Comic Champion: Adam Lambert Serenades James Corden With Hilarious Queen Parody

Unlike David Letterman, Late Late Show host James Corden didn’t have to wait three decades to get the tribute treatment. On Thursday night, on a very special episode sardonically hashtagged #ThanksJames50, Corden celebrated his 50th show with a very special version of “We Are the Champions,“ crooned by none other than current Queen frontman Adam Lambert.

Related: Adam Lambert Talks Hollywood, Hedwig, and Reaching a New ‘High’

Back in his American Idol days, Lambert was known for “making a song his own,” and he definitely did that Thursday night, switching up the Queen anthem’s lyrics to be entirely Corden-centric. "He’s paid his dues / Done 50 shows / How he survived it / God only knows / And bad mistakes / He’s made a few / Rolling the title cards five minutes in / What a dumb thing to do,” he sang. “He is James Corden, my friends / And he’ll host Late Late Show till the end!”

Corden later joined Lambert for a final cut-to-commercial chorus, and while this duet wasn’t quite as epic as when Lambert belted the song with Kris Allen (and Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor) on the American Idol Season 8 finale back in 2009, it still made for some awesome TV. And the fact that comic champion Reggie Watts, who leads the Late Late Show house band, joined in made this even more celebratory.

So when does Adam Lambert get to do “Carpool Karaoke,” huh?

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