On Wednesday night’s The Late Late Show, Melissa McCarthy stepped in for James Corden as host and had on Mariah Carey to perform a Christmas tune — no, not that Christmas tune, but “Christmas Time Is in the Air Again,” from her 2010 album Merry Christmas II You. Carey delighted the Studio 56 audience with her performance of the holiday ballad while wearing a sparkling silver gown and lush furs.
McCarthy kicked off the show with a monologue about her “inclusion robe,” made to recognize all the different holidays and cultural traditions happening around this time of year, as well as some more random selections.
“Let’s not forget the Queen of England,” she said, gesturing toward a doll of the British royal on her robe. “Lotta Brits watching this show. I didn’t wanna leave them out. Here’s what’s really cool: She’s 93 now, so this is to scale. This is her actual size.”
McCarthy also continued a long-running gag of Corden’s, “Celebrity Noses.” The bit is that the host of The Late Late Show attempts to do a segment called Celebrity Noses, but is interrupted constantly by outside forces until they run out of time. McCarthy was very confident she could pull off the sketch that Corden has failed so consistently, but suffice it to say…well, watch the clip.
For another sketch, McCarthy appeared with actress Allison Janney, going over all of the films this year they had apparently been cut from: Cats, Little Women, Star Wars. This led to Janney and McCarthy acting out parodies of each film, including a very Eighties-style rendition of Cats and a lightsaber battle with DIY sound effects.