Graham Norton

Pigman

Well?

sceptre

I've a simple deal with 'erself.

I don't watch Star Trek or anything too nerdy (Stargate is included) when she's around

She doesn't watch that plonker from Bandon when I'm around.

I've got the better deal.

That new show of his continues the trek towards lowest common denominator television. Every show (that I've caught glimpses of or before "the deal") runs something like:

Graham has former saucepot on the show. He coos a lot.

Makes some joke to the old bird in the audience.

Asks the audience if they've ever done something saucaaaay

Sits at his computer and pulls up something rude.

Former saucepot gets embarrassed

Makes phonecall to some hick somewhere that has developed a better vibrator

Former saucepot gets embarrassed
(at this point Graham makes some reference to that fact that saucepot is really saucaay - and if only he was straight... he'd have the hassle of chatting up women, ho ho, oooh, er, missus)

Show ends with something vaguely saucaaay

Graham wishes us all goodnight and promises us something saucaay tomorrow.

If you rank this as good entertainment I wish you well.

(edit)
Thought his character in Fr Ted was quite good, if a little annoying. Reminded me far too much of himself though rather than a character he was playing. I can picture the phone call: "Hi Graham, we want you on Father Ted. You'll be playing this really hyperactive plonker. That's, er, within your acting range isn't it?"
(/edit)

BuffyBot

Personally I think his show is one of the best things on TV at the moment.

Then again the competition isn't up to much. Yeah, it's just an evolution on the old chat show formula to a new (lower) level..but why not?

If they can put Jackass on TV, why not this. Its a show, which in fairness, has had more than it's fair share of moments which caused a chuckle.

Vulture

Originally posted by BuffyBot

If they can put Jackass on TV, why not this. Its a show, which in fairness, has had more than it's fair share of moments which caused a chuckle.

Dont like jackass but at least it doesent make any attempt to be less moronic than it really is hence the name 'Jackass'

But then again nither does 'Graham Norton'

phobos

His show is run from a template, that never seems to change. If it's your first time watching it, you may perhaps find it quite entertaining. He can be funny guy. He's such a queer (I don't mean that in an offensive way), but his gay character is exaggerated to promote comedy. It works to a degree, because all you have to do is look at him, and he could have you in stitches.

But getting back to the template idea, consider the following
GNML (Graham Norton Markup Language)

<Show>
            <Open show quotes>Today's Newspaper Headlines or BB update</Open show quotes>
            <Take piss out of audience member>Audience Member</Take piss out of audience member>
            <Present tired guest & take piss>Tired Guest (usually from Cagney & Lacey)</Present tired guest & take piss>
            <Look up website & call webmaster>URL/Phone number/Contact Name</Look up website & call webmaster>
            <Stupid competition which the last person always wins>Competition</Stupid competition which the last person always wins>
</Show>

Sorry, I know he's Irish and all, but his act is getting a tad old. He's an entertainer, but needs new material, that show will be the death of him.

;-phobos-)

Pepe LeFrits

I don't set out to watch it but if im bored and i see it on i'll watch it, and have a fair few laughs out of it too. I like the show, I must be a simpleton.

RasTa

ah hes brillant in father ted

Sparkle

PERSONALLY, I preferred the SO GN compared to VGN. It seemed to be alot funnier, and he chatted more to the guests.

chernobyl

It is quite possibly the most predictable and humourless show on television.

[Norton secret formula for audience laughter]

Graham (to guest): blah blah blah..sex sex sex
Guest: replies with some vague connotation to Nortons sexual preference.
Graham: does weird look
Audience: laugh laugh..only after "apple sauce" light goes on.

[/Norton secret formula for audience laughter]

phobos

Originally posted by RasTa
ah hes brillant in father ted

Indeed he was funny on Father Ted. But if you read back to my earlier post I said that he simply needs a variation or new material. The reason he's not funny is because he has settled for a show that is not doing him any justice, I'm sure plenty will agree that VGN is not the only thing to GN.

;-phobos-)

The Gopher

I dont really watch his show but his Father Noel Furlong role in Fr Ted was classic.All the f*ckin singalongs he did had me in stitches:D Among the best quotes
"You werent all shy last night when you CRAWLED in.God Ted it was mad.And look at Janine Reilly there.She wasnt all sweetness and light last night when she came in at TEN PAST THE ELEVEN"
"Wheres Tony Lynch off to?Probably to buy some heroin".
From the top lads-"We saw the whole of the moon..............."

