James Corden: Meet the Irresistibly Charming New Host of 'The Late Late Show'

The British actor and comedian is taking over from Craig Ferguson starting March 23

Photo: Art Streiber/CBS

James Corden is taking a risk – a big risk.

The Broadway Tony winner, 36, is leaving his successful acting career in the U.K. behind and moving to Los Angeles to become the newest host of CBS’s The Late Late Show.

“I’m just this guy from a tiny town most Brits haven t even heard of, let alone Americans. This is just not something I ever thought would come my way,” the High Wycombe native tells PEOPLE of taking over for Craig Ferguson beginning March 23. “I feel like I’m a teddy bear in one of those grabber machines at the fair and I’m surrounded by more impressive teddies but for some reason it’s grabbed me even though it was going for another. I’m the one going, ‘Okay, this will be your life for a bit.’ ”

And it won’t just be his own life. Corden has brought along his wife, Julia, his son Max, 4, and daughter Carey, who was born in October.

“There are some sleepless nights,” Corden says of preparing for his new gig with a newborn at home. “But the truth is, there would be sleepless nights anyway.”

Corden – who recently starred as the Baker in the Oscar-nominated Into the Woods – is excited for his new job, but he’s a bit nervous about having to interview people for the first time.

“Every time I get in an Uber, I’m treating the driver as though they’re a big guest: ‘So, where are you from? What sort of music do you like?’ ” Corden says. “I’m just bombarding them with questions because that is really the only place I’ve got to do it. Or to our cleaner: ‘So, you always mop left to right?’ Any opportunity, really.”

“I have no idea how I’ll do,” Corden says of his new gig. “But it is not lost on me what a privilege this is. And I think I’m going to love it. I think I’m going to absolutely love it.”

For more of our interview with James Corden, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday