Ricky Gervais and James Corden love taking swipes at one another - and the savage gags have even made their way into TV shows. The comedians would seem like ideal pals, considering they are both Brits who wrote iconic series then found success in America, but there is a lof of beef.
The pair have traded many insults over the years - and recently they've been embroiled in another spat after James was accused of 'stealing' one of Ricky's most famous jokes on Monday night's The Late Late Show. But one of the most brutal gags happened in an episode of Ricky's award-winning Netflix series Afterlife, where his charater referred to Corden as a "chauffeur".
The dark comedy, which has three seasons, follows local news reporter Tony Johnson (Gervais) in the small town of Tanbury.
During one hilarious scene, Kath, played by Diane Morgan, starts discussing her ideal celebrity dinner guests, who can be dead or alive.
Announcing the number one would be James Corden, Ricky's stunned character Tony immediately shouts out "f*** off".
When Kath says they could do Carpool Karaoke together, which is Corden's popular segment on The Late Late Show, Tony replies: "Can you do Carpool Kamikaze."
She then claims the multi-talented Corden can "do anything", to which Tony retorts: "And does!"
Kath says: "I know the cool kids don't like him, but he never stops working."
Interupting her, Tony scathingly adds: "As a chauffeur, mainly."
Moving swiftly on, Kath then reveals the second perosn she'd like to meet is Princess Diana, so that she could speak about her death and finally "be at peace".
"She's not at peace. She's in a room with you and James Corden," cries Tony.
Kath goes on to reveal that the other two celebs she would pick are singer Michael Jackson and actor Rowan Atkinson, but in the form of fictional character Mr Bean.
"Worst dinner party ever," says Gervais' character, who does not hold back.
It's not the only time that Corden has been brought up in relation to Afterlife, as fans were convinced that one of the characters was based on the Gavin & Stacey star.
James, played by Ethan Lawrence, was a theatrical lad who was always getting himself into hilarious situations, so many viewers believed he was a parody of Corden.
Taking to Twitter, one joker wrote: "James Corden is so good in #AfterLife Brilliant casting @rickygervais"
"The work experience kid in After Life 2 is definitely a piss take of James Corden," added another.
A third joked: "Just finished binge watching S2 of After Life. Another total gem of a show #bafta. How did Ricky Gervais get James Corden to play the odd lad who does the dance to 'send in the clowns' and s***s himself on stage."
However, Ricky has been adamant that the character is not based on Corden, despite the fact he's called James.
"Well, he was in it before I named him actually," Gervais told LadBible - pointing out that the character was originally brought into the show as a cameo.
"The answer is no. No, I didn't, no. I never thought of the… I just wanted them to have ordinary names.
"He had a little cameo in series one where he played the recorder, and I don't think I'd even named him then."
Ricky then explained that the set up would have been "a lot of work", adding: "To cast the whole thing, to film three years, to go, 'And when he s***s himself, it's James Corden'"
The beef between the two British stars goes way back to 2009, where James depicted Ricky as a bumbling fool who was struggling to find any work in his sketch show Horne and Corden.
Matt Horne, who created the show with James and starred as Gavin in Gavin & Stacey, revealed he had he had to pull James up for acting too much like Ricky during an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
Gervais offended virtually the whole of Hollywood when he hosted the Golden Globes in 2011, but James said there wouldn't be as many bad-taste jokes when he was presenter at the Brit Awards that year.
"I'm not going to go down the Ricky Gervais road because, well, you can’t in that room, anyway – there’s a big difference between the O2 and the dining room in the Beverly Hilton," Corden told The Mirror.
The most outrageous insult came when Ricky hosted the Golden Globes again in 2020 and referred to James as a "fat p***y".
He had the audience in stitches by joking: "The world got to see James Corden as a fat p****. He was also in the movie Cats, but no one saw that."
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