Watch James Corden try to impress stony-faced Apple execs in two minutes of your life that you’re never getting back

Alan Martin September 19, 2016

Apple commercials have always been a mixed bag, and it’s hard to know which way they’re going to go next. Some have been po-faced and injected with self-importance (“Think different”) while others have been jolly slapstick fun (Cookie Monster, take a bow you marvelous furball.)

It seems like Apple are on the fun-loving phase of advertising at the moment, and have roped in James Corden to help them out. That’s not too surprising, given Apple Music has recently commissioned 16 episodes of his Carpool Karaoke for the service, but he (and Pharrell, briefly) are on hand to promote Spotify’s rival as well.

Here’s the plot: James Corden – the fella who used to be on Gavin and Stacey and Teachers, and now finds himself a late-night talk show host in America – is pitching advert ideas for Apple Music. They’re deliberately ridiculous, overly-complex, or both. Apple’s executives – Jimmy Iovine, Bozoma Saint John and Eddy Cue all playing themselves – shoot down bad idea after bad idea, explaining that they just want to focus on Apple Music’s good points, before listing them out in a somewhat stilted, unnatural fashion. james_corden_apple_ad

It’s… not great. My critique would be that it’s around 100 seconds too long. Which sounds bad, but gets even worse when you look at your watch and realise the whole feat of endurance only lasts for two minutes.

I urge you to think carefully before you press play. The two minutes of your life you are about to lose are never coming back, so consider carefully whether there’s something better you could do. Maybe you could phone a relative? Do some push-ups? Learn a magic trick?

No? Alright, here it is:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=CQY3KUR3VzM

There’s something of an irony in James Corden pitching terrible ad ideas to Apple execs in an advert that turns out to be on a par with the bad suggestions. Maybe that was the intention all along, and I’m just too dumb to get it.