James Corden has the best late-night response yet to Melania Trump's plagiarism scandal

James Corden plagiarizes David Letterman to mock Melania Trump

(Image credit: Late Late Show)

Stephen Colbert and Laura Benanti set a high bar for late-night comedy responses to Melania Trump (or her speechwriters) lifting entire phrases from the 2008 convention speech given by Michelle Obama, but James Corden really stepped up on Tuesday's Late Late Show. "We can all agree that plagiarism is an awful crime, absolutely deplorable, but Melania claims she is innocent," Corden said. "In fact, she had a lot of explanations, and we have them here in our brand-new segment — you guys are going to love this — it's the Late Late Show Top 10 List!"

Corden's David Letterman impersonation is not all that good, but bandleader Reggie Watts does a respectable Paul Shaffer. And the list itself is quite decent. No. 9, for example: "I'm from a communist country where we share everything — including speeches." No. 5 might have been a little risqué for the audience, and No. 2 hammers the joke home with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, but hats off to the Late Late Show team for getting the details right. "Coming up we've got Jay-walking, Mean Tweets, and Thank You Notes," Corden said after reading No. 1 — showing that CBS isn't scared to borrow from other networks as well. Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.