasn’t appeared on our screens in an acting capacity since 2022’s Mammals, a British black comedy about an accomplished chef who discovers shocking secrets concerning his pregnant wife. Before that, he ironically appeared as James the Mouse in 2021’s Amazon Original adaptation of Cinderella, starring Camila Cabello as the titular Disney princess.

Who knows? Maybe there’s an opening on Broadway for the two of them to appear in The Lion King musical.