He's gay, naughty and tops in Britain

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Registered: 03-18-2000
He's gay, naughty and tops in Britain
8
Wed, 06-23-2004 - 8:56pm
We watched his show on late night BBCAmerica. The show was British made & really funny. I don't know how it will go down, no pun intended, in the US. Sometimes they're ruined in 'translation' catering to an American audience. There's definitely a humour gap although I can't define it, maybe Brit's laugh as sillier things, a delight in plays on words or the sublime & ridiculous. As I said I don't understand the difference, just know there is one. Any thoughts?

Looking forward to his US show.


And now Graham Norton has an American show.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/23/apontv.graham.norton.ap/index.html


"I need something loud," says Graham Norton as he swishes through the designer collections at Bergdorf Goodman on a recent shopping spree.


He proceeds to pull a lipstick-red Jil Sander jacket from its hanger, then snatches a sunburst yellow shirt and muted blue trousers by Theory and a Dolce & Gabbana denim shirt.


An unabashed queer eye for haute couture, Norton has been named GQ's "worst-dressed man" for two consecutive years.


"Isn't it just wrong?" he says, pointing to an ad with a long-haired Adonis in a dizzyingly colorful sports coat.


"I really think it's the gay thing," Norton snickers. "All of these supposedly heterosexual fashion editors at GQ and Esquire say Orlando Bloom or David Beckham is the best-dressed man.


"But what they're really saying is that they fancy them, because all they're wearing is jeans and a T-shirt. I don't think they hate me because I'm gay. I think they hate me because I'm not beautiful."


A comment like that might seem dispiriting, but such is the off-kilter charm of the host of Comedy Central's "The Graham Norton Effect," which debuts 10 p.m. EDT Thursday.


It's the same wry, saucy wit that has bolstered the comic's popular British chat show, "So Graham Norton," where mischievous humor, naughty Web sites and erotic sex toys are as much a part of the shtick as his deafeningly loud suits.


"I don't feel personally judged by GQ," says Norton, dressed this day in a stripped blue oxford shirt, blue jeans and white moccasins. "They've only seen me in my bright shiny suits."


'I'm doing my silly little show'

Billed as a "peep show-side show-talk show," the weekly "Graham Norton Effect" will mimic his irreverent, 6-year-old U.K. show, a witty hodgepodge of "The Larry Sanders Show," "Late Night With David Letterman," "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" and "Dame Edna's Hollywood."


Although it will be taped at Manhattan's Chelsea Studios, with an initial run of 13 weeks, Norton says his new show "really will be the same show."


That means no monologue and no desk, and more "Let's Make a Deal"-style games with the audience and unusual comedic antics with the guests.


"I'm not doing just a talk show," he says. "I'm doing my silly little show."







Norton
Norton tries on clothes. He's been named "worst-dressed" by GQ two years in a row.


This silly little show began as "quite a cult hit" in Britain, says co-executive producer Graham Stuart. "It was expected that we would have a young audience, and a lot of gay people.


"But, surprisingly, very quickly everybody came to the show," including a wide variety of celebrity guests including Naomi Campbell and Sophia Loren.


Norton has surfed porn sites with Joan Collins and Carrie Fisher, and engaged in priceless comedic scenarios with Dustin Hoffman, Cher and John Malkovich.


"Madonna's my big get," says Norton, "but in the end, the Madonna I want is the Madonna from six years ago. Now she's a working mother of two, everything's about kaballah. I'm not sensing fun with a capital F."


Norton's shows are definitely not for the prudish.


"He's really naughty," purrs Lauren Corrao, a programming executive at Comedy Central. "He gets celebrities to do things you'd never think they'd do (and) he plays with the audience in a way that nobody else does."


Says Jon Magnuson, Norton's longtime producer: "Essentially what's funny about it on a basic level is it's silly. But we have to work quite hard to make things seem easy."


'Our timing isn't great, but funny's funny'

In this era of post-Janet Jackson puritanism, it may be even harder to get away with some of Norton's racier stunts.


"We're still feeling the ripple of the nipple," says Norton of the Federal Communication Commission's current crusade for media decency. "Our timing isn't great, but funny's funny. In the end we're going to make our show and they'll beep it and blur it and you still get the joke. But for some weird reason, you just can't be seeing it."


Formally trained as an actor at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, the 39-year-old Irish comic got his big break in 1997 when he was nominated for the Perrier comedy award at the Edinburgh Festival, which led to a raft of TV offers in Britain.


But to have a show in America has long been his goal.


"Now I sound so ambitious," he says, laughing. "It really was just kind of a pipe dream. I've done very little proactively to make this happen."


In the end, he says fame is his ultimate ambition.


"The best bit of the play is at the end with everyone clapping and going, 'Woo-hoo, we like you! Well done!' " he says. "That's what you work towards."


To eventually be deemed "best-dressed" would be nice, too.


Back at Bergdorf's, Norton spots a pair of white Keanan Duffy cotton jeans with silver piping, pearls and rhinestones on the pockets.


"Oooh, I like that," he coos. "It's my attraction to shiny things. It catches my shiny eye."

cl-Libraone~

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Thu, 06-24-2004 - 10:36am

ARRGH!!


iVillage Member
Registered: 05-18-2004
Thu, 06-24-2004 - 4:29pm
No cable? I take it that it isn't available in your area?
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2003
Thu, 06-24-2004 - 4:31pm

Where's a Bill the Cat Awwkkk! Thwppppt! emoticon when you need one?


Graham Norton is hillarious, but the show won't be the same without the British audience and the out of their element American guests promoting their show, movie, book, or whatever.


They are either much more laid back & informal than we usually see them because they aren't expecting to be seen by 'us,' or they're in a befuddled fog wondering what the heck their agent has gotten them into. Those are the best ones, but unfortunately most of them catch on fairly quickly and start playing along, but then, that's fun to watch, too. ;0)

Renee

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Fri, 06-25-2004 - 12:05am

Noooo...I live in-city...we have cable available (have for 25+ years).


iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2003
Fri, 06-25-2004 - 4:56pm

Whadda ya know? We found one more thing in common. If I had to rely on comcast for my tv service, I'd do without, to. That is without a doubt the the company with the worst customer service I've ever encountered (and believe me, I run ito some doozies).


In fact, at home I'm stuck wiht a a 26k dial up connection because my only high speed choice is comcast or comcast. Oh happy day when dsl comes to my neighborhood.

Renee

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-18-2004
Fri, 06-25-2004 - 5:04pm
I'm stuck with comcast and feel the same way. Monopolies are great. Hey now if he needs golf channel shows let me know....I can tape and send away...great channel. But then again being a white male conservative I'm expected to like golf. (although I really am pretty pitiful at it) :)
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Fri, 06-25-2004 - 6:23pm

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2003
Fri, 06-25-2004 - 8:24pm
<>

I agree. What would PBS do without BBC?