At 60, slowing down hasn't crossed Graham Norton's mind. Photo / Getty Images
CANVAS MAGAZINE USE ONLY October 2023
At 60, slowing down hasn't crossed Graham Norton's mind. Photo / Getty Images
CANVAS MAGAZINE USE ONLY October 2023
Graham Norton is celebrating a year of milestones. Not only did the king of chat turn 60 in April, but the return of The Graham Norton Show this month will mark 25 years since he embarked on his renowned career as a chat show host.
Norton’s longevity is a remarkable achievement in the fickle world of entertainment but, over the decades, he’s proven he’s a master of witty banter. Every week, he creates a memorable TV party by eliciting hilarious anecdotes from a sofa packed with A-listers.
The prospect of slowing down now he’s reached 60 hasn’t even crossed his mind. On the contrary, he’s ramped up his commitments – alongside hosting a weekly radio show, writing his fifth novel, and hosting The Eurovision Song Contest for the UK, he’s presented two series of Queens of the Universe for Paramount TV+ and has just signed on to present a UK revival of Wheel of Fortune.
But Norton remains best known for his flagship BBC chat show that has turned him into a beloved figure around the globe. We caught up with him over tea for a chat about the past year and asked how he feels about reaching those two watershed moments.
Laura Linney, Dawn French, Adrian Edmondson, London Hughes and Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena and Siobhán Donaghy of the Sugababes with host Graham Norton. Photo / ITV
The show is back! How do you feel about this year marking 25 years since your first chat show, So Graham Norton, debuted?
You know, if anyone had told me 25 years ago that I’d still be excited about doing this job, I’d have thought they were crazy. But it is still a thrill. I love that that day when it’s the first show back and I’m sitting in the studio and the audience is coming in – I still get a real buzz from it. I think there are occasional times when I do take the job for granted, but never on that first show back.
This is your fourth series of doing shorter seasons of the show, down from over 30 episodes to roughly 20. Is it your plan to keep that going?
It was my idea to lop some shows off the end of the season, so now we’re on TV for just under half the year, and it’s a very nice work-life balance. I was just thinking about how I could extend my working life, and by doing it this way, it means that when I go back in September, I am excited, I’m all geared up, and I’m really looking forward to it. Whereas I think if I were working for longer, there might be a bit of fatigue setting in.
What were your standout moments from the last series?
There was one great show where it was like a proper cavalcade of stars: it was Judi Dench, Eugene Levy, Michael B Jordon, Hugh Jackman, Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, and then Pink did the music! I mean, come on. That show was firing on all cylinders. Michael Douglas and Judi Dench were very funny together, the guests were all interested in each other, and then Pink did that extraordinary performance of Trustfall with the French trampoline artist [Yoann Bourgeois]. I remember feeling, “Wow, I can’t believe all of this is happening at the same time!” Shows like that propel themselves – they have such star power in them, and the bonus is I have to do so little.
Do you stay to talk to the stars backstage?
I nearly always talk to people backstage. If it’s someone I know, I’ll go to their dressing room, or sometimes someone new to the show will ask if I can come and chat before the show, which I’m happy to do because it can just settle people’s nerves that they’re not meeting the host for the first time on TV or in front of an audience.
If they stay around I stay around. That’s often the nicest thing, that camaraderie of the debrief after the show, and people saying, “Oh, you were so funny!” “No, you were so funny!” All of that is quite fun. Judi Dench often stays behind, and Taylor Swift has stayed behind for drinks when she could just dash off in her big blacked-out car. Taylor seems to be the loveliest woman alive. You think, “You can’t be a star of that magnitude and yet be completely normal and ordinary.” And yet that’s the impression she gives; when you’re chatting to her in the greenroom afterwards, she’s just so regular. I am so, so fond of her. She’s doing a brilliant job of managing herself in what must be such a huge circus. She’s extraordinary.
It's 25 years since the chat show host's debut. Photo / Getty Images
Who’s on your dream guest list now?
We have been so lucky; we’ve had practically everybody we ever wanted on our couch. But there are still people we haven’t got: Brad Pitt still eludes us. Julia Roberts has not been on, and I am interested in those young royals, Harry, Meghan, William and Kate. I think it would be fun to have them on – maybe not together – now that some of the heat has been taken out of that situation and we’re all getting used to the idea of where Harry and Meghan live.
What would you ask Harry and Meghan about?
The most interesting part of their story was that big decision and what got them there seemingly so quickly. It didn’t take long for them to go, “Whoa, out of here!” They probably wouldn’t want to talk about that, but if I were having dinner with them, that’s the bit I’d ask about. I think there was some chat in the office about trying to get Harry on the show when his book Spare came out, but he never came to Britain to do press for it.
There is more diversity on your show than there used to be. Was that deliberate?
Yes. Diversity is important because you want the sofa to look like your audience. I think for a long time, because we are white people, we never thought about it, because we turn on the TV and we do see ourselves. It’s taken us far too long to figure out, “Oh, that’s important. That has a huge impact on young people and the shape of their dreams and how they see the possibilities in their life.”
And so, for the past few years, we’ve tried to do much better on that. And sometimes that means having people who aren’t so well known, but if we can help build somebody’s fame, then hopefully we can help them get the bigger, better roles on TV and in movies. I know people are desperate to say that the BBC is forcing woke culture on us, but this is from us [Norton’s production company, So TV, produces his show].
Were any stars a bit awkward behind the scenes?
Often, I think I’m protected from a lot of this. I will come off set and go, “They were nice,” and someone in the team will go, “Yeah, to you.” So, I see the best of them, whereas the researchers and production team get a slightly different version. It happens maybe twice a series. It’s usually younger stars. Older stars are much more comfortable in their skin, whereas young stars are slightly more self-conscious and paranoid about what impression they’re going to make. That’s often why they’re a little bit more brittle backstage.
You’ve always been a snazzy dresser, but your suits were noticeably bolder in the last series. Have you upped your style game?
The woman who puts together my clothes, Lindsey McLean, and I go through phases. Last year I had a thought of, “I’m not dead yet! I can rock something a bit wilder.” Although it literally depends on what’s in the shops, because sometimes it seems designers are only selling suits for people going to fancy funerals. So, if Lindsey sees something at all bright or shiny, she will bring it to me. It depends on the guests, too. When Michelle Williams and Brendan Fraser were on promoting very serious films, it’s quite hard to go out dressed as the court jester, so I’ll wear something more sedate on those evenings. And then if it’s a younger or a fun crowd I might wear something a bit brighter.
Lastly, how did it feel to turn 60 in April?
You know what? It was much better than I anticipated. Forty I found difficult and 50 just felt like more 40, but I just thought, “There’s no way around 60. Sixty just sounds old,” and so I thought it might be terrible. But honestly? Not. I feel fine. I celebrated by going to New Orleans because I’d never been there before. It was very quiet, just me and my husband [Norton married Jono McLeod, a film-maker, last year], and we had a lovely time. I didn’t have a big party because we had the wedding party last summer and I sort of made everybody go “Hurrah for Graham!” then. Maybe for 65 I’ll go big.
You can watch the new season of Graham Norton on ThreeNow or on Three every Thursday at 7:30pm
