The Late Late Show with James Corden has given the crossover we never knew we needed by making Tom Cruise into a Lion King star.
The 44-year-old Gavin and Stacey star has been at the head of the late-night US show for over eight years and used one of his final appearances to exact’revenge’ on the 60-year-old Mission Impossible actor.
Tom has previously featured on the long-running chat programme and put James through some gut-wrenching exploits such as piloting combat planes and skydiving.
However, for an hour-long special that aired before the main CBS broadcast, James took things down a notch by landing the Top Gun actor a major part in The Lion King at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre.
To the amazement of the crowd, the duo initially appears on stage as a rhino – sharing a costume – before James reveals to Tom that this is not all he has in store for him.
‘The was amazing, I’m so proud of you,’ James told Tom as he delivered the final blow: ‘We’re not done. You’re not longer a rhino now you’re Pumbaa.’
Backstage, James and the Oblivion star went into the dressing room to turn into meerkat Timon and warthog Pumbaa, but Tom began to suffer stage anxiety.
Giving him a pep talk, James said: ‘Repeat after me. Patti LuPone. Bernadette Peters. May Bette Midler be with you.’
As they approached the stage James asked Tom: ‘Are you ready baby?’ with a terrified Tom simply responded: ‘Hmm.’
But the Hollywood legend quickly warmed up as the duo shouted out The Lion King’s legendary song Hakuna Matata to the delight of the audience.
The audience gave James and Tom a well-deserved standing ovation when they took their final bow.
Perhaps this is a new career path for Tom, who described the performance as ‘amazing’ before revealing he was invited to post-show drinks with a ‘couple of hyenas.’
Meanwhile, in the previous Carpool Karaoke segment, global megastar Adele returned to the car, this time ‘driving’ James to work.
Adele came at James’ house, waking him up with cymbals before embarking on the journey, during which they performed several of her singles and a musical performance, as well as reminiscing about his eight years on The Late Late Show.
The couple subsequently grew emotional when performing Adele’s I Drink Wine, with the singer saying that the lyrics were inspired in part by a discussion they once had.
The Late Late Show with James Corden airs on CBS in the US.