Getty.
Candid and deliciously camp, for more than three decades Graham Norton has been a bastion of the small screen.
Since bursting onto the scene with the first incarnation of his now-iconic chat-show format back in 1998, the Irish funnyman has had a literal who’s who on his couch, from Tinseltown legends and chart-topping musical superstars, to everyone in between.
But, despite being a ratings sensation in Australia, the TV personality hasn’t yet brought his unique brand of humour to our shores… until now, that is.
In March next year, the cheeky comic will entertain audiences across the country with tales from his decades-long career, sharing celebrity encounters and behind-the-scenes gossip.
DISHING THE DIRT
“This is not my burning bridges tour!” he chuckles, talking to Woman’s Day.
“I do want guests to come on the show again. But you know, there’s talk about some of the people who’ve maybe drunk a little more than they should have and the like, and there will be some backstabbing about people who are now dead, because that’s how cowardly I am – yes, I’ll dish on dead celebrities!”
In An Evening with Graham Norton, the nine-time BAFTA TV Award winner will embark on his first-ever Australian tour, taking guests on a journey through his 40-year-long career.
“I haven’t done a live show like this since I was in my thirties and I’m now in my sixties,” says the star. “So I kind of thought: ‘oh, I might as well do something with this’ plus, I haven’t been to Australia since 1987!”
FAME & FORTUNE
Along with the celebrity guest highs in the impressive 31 season-long run of The Graham Norton Show, he has also had some celebrity guest lows. But how does he deal with a dud?
“I’m in such a fortunate position because I’m never alone with them,” he reveals. “I always have a couch. So even if you have a boring guest, what’s good is while they’re being boring, it’s not just me and the audience thinking: ‘Jesus, shut up’, it’s other people on the couch too. So, if they pause for breath, I’ll throw a little question to one of the more interesting people.”
Thankfully, when it comes to entertaining guests, Australia usually delivers, says Graham.
“They never get too grand for it. Even someone like Nicole (Kidman) who has been famous for so long, will still make an effort. She won’t just sit there and go: ‘I’m Nicole Kidman, what more do you want?’ Because she could. But she tries, she’s still interested, she wants to hear the stories from the other guests.”
While the TV personality has built an entire career trading in the fame game, he’s managed to keep his life off-screen private, which he believes is partly due to finding fame later.
“I was older when I got any kind of success or notoriety,” he explains. “I was in my mid-thirties. I think when you start with TV, you get invited to showbiz parties, you’re excited and you go, but you only need to go to about two before you realise that these parties are all the same and they’re not that fun.
“And I think, if you’re not going to those parties, then you’re not being photographed and you’re not in the papers and people kind of forget about you…there’s a lot of things you can do to keep your life lowkey.”
Though Graham is happy to avoid the spotlight, his marriage to Scottish filmmaker, Jonathan ‘Jono’ McLeod, in July 2022 made a splash in the world’s press – especially as he’d previously said that he never thought he’d tie the knot.
FINDING LOVE
“I suppose that I didn’t have anyone to marry,” he says. “You really need someone else to do it! So when I say I was ‘surprised’ I did it, it was because, by the time I was turning 50, it didn’t seem like that was going to happen for me.
“You know, a lot of my friends had met their long term partners and I hadn’t. I was very happy being single. But then I did find someone and we’d been together for six years, and it happened!”
While Graham, at the age of 61, says that his defining characteristic now is that he’s “old”, his energy and workload rival that of a 20-something.
“I remember when I turned 50, thinking, ‘it’s all downhill from here,’ but then I started writing novels, so now, if I lived to 80, I will have been writing novels for 30 years. When you’re young, you think you have to hurry up and do everything, but as you get older, it’s nice to realise that you have more time than you thought.”
Tickets for ‘An Evening with Graham Norton’ are available to purchase now from Ticketek
