James Corden is a British entertainer, best known for hosting The Late Late Show with James Corden and the show’s most popular recurring segment, “Carpool Karaoke.” Given Corden’s down to earth nature, but buttoned up wardrobe, many fans might be wondering if James Corden has any tattoos.
James Corden does not have any tattoos. Despite sporting an impressive amount of ink during a photoshoot and creating a segment on The Late Late Show called “Tattoo Roulette,” which ends with the loser getting a real tattoo live in front of the audience, Corden has managed to remain tattoo-free in real life.
Read more below about James Corden, the photoshoot that had people wondering if Corden really had a body covered in ink, and about the unfortunate celebrity victim of “Tattoo Roulette.”
Temporary Tattoos
James Corden is the affable everyman, a father of two, and all-around good-natured host on his talk show, so some fans were surprised when he showed up shirtless on the cover of The Wall Street Journal Magazine sporting a serious amount of tattoos. Fans needn’t have worried though, as the impressive ink was fake.
Inspired by good friend Harry Styles, a member of One Direction, who has over 60 tattoos himself and often appears on The Late Late Show, Corden opted for the edgier look during the photoshoot. Tweeting about the experience, Corden wrote, “It took two hours to put on and three weeks to take off.”
“Tattoo Roulette”
That’s some serious dedication for a photoshoot, which also found its way into one of The Late Late Show’s most sadistic segments, where celebrities are made to play against each other in picking a box, and hoping it says the word “safe” instead of “tattoo.” The unfortunate star to pick “tattoo” has to get a tattoo live in front of The Late Late Show’s studio audience.
Though it has become one of Corden’s most popular segments,the members of One Direction, the London-based boy band who rode the pop airwaves to superstardom, were the first contestants to play “Tattoo Roulette.” Never one to be a poor sport, James Corden plays alongside the celebrities, too.
The rules of the game were simple enough, whoever picked the “tattoo” card, had to get a real tattoo. If it turned out to be one of the band members, they would have to get “Late Late” inked somewhere on their body, and if Corden was the unlucky recipient, he had to have “1D” the nickname One Direction fans gave the boy band at the height of their fame.
Anxious Ink
Several members of the band look incredibly nervous as they choose their boxes, but Harry Styles seems completely unaffected, saying, ‘I’m fine,” when questioned by Corden. Ultimately Styles is the winner (or loser depending on one’s opinion) of the “Late Late” tattoo, which he had placed on his forearm, right between two of his other tattoos.
You can watch One Direction and James Corden play “Tattoo Roulette” in the YouTube video below.
Many fans might have thought the segment was fake, but it was not. Though it’s impossible to say whether or not it was rigged so that Styles, the only member of One Direction who did not seem nervous about the impromptu tattoo session, wound up with the ink, he still actually sports the tattoo.
When Your Luck Runs Out
In the fall of 2019, Corden once again brought out the “Tattoo Roulette” segment when 5 Seconds of Summer appeared on the show. Much as before, one band member went home sporting a tattoo, while Corden walked away ink-free.
Though James Corden might not have any real tattoos right now, if he ever brings “Tattoo Roulette” back to The Late Late Show, his luck might just run out. Audiences will just have to wait and see if Corden ever winds up with a real tattoo.