James Corden certainly had his priorities in order as he delayed the start of his theatre performance to watch England play Switzerland in the Euros.
The Gavin and Stacey icon is currently starring in a new political play, The Constituent, at The Old Vic in London.
Emmy-winner James, 45, stars alongside Line of Duty actress Anna Maxwell Martin, drawing excitable crowds to the 1,000-seat venue each night.
On Saturday, however, there was a much more pressing matter to attend to before the cast got into their roles…
Gareth Southgate’s squad took on Switzerland in a nail-biting penalty shootout for a place in the semi-finals.
The game finished 1-1 but England emerged victorious after tense penalties saw them beat their opponents.
Eager not to miss any of the action, no matter the cost, comedian James set up his iPad on stage, delaying the beginning of the show by a quarter of an hour.
Becky Harris, who was in the audience, couldn’t believe her eyes, telling Metro.co.uk after the show: ‘What were the chances! James was at the side of the stage just before [the show] was due to start with his iPad watching the game.
‘Then he came out as the crowd started calling him and he brought the iPad out on stage and he and his co-star streamed the penalties.’
She continued: ‘It started buffering so a man on the front row started filling James in on what was happening.
‘James told him to come over with his phone and they all started watching it on stage together!’
She added that the performance eventually ‘started 15 minutes late’.
James told the packed venue: ‘We will just watch the England penalties then get into this serious play.’
Video footage from Becky shows James crouched down on the floor as the game streams on a tiny screen, his arm around a theatre-goer as they watch nervously.
Once England’s ball goes into the net, the former Late Late Show host cannot contain his excitement, jumping to his feet and celebrating by throwing his arms in the air, screaming.
The crowd also erupts into cheers, a real sense of camaraderie filling the old theatre.
Of course, James wasn’t the only proud patriot celebrating England’s win tonight.
Former EastEnders star Ross Kemp has become well known for his enthusiastic reactions to England’s sporting successes.
In a video shared on X, he can be seen in an England shirt saying to the camera: ‘No doubt, do not doubt who we are, who we are, do not doubt it.
‘We’ve sorted our penalties issues out. My word, how proud, how proud am I of being English today?
‘Thank you so much, how cool, how professional, you did it, you did it, you did it and we love you, we love you.’
He wrote: ‘Well done boys @England onto the semi-final.’
Before the shootout, Ross shared a video of himself in front of a bust of Queen Victoria, saying: ‘If we ever needed her, we need her now.’
He added: ‘We believe we can do this and she would definitely score a goal.’
Piers Morgan also described goal scorer Bukayo Saka as ‘England’s hero’.
He added that the player had his ‘demons demolished’ when he got his penalty in the back of the net, following his devastating miss in the Euro 2020 final.
The Arsenal star was named player of the match.
England will play the Netherlands in the Euros semi-final at 8pm on Wednesday night. The final takes place on Sunday.
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