James Corden, the relentlessly spirited pudgy guy who played Paul Potts in One Chance (which the Weinstein Co. still hasn’t released after a year in stir) and who costars in Begin Again and the forthcoming Into The Woods, will probably succeed Craig Ferguson as host of CBS’s Late, Late Show. If it happens a Brit will succeed a Scot and Corden will become the first corpulent male to host a late-night talk show. (Am I wrong? Every late-night talk show since Steve Allen has been in shape.) From my perspective Corden’s on-camera personality always seems to be happy, full of mirth, serene, always smiling. He doesn’t seem to know from glum or moody. He was put on this earth to spread cheer. One of those guys who always seems to be saying, “Oh, I love this…that’s funny!…I’m having so much fun…hee-hee-hah-hah!”

Corden, 36, broke in as a costar in Fat Friends, a British TV series that ran from 2000 through early ’05. Then came the role of Timms in Alan Bennett‘s The History Boys, which he played on the London, New York, Sydney, Wellington and Hong Kong stage as well as the 2006 film version. He co-created,co-wrote and starred in his own BBC series, Gavin & Stacey, from ’07 through ’10. He also hosted A League Of Their Own, a Sky1 comedy/sports panel show, in 2010.