Years ago, very early doors, we were having Dustin Hoffman on and he\u2019s a big name. But I was thinking, oh god, it\u2019s going to be so serious and dull because of all those stories about him being a method actor \u2026 and he came on and he was like a clown. He was just so funny, wanted to tell jokes, he just wanted to have a nice time and [I] discovered the pleasure of being Dustin Hoffman. There have been others over the years, but he\u2019s the one that sticks in my head as being the most pleasant surprise. There have been some that went the other way \u2026<\/p>\n
Have you ever got along so well with a guest that you have become friends after a show? – Aaron<\/p>\n
Not really. There is such a gulf between the couch and my chair. Often the guests become friends, but I am, in the end, sort of their comedy butler. I\u2019m just there to oil the wheels of conversation and hope that everything goes well. I went out for dinner with Stanley Tucci a couple of times, and \u2026 Helen Mirren, but then really that was because I live near her. Tina Fey, but that was because I worked with her on something else, so it\u2019s rarely because of the show that I get to know the celebs. <\/p>\n
Norton hosted The Graham Norton Effect in 2004. <\/p>\n
What\u2019s one thing that you\u2019re really proud of achieving? – Sarah<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to narrow down, but I suppose not having to get a proper job is the thing I\u2019m proudest of. I remember back when I was a failed actor, working in restaurants, I remember when I started making enough money doing stand-up that I was able to give up the restaurant job and still pay my rent. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever been prouder than that. That was the moment that my whole life changed, where I was my own boss, I was creating my own work and doing something I wanted to do. And so everything else has been butter on bacon, as they say in Norway. That might sound pretentious, but it\u2019s genuinely the thing I was proudest of and still am.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve been a professional agony uncle over the years. Is honesty always the best policy? – Sophie<\/p>\n
No, it is not! Everybody knows that. There are times when it pays to lie. It\u2019s kinder to lie. No one is going to thank you for that particular truth. There are times when yes, you need to be honest with people; if they\u2019re sailing off into the land of delusion or they\u2019re interested in a dating situation in a certain way and you think, no you\u2019re wrong. Then I think it\u2019s important to be honest, but so many times in life, it is just kinder to tell a lie. If it doesn\u2019t hurt anybody and in fact, it avoids pain.<\/p>\n
You visited New Zealand earlier this year. How special was it to visit the winery that produces the wine that carries your name? – Phil<\/p>\n
You know what? It was very special. And I knew it was going to be because I\u2019d never been there before, so I was going to see all these places and meet all these people, but it still took me by surprise. It was really special because when you\u2019re there, you realise, wow, these people are kind of at the top of their game. These people are producing some of, if not the best, sauvignon blanc in the world \u2013 that\u2019s what their passion is. And I love meeting people who are passionate about something that I don\u2019t know much about because it\u2019s contagious. And also, we sat outside and had this lunch in a garden in Marlborough and, yeah, I have to say the wine did hit differently sitting there in the sunshine. <\/p>\n
What is your greatest indulgence? – Kevin<\/p>\n
Time! I waste an awful lot of time.<\/p>\n
How can that be? You are so prolific.<\/p>\n
I do give [that] impression and when people list everything I\u2019m up to, I do think, \u201cI sound really busy\u201d. But you don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve been sitting in a room for three days staring at a wall. I just work in little bursts. So time is my greatest indulgence and I feel like I ought to use it better. Because as you get older, you think, isn\u2019t time supposed to be more precious than this? I\u2019m not supposed to be phone scrolling. I\u2019m 62, I\u2019ve got things to do. <\/p>\n
What have your guests taught you about success? – Courtney<\/p>\n
We all think becoming successful is the hard bit, but actually hanging on to success is the hard bit. Over the years, I\u2019ve interviewed so many people who are the actor or actress of the moment, the hitmaker, and we\u2019re so excited to have them on the show and it\u2019s a big deal \u2013 and now, we wouldn\u2019t thank you for them. It\u2019s those big ones who still have that drawing power. You look at someone like Cher and that is a career. She\u2019s maintained her stardom, and in fact I would say increased it. She\u2019s not just another famous person \u2013 she\u2019s her own kind of myth and legend and icon. That\u2019s the thing to aim for. <\/p>\n
