Harry Styles Was the Best Surprise Host in James Corden's Absence

The audience for James Corden's The Late Late Show got a shock on Tuesday when the curtains parted to reveal... uh, not James Corden. Instead, music powerhouse Harry Styles appeared to take over hosting duties for the evening, filling in for Corden, whose wife had just given birth to their third child.

After joking that Corden had been deported back to England for one too many jokes at Donald Trump's expense -- and despite having come to the set directly from visiting the newly-augmented Corden family at the hospital, with only two hours' notice -- Styles proved to be just as gifted at late night hosting as he is at pretty much everything else, getting big laughs from the audience during his opening monologue and holding his own in interviews with guests Owen Wilson, Jane Krakowski, and Joel Edgerton.

Of course, as Styles was quick to point out, that doesn't mean we should expect to see him back on The Late Late Show stage again; the hosting gig still belongs to Corden, and Styles was on the docket for one night only... "unless CBS likes what they see," he added, tossing off a wink.

(Full disclosure: TV Guide is owned by CBS.)