If you’ve always wanted to know what the “hierarchy” is behind celebrities’ seating placements on The Graham Norton Show, producer Graham Stuart has cleared up the mystery.
Stuart has explained the logic behind the seating arrangements for the long-running show. As it turns out, most of The Graham Norton Show‘s celebrity guests, ranging from Hollywood A-listers to British comedians and more, aim for “seat one” on the red sofa, as in the one next to Norton.
Speaking on The Rest Is Entertainment podcast co-hosted by Richard Osman and Marina Hyde, Stuart revealed the number one rule to “showbusiness”.
In an answer to a fan query, read out by Osman, Stuart said: “Interesting question from one of your media-savvy listeners. My answer can be summed up thus: welcome to showbusiness, where all stars are equal but some are more equal than others.
“Media hierarchy is primarily driven by publicists and seat one, which is the seat next to Graham, is the primary aim of all of them for their clients. Our sofa is so star-packed that those publicists have to work very hard to get what they want.”
BBC
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Reacting to Stuart’s revelations, Osman said that during his numerous appearances on The Graham Norton Show he never made it to “seat one”.
“I do not have a publicist. No one ever talked to me about seat one, Graham,” he said.
Stuart continued: “Here’s where we draw the curtain a bit. I leave it to you to imagine how long that process can take. After that, we aim to arrange the order to maximise chemistry.”
The show’s boss also explained the last seat on the sofa is often reserved for a “funny person” or an artist “we know will play the talk show game correctly and help create conversational flow”.
“Now, by saying somebody who knows how to play the game, it’s literally somebody who’s fun in conversation and wants to hear from other people and can throw in their own things that are funny and fun but also can be sat a fair amount of distance from Graham not to be an ego issue,” Osman said.
Photographer://BBC
Stuart then acknowledged Norton’s “extraordinary” ability to “ringmaster a soft furnishing-based line of giant egos” as a “key factor”.
“Nobody does it better,” the producer concluded.
Discussing Graham’s answer, Richard told co-host Hyde: “When Graham says ‘giant egos’ there, he’s not saying anyone’s a diva. They work in showbusiness.”
The Graham Norton Show airs Friday nights on BBC One and streams on iPlayer.
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.Â
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