James Corden Regrets Virtual Audience When It Turns Out to Be Muppet Hecklers Statler and Waldorf

It's been more than three months since James Corden has been able to conduct a proper "Late Late Show" in front of an audience. And for a performer, that feels like forever.

All of the late-night hosts have been lamenting the challenges of performing comedy without that instant feedback from a live audience. There's also the loss of energy from a crowd that can really invigorate a set.

Well, James thought he'd stumbled upon a solution with a new company that offers virtual audiences only to find out it was actually every performer's worst nightmare. The virtual audience was only two people. Even worse, those two people were Statler and Waldorf.

Two of the funniest members of the extended Muppets family, Statler and Waldorf are most famous to long-time fans as the two old guys sitting in box seats on the original "Muppet Show" and just trashing everything Kermit the Frog and company tried to do.

They were "Mystery Science Theater 3000" before creator and original host Joel Hodgson was even out of high school. They are the gold standard in masterful heckling, but that also makes them an absolute nightmare to try and perform in front of, as James quickly found out.

James was clearly feeling the pressure and, predictably, it was a disaster from the jump, and only got worse from there. Finally, a frustrated James tried to turn the tables on them by slinging insults at them, only to find it's harder than he realized.

"You two, here's one, the both of you, you both-- give me a minute," he stammered.

"Take the whole hour," Waldorf shot back, followed by Statler: "Yeah, and wake us when you're funny."

Thankfully for James, Kermit and Fozzie Bear jumped in to try and salvage his monologue before realizing they have an even better solution.

The beautiful thing about the Muppets is they don't really need any reason to show up on pretty much any talk show or game show and it's always a delight when they do.

In this case, though, they are promoting their triumphant return to television via the new streaming series "Muppets Now."

Described as an "unscripted series featuring three different segments of a game show, a cooking show, and a talk show," we can only hope it's as random and entertaining as their appearance here.

The Muppets have been delighting audiences for generations now with their ad-libbed humor and madcap antics. After two successful films in the early 2010s, Jim Henson's creations were last seen in the short-lived ABC series "The Muppets" from 2015 to 2016.

Despite tinkering with the format midway through, the "Office"-style mockumentary approach didn't seem to sit well with the characters or their audiences. "Muppets Now" is more improv based, which is exactly where the Muppets shine best.

Could Disney have finally found that Muppet magic that made them such fan-favorites throughout the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. Fans will find out when "Muppets Now" hits Disney+ on July 31. In the meantime, you can check out the official trailer below for a hint of the star-studded action to come:

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