by Whenever Hollywood stars come to town, Graham Norton’s couch is where they want to be.
Ask any A-lister – a spot on his Friday night chat show is a high point in his soulful promotional ’round’.
Even us civilians can see why. The visiting celeb gets to undo their top button or shake their hair, vibe with other celebrities, and down a glass of wine on TV (verbotn in the United States, even on late-night talk shows).
The genial host blows a bit of smoke up their latest project, and gets to present a relaxed, edgier side to the viewing public: a cheeky swear word here, a risque anecdote about a body part there, all pre-cleared by publicity teams transatlantic, of course. Cut it up, watch it go viral.
Cameron Diaz, you’ve tried laser hair removal ‘down there’, haven’t you? Adele, do you remember when you went out for a pint of milk wearing only a poncho, and thanks to a gust of wind you dodged a passing bus? Dear Patrick Stewart, remind us of the time you asked your doctor to check if you were circumcised…
Sympathetic laughter with understanding from the audience in the studio. It’s all sassy and good-natured, the great weekend start-here unwind, and Norton is undoubtedly great at generating fun. He even described himself as the show’s “comedy butler”.
This year marks 25 years since Norton started his first TV chat show and, with The Graham Norton Show for free, now in its 31st series, it has worn the schtick for some time. For a fun Friday night in, you’ll need: a Hollywood legend with a new movie out, an easy-on-the-eye star or two, a cheeky British comedy (usually one under contract to the BBC) and, to close. , a musical number from a new band that is a bit edgy.
In his time, Our Graham has cummed with some excellent guests. Last year, he finally lured Julia Roberts onto his couch – said to be one of the last big stars to stay on – and, sitting between Cher and Tom Hanks, got her to talk about her three children , about how A beautiful woman originally written “much darker”, and to be busted in the studio for supporting Man Utd. In an age without TV watercooler moments, he was approaching one.
“There’s an alchemy to the night that you can’t predict,” he says. Except sometimes, you can. And the audience at home is the first to notice when the chemistry is off.
Last Friday, the guest list consisted of only four actors, which is always a red flag: Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Da’vine Joy Randolph, Kingsley Ben-Adir, everyone who No point answer. The twist was music The Last Dinner Partya posh, all-female, five-piece rock band that won the BBC’s Sound of 2024 TV show. (Hello, dumpster.)
Social media was immediately under siege, so out came the knives, with X/Twitter users calling it the worst couch line ever.
“For the first time, I have no idea who these people are,” wrote one viewer. Others said: “Do you want all those who have no understanding of anyone? Not scooby doo” and “Maybe the worst Graham Norton guests ever tonight. Amazing.”
The “amateur band from an all-girls public school” came in especially: “Fall art school”, “Why does every new indie band sound like they went to school with Emerald Fennell?”, “I wonder who is it a famous mummy or daddy who got them a place on TV?”.
Randolph, who has since been nominated for an Oscar for his role in The Holders, the audience seemed to be as low as the audience, and they hardly cared to tell her about the time she was held up in a restaurant without interest. She’s clearly in awe of the Big Red Chair – everyone’s favorite piece, where an audience member is invited to tell a story and is allowed to walk away unscathed or be turned over backwards in the seat, depending on her yarn – she suggested that she would. an incident never seen before. Like it’s a hardship or something.
Norton, until recently the BBC’s third-highest-paid star, has been king of the TV sofa circuit since the late 1990s, when he unexpectedly won a Bafta after a barely-remembered stint as a host on Channel 5 on him. The Jack Docherty Show. But after a quarter of a century in charge, can he say his heart is still in it? Michael Parkinson’s self-titled chat show ran for 25 years, on and off, between 1971 and 2007 before calling it a day.
Norton recently turned 60, and has not been married for long. When he decides he has better things to do than find self-promoting celebrities for our entertainment, there is no obvious national successor in the shape of a treasure in the wings. Claudia Winkleman? Alan Carr? Ryan?
And he already has more than the chat show to go on. He has novels to churn out during his summer sojourn at his home in the west of Ireland, a book podcast to record, a supermarket wine collection to sample (what?) and, urgently at the moment, a low-rent Saturday tea quiz . Wheel of Fortune to rescue. (Bring the live studio audience – and get a Carol Smillie type to turn the letters around…).
As in life, the most important thing is not how you come back from it. So, after last week’s Nadir, who will be on the Norton chat show couch tonight? With the season of the Oscars, we are promised at least five Hollywood actors (Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Bryce Dallas Howard and Daniel Kaluuya) and, to add to the joy, the comedian Kevin Bridges.
Five actors? My internal panel is flashing red. It could go either way. And if it goes down hard, social media will have something unkind to say.
