The Red Hot Chili Peppers have long been comfortable in their own skin. For example, click this link and you’ll find the band performing “Me and My Friends” at Woodstock 99, while Flea wears nothing more than his bass guitar and the skin he was born with.
The band was driving around with James Corden for the latest installment of The Late Late Show‘s Carpool Karaoke segment, and frontman Anthony Kiedis felt that Corden seemed “a bit encumbered” with his shirt on. So, as Kiedis and Flea are wont to do, the removed their shirts, and Corden, the good sport that he is, followed (birthday) suit and went topless before enthusiastically singing along to “The Zephyr Song.”
In another display of brute masculinity, the band and Corden chatted about getting in fights, which none of the passengers were really used to. When Corden claimed he “loves a good wrestle,” of course RHCP demanded he pull over the car, so that’s what they did, finding a random lawn and grappling, Corden vs. Kiedis. Poor Corden couldn’t stop laughing long enough to be a serious contender, as Kiedis quickly got advantageous positioning and tackled his opponents after a few seconds.
Of course, there was plenty of singing, and we couldn’t help but feel a bit bad, or at least weird, for guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who only joined the band in 2009 (following the departure of John Frusciante) and was therefore not involved in most of the songs that played during this segment. Still, he’s there now, and the band’s upcoming album, The Getaway, sounds promising so far, based on the piano-led and funky single “Dark Necessities.”
Watch the segment above, and let us know if you think you would fare better in a wrestling match against Kiedis than Corden did.
Image: CBS