Late night’s 7 best baseball sketches and interviews

Corden at the bat

The “fish out of water” trope has been used in comedy countless times over the years. In American late night television, it’s being used by British host James Corden on the Late Late Show. Not only is Corden dealing with the fact he didn’t grow up playing the game like most Americans, but he’s not exactly the most athletic-looking man on television.

Despite those barriers he gives baseball his best effort in this clip from 2015. The affable Corden is never afraid to make himself the focal point of a joke and here it’s no different. He manages to still call out some of the oddities of baseball culture like spitting and butt-patting. Corden also fits in a nice reference to any fans of Spinal Tap.

In terms of comedians playing baseball, Corden doesn’t show the same dedication as Will Ferrel during his five-games-in-one day spectacular. Nor does Corden have the same success at the plate as Jimmy Kimmel who smashed a home run during a 2004 celebrity game. Still, Corden should be commended for getting out there. Imagine Kimmel or Jimmy Fallon trying there hands at a British sport like soccer and you’d probably get similar results.