Ewan McGregor and Sam Neill play the ukulele on Graham Norton. Photo \/ Youtube<\/p>\n
Do you think some of those younger stars take a little bit of that away from you and your career as well?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know. There are different young performers I meet: the ones who think they have done it, that they\u2019ve cracked it and you\u2019re just thinking, \u201cyou have no idea. You\u2019ve got one hit series and that does not make a whole career\u201d. Then there are the young people who might not even be as famous as that other one, but they\u2019re on the couch and you can see them working. You can see them thinking and just being smart. And you think, you\u2019re going to last, you\u2019re going to be around for a while \u2013 even if you\u2019re not a big star, you\u2019ll work, you\u2019ll find success in something because you\u2019re not taking it for granted. You\u2019re still engaged and curious and ambitious. And I think those are the things young people need. I imagine they look at me and think, \u201chow sad, he\u2019s still working\u201d. <\/p>\n
How is Graham Norton at 62 different from Graham Norton at 26? – Hamish<\/p>\n
I have a new shoulder! After I got home from New Zealand and Australia [in April], I went under the knife and got a new shoulder \u2013 so that\u2019s a difference. But at 26, I was more judgmental and snarky and less tolerant. I had very fixed ideas. I felt there were things that were right and wrong, and good people and bad people. And by 62, the edges get knocked off and you figure out life\u2019s not that simple and really, most of us live our lives in a kind of blurry grey area and we\u2019re lucky to just muddle through. <\/p>\n
Is there a biggest or most memorable gaff you\u2019ve made while interviewing someone? – Jan<\/p>\n
I was talking to Elizabeth McGovern, from Downton Abbey. She came on and I said, \u201cplease welcome Elizabeth McGovern\u201d. But then, during the show, I don\u2019t know why, but I said her full name rather than just calling her Elizabeth. And I saw her little face kind of react and I thought, what was that about? And it turned out I was calling her Elizabeth Montgomery \u2013 who is the dead star of Bewitched. Bless her, she didn\u2019t say anything \u2013 she just let me do it. But that\u2019s as bad as it gets, if you can\u2019t get the guest\u2019s name right!<\/p>\n
Taylor Swift will be on the couch for one of your first shows this season. What\u2019s your favourite Swift era? – Jen<\/p>\n
Oh! I liked both of her lockdown ones. But I like the early stuff too. It\u2019s all good. And I am excited to hear this new album \u2013 I guess I might get a bit of an early listen. I can tell you, it\u2019ll be a big day in this house when the Taylor Swift album arrives. That is a testament to her, isn\u2019t it? That there\u2019s some 62-year-old gay man excited about her music. Maybe she should pack up!<\/p>\n
If you were a Late Night host in the US right now, how would your show be different? – Mark<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think it would be. I think it would be the same because we got rid of politics and topical jokes quite a long time ago \u2013 they are divisive. They do alienate bits of your audience, and I don\u2019t want to do that. I think the big difference in Britain is that we still have news. You can watch the news, and there\u2019s decent analysis of current affairs and what\u2019s going on, so you don\u2019t need the host of a Late Night show to tell you what\u2019s happening. Whereas in America, their news is so bad that people genuinely, I think, tune into Late Night shows to get their news. And it might be jaundiced, and it might be full of jokes, but it\u2019s better than the news that was just on before them.<\/p>\n
The Graham Norton Show starts next Friday, 7.30pm, TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+<\/p>\n
Bridget Jones joined the New Zealand Herald in 2025. She has been a lifestyle and entertainment journalist and editor for more than 15 years. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Years ago, very early doors, we were having Dustin Hoffman on and he\u2019s a big name. But I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[30884,36671,95,192,27299,6326,3623,39873,39871,156,1444,71,18361,25631,293,25336,13840,111,139,39870,69,90,384,39872,17944,1962,11208,163,13917,8229,5662,2044,39874],"class_list":["post-45178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-achievement","tag-always","tag-and","tag-are","tag-arent","tag-biggest","tag-celebrity","tag-doomscrolling","tag-egos","tag-entertainment","tag-famous","tag-from","tag-graham","tag-guests","tag-his","tag-lessons","tag-like","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-norton","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-people","tag-proudest","tag-quitting","tag-special","tag-swift","tag-taylor","tag-telling","tag-they","tag-think","tag-time","tag-wasting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}