All you need to know about George Michael can be found in a James Corden video that presaged his “Carpool Karaoke” franchise.
“Don’t put your sad face on,” Corden says in the sketch with gay-theme banter.
Michael eventually relents and sings in the first vehicular karaoke bit.
“My original idea was to pick George Michael up from prison in a car,” Corden told host Stephen Colbert on ‘The Late Show.’ “And then we realized, ‘Maybe we’ll lose the prison, but what if there’s still some fun for me and George to be in the car and we’ll sing some Wham! songs?’ “
Michael did in fact have parts in Red Nose Day — the second of a series of BBC telethons raising tens of millions of dollars.
A week before Michael’s death on Christmas Day, fans were longing for a reprise of the bit with his former Wham partner.
“@JKCorden can you Uber Pool Christmas Karaoke, first picking up George Michael and later Andrew Ridgeley and sing Last Christmas?” tweeted Phillip Anaya.
@JKCorden can you Uber Pool Christmas Karaoke, first picking up George Michael and later Andrew Ridgeley and sing Last Christmas?
— Phillip Anaya (@texanaya) December 18, 2016
If you’re a fan of @JKCorden’s #CarpoolKaraoke, you might have George Michael to thank. https://t.co/sKU60pbrFi
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) December 26, 2016