Despite frequently featuring Kiwi guests on his talk show and collaborating with local winemakers Invivo on several best-selling tipples, Graham Norton has never been to New Zealand. The closest he’s got is Australia, which he visited in 1987 while on his summer break from attending drama school in London.
The Irish comedian, 61, recalls, “I stayed in a lovely suburb of Melbourne and, honestly, it was amazing. When I’d watch Neighbours in the UK, I thought it was just a stupid soap opera, but then I got to Bundoora and Neighbours seemed like a searing documentary – people really did have spice racks and collections of dried flowers in their houses!”
Hosting Wheel of Fortune
Fortunately, Graham’s setting things right when he tours Aotearoa this month and next with his live show An Evening With Graham Norton. But if you can’t wait that long for another dose of the entertainment icon, you can get an extra dose of him on screen as host of Wheel Of Fortune With Graham Norton.
So what does he bring to the classic game show?
“I’ve no idea,” he laughs. “I know the rules, which I feel is important. Hopefully, I’m friendly. And hopefully, I make people less nervous rather than being more nervous!”
Growing up in Ireland, Graham enjoyed watching game shows and would often dream of being on one himself – but not as the host.
“I wanted to be the person winning the money or I wanted to be a guest on the chat show. It never crossed my mind I’d be the other guy. But as you get older, you realise it’s much better to be the other guy because you’re on every week – and also, hopefully, you’ll be there for longer.
The early days of hosting on TV
“When I started doing chat shows, there were guests we were desperate to get who now we wouldn’t cross the road to say hello to. But I’m still on the show, so in the end, I’m very happy I’ve ended up the host.”
The Graham Norton Show aired for 23 seasons since 2007 and, in that time, most of Hollywood’s big names have made at least one appearance.
“We thought we’d never get George Clooney, then we had George Clooney,” Graham says. “We thought we’d never get Julia Roberts – now we’ve had Julia Roberts. Of the big Hollywood ones, the only outstanding whale is Brad Pitt. We’ve never had Brad Pitt, so if Brad is reading this…”
Kiwi guests, like Sir Sam Neill and Rose Matafeo, and Aussies, such as Margot Robbie and Toni Collette, tend to be “very good guests”, says Graham. “They tend not to be in an ego bubble. They tend to be quite interested in the other people on the couch, which makes them already a better guest, so they’re all good.”
Moments from Graham’s show often go viral, a recent one being actress Saoirse Ronan’s comment about women’s safety. Graham didn’t know it would blow up, but he says, “I knew it was a good moment. She got a round of applause. Everyone was delighted. But then it was like, suddenly, Saoirse Ronan was Germaine Greer!”
On the success of his talk show
As for the secret to the show’s success, Graham is clueless.
“The reason I still enjoy it – which kind of amazes me that I’ve been doing something for so long and still enjoy it – is that no matter how much preparation and work you put in, on the night, you still don’t know what you’re going to get.”
One of the advantages of his show is that he has several guests on the couch, so that if one person isn’t very chatty, he can talk to someone else.
“If it was just me and Robert De Niro, that would be quite a long evening,” he admits. “I’d end up sweating bullets, I imagine. But because I have him on with other people, you realise, ‘Oh, he’s not having a horrible time. He just doesn’t like talking.’
“You see him react to things and he sits there with a benign smile, but you’re just never going to get a story out of him. When I was younger and less experienced, that kind of stuff would freak me out. But now I’m more relaxed.”
Graham will celebrate his 62nd birthday on 4 April, but he insists he’s not going to call time on his chat show soon.
“Either the BBC, audiences or a doctor will tell me when it’s time to stop,” he says. “There are a lot of people who are going to pull the plug on this thing, so I might as well keep going while I can!”
For tickets to An Evening With Graham Norton, click here. The Graham Norton Show screens 7.30pm Thursdays and Wheel Of Fortune With Graham Norton screens at 7pm Fridays, both on Three and streaming on ThreeNow.
