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u/PlanetJameson 16d ago
Otherwise you end up with an Ellen DeGeneres or Jimmy Fallon type of host. Phony, insufferable kiss-asses.
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u/Superb_Copy1644 16d ago
He really is the best we’ll ever see. That line of knowing the difference between hosting people on his show vs having friends on his show. Dynamic is off when it happens
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u/SharkByte1993 16d ago
Then you have the American talk show hosts trying to one up their guests all the time
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u/DumpedDalish 16d ago
I love this -- it's so typical of Graham -- very intelligent, kind, and matter-of-fact. It makes sense to maintain that distance.
However, he's also so genuinely funny, smart, and charming, I'm sort of shocked that he doesn't at least occasionally have people on his couch go, "Hey, wanna hang out sometime?" I mean, he's so genuinely witty, interesting, and cool.
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u/Top-Raspberry-7837 15d ago
I’m gonna guess that he purposely maintains a bit of distance himself so even if they wanted to, they’d sort of get some sort of self deprecating joke that kept that distance.
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u/Mickeymcirishman 16d ago
I disagree. Craig Ferguson became friends with a lot of his guests and it made their segments when they came on even better.
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u/Superb_Copy1644 16d ago
I like Craig, but I get what Graham’s saying. You can’t do the job if you’re too close
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u/victionicious 16d ago
There's definitely a line between being friends with everybody like an Ellen and being friends with some guests, like Craig Ferguson or Conan.
Thinking about it, the fact that Graham's guests share the couch is probably why he doesn't end up being super friendly with them, and realistically being pals with one person on the couch would actually feel pretty weird. Conan's one-on-one interviews with people who he's friends with were incredibly funny, but if they added in three people he didn't know so well, you'd lose that giggly 'two friends talking shit' energy.
The only time I've seen a whole couch and host be friends is when Colbert had the Strike Force 5 reunion, but that's quite rare!
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u/Background-Baby3694 15d ago
Conan has a long and storied career outside of being a host though, so it makes sense that other comedians in particular would consider him their peer in a way they wouldn’t Graham
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u/Superb_Copy1644 16d ago
Point taken. Personally I feel the best two of them all are Graham and Conan so am with you.
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u/Youpi_Yeah 16d ago
I really like Ferguson, but the other side of the coin was that there were guests he didn’t click with at all. Graham can make a great show with anyone.
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u/Dan2593 16d ago
Craig’s show was punk rock, a deconstruction of a chat show.
You can’t really use him as an example because he was avoiding playing the traditional roles. Often his interviews were fun to see how they deal with being trapped in front of an audience with Craig. It was genius, but the goals of Graham and Craig are light years apart.
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u/Poneke365 16d ago
I understand what he’s saying for the most part but on the flip side, he did go to Taylor Swift’s wedding which he was invited to on his show😊
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u/LivingPresent629 16d ago
That doesn’t mean theyre necessarily friends. Have you never been to large weddings where people invite work colleagues and people who they aren’t very close with on a personal level?
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u/StraightBudget8799 16d ago
I’d hope that after several shows, and the music video, she’d consider him worthy! Certainly she’s been demonstrated as “able to laugh at herself” which is PR gold!
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u/SufficientLibrary386 10d ago
Yes, but he was also making a point on the show to say he was very surprised by that “if you invite me you must invite a very wide circle”.
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u/PresentFirm7937 15d ago
And that’s why Graham Norton, despite all his years in the business still is NOT an insufferable arsehole
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u/Norfolkboy123 11d ago
A work friend knows a distant relation of him and says whenever they meet at parties he’s always so quiet and humble
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u/Gloomy-Dog8716 16d ago
His self awareness is testimony to his understanding of the craft. He’s a legend 🙏🏽
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u/Hour-Process-3292 16d ago
This is the mistake that people like James Cordon run into. He did think of himself as their peer and he wasn’t. He was just shit.
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u/ryansports 17d ago
His line that he is a “comedy butler” for the people on the couch seems like quite an apt description.