{"id":221386,"date":"2026-01-01T08:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T08:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/221386\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T08:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T08:40:14","slug":"graham-norton-skewers-donald-trump-in-brutal-swipe-minutes-into-new-years-eve-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/221386\/","title":{"rendered":"Graham Norton skewers Donald Trump in brutal swipe minutes into New Year’s Eve show"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Graham Norton New Year\u2019s Eve Show on BBC One, which featured actors Will Arnett and Owen Cooper as guests, looked back at the highlights – and low points – of 2025<\/p>\n

01:22, 01 Jan 2026Updated 01:25, 01 Jan 2026<\/p>\n

\"grahamGraham Norton entertained viewers on BBC One last night(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

TV host Graham Norton<\/a> took aim at Donald Trump<\/a> minutes into his New Year’s Eve special last night.<\/p>\n

During his review of 2025, the veteran broadcaster was quick to turn his attention to the US President’s visit to the UK to meet the Royal Family<\/a>. Graham, 62, flashed up a photo of Melania Trump<\/a> wearing a wide-brimmed purple hat and joked she looked like “a lamp”.<\/p>\n

He then quipped that the statement headwear may have been worn to stop her husband from leaning in for a kiss \u2014 setting the tone for a night of trademark digs just minutes into The Graham Norton New Year\u2019s Eve Show<\/a> on BBC<\/a> One.<\/p>\n

The Irish comedian kept the jokes rolling, leaning into the moment as he told viewers: \u201cHe was welcomed by the King and Queen, who were clearly happy to be photographed with him \u2014 Melania, not so much.” When the camera cut back to Melania\u2019s oversized purple hat, Graham quipped: \u201cI\u2019m just a lamp. Please ignore me, I\u2019m just a lamp,\u201d before repeating, \u201cJust ignore me,\u201d while playfully mimicking her accent.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Claudia Winkleman secures huge BBC show after The Traitors success<\/a>READ MORE: Alan Carr admits ‘addiction’ meant he missed once-in-a-lifetime experience<\/a>\"grahamThe chat show host wasted no time roasting the American President(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

Yet, Graham took the gag further, Express.co.uk<\/a> reports. He added: “Actually there is a security reason why Melania always wears a hat.. A nice wide brim can literally save her from a fate worse than death”\u201d before footage showed Mr Trump attempting to kiss her on the cheek \u2014 only to be blocked by the hat.<\/p>\n

Graham looked back at the highlights \u2014 and low points \u2014 of 2025 on the festive edition of his programme. His savage swipes came minutes into the episode of the BAFTA-winning chat show, pre-recorded ahead of its BBC One and iPlayer<\/a> broadcast.<\/p>\n

Tom Hiddleston, Laura Dern and Will Arnett, alongside Owen Cooper, Carey Mulligan and Tim Key joined Graham on the red sofa to ring in the new year. Alison Limerick provided the night\u2019s music by performing her dance classic Where Love Lives.<\/p>\n

The BBC recommissioned the programme<\/a> for three more series earlier this year. Speaking at the time, the broadcaster said the programme remains one of its biggest entertainment successes, averaging 2.9 million viewers per episode across its most recent run and continuing to pull in huge numbers across social platforms including YouTube<\/a>, TikTok and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Graham, born in Dublin, Ireland, said hosting the programme remained both \u201ca pleasure\u201d and a \u201cprivilege\u201d, teasing that the team were already looking ahead to welcoming more global stars onto the sofa.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s New Year<\/a>\u2019s Eve line-up reflected that star power, with Hollywood names, British comedy favourites and breakout TV stars all joining Graham to look back on 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Graham Norton New Year\u2019s Eve Show on BBC One, which featured actors Will Arnett and Owen Cooper…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,969,93,30387,61,60,40660],"class_list":{"0":"post-221386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-graham-norton","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-the-graham-norton-show"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}