And as for bohemian rhapsody-the pants were soaked i tell you.:D

yellum

I could have sworn I replied to this already but ....

Grahams show is becoming tiring now. It ws funny to start with but it just uses the same old routine now.

Phobos: that template rocks.

I do think he does over the top campness for the sake of it but theres nothing wrong with that. Most tv characters are like that.
Fair play to him for doing so well. Lets hope the Irish invasion of British culture continues.

Puck

He used to be funny when he first got his show but now it's just tired and is beginnning to be a bit too "oooh-er" (camp for camp's sake, if you know what I mean).

It's so predictable now and I really don't see what's so funny about that bewildered looking old woman.

I mean what's the next show going to be called, "Carry On Graham"?!

BuffyBot

I mean what's the next show going to be called, "Carry On Graham"?!

Copyright it quickly, he'll use it for his upcoming breakfast and lunchtime shows

Caesar_Bojangle

OVERKILL

Giblet

He was funny in Fr.Ted "Heres me eating tony..num num num num num num"
That was all.

OLDYELLAR

ah he was great in father ted , remember all the jiggy music in the caravan , that was brilliant , and the screaming match in the cave ,,,,,,,,,,,,he has a great phone on the so graham norton show , which i have only seen a few times and it was fairly funny because he was cutting the pi*s out of this lad in the audience , na i think he is great crack .

Giblet

Oldyellar, take what you have seen there, imagine the exact same thing 100 times over, with different people. Do you see the problem.

OLDYELLAR

yeah actually i would be fair bored by that , i just dont like slagging off graham norton because i loved him in father ted .

simon_partridge

The problem is, he so rarely has any decent guests on the show. When he does, and especially when he has someone funny, it can be a real cracker. For example, the whole Dr. E. Ville thing when Mike Myers was on the show was hilarious.

I usually just watch the first 5 minutes of the show and you can tell from that whether it's going to be crap or not.

The_Bullman

caught 10 mins of Dr E VIlle one. that wa pretty good but mike myers didn't seem to be too comfortable at all.


It can be good, it has its moments, and it was better to have those moments once a week before it became too repeditive.

as for father ted, was there anything about that show that didn't work??

dysfunct

imo hes flogging a dead horse.
he does his best to include as much gay innuendo as he possibly can in the half hour.

true it has its moments but its not as funny as it used to be.

Pigman

Watched Norton tonight and noticed the following:

1. he wears a toupee

2. his monologues seem to follow station policy on whoever they deem favourable to evict from the big brother house

3. he's painfully unfunny. Watching him is akin to observing a car crash, you don't know why you're watching it's so horrible you can't avert your eyes.

Lolo

I was actually in the audience for SGN the other night, and while I'd have to agree with y'all that the formula is getting very tired and C4 spreading him far too thinly across their schedule, it was a very enjoyable experience. He is a genuinely funny bloke, but everyone's going to get sick to death of him if he doesn't start doing something different.

(It was the episode with Jimmy Mistri and the bloke who conducted electricity through his arse - I was sitting beside the girl who told the story about leaving the porn film in the video when the repair man came round, giggling uncontrollably.)

three

The first 5 minutes of Graham Norton is great when he starts ridiculing the BB contestants.

As for the rest of the show zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Thanx 4 The Fish

Did anybody see this tonight ??

Dustin Hoffman was on and he railroaded Norton who just sat there laughing at how funny DH wuz. That is how the show should be, good guests who can tell a story or get a bit of a laugh without recycling gay jokes ad infinitum.

Dustin Hoffman also did a very canny impression of Johnny on Big Brither, gotta love his attempt at Newcastle accent, divn't ya.

OLDYELLAR

yeah yeah i saw it , twer good and i dònt even like dustin hoffman usually mmmmmmmmmm interesting!

bobsmith833

Originally posted by phobos
GNML (Graham Norton Markup Language)

<Show>
            <Open show quotes>Today's Newspaper Headlines or BB update</Open show quotes>
            <Take piss out of audience member>Audience Member</Take piss out of audience member>
            <Present tired guest & take piss>Tired Guest (usually from Cagney & Lacey)</Present tired guest & take piss>
            <Look up website & call webmaster>URL/Phone number/Contact Name</Look up website & call webmaster>
            <Stupid competition which the last person always wins>Competition</Stupid competition which the last person always wins>
</Show>

Well it's a new year, a new big brother show but the GNML schema has not changed at all, apart from the insertion of the following line just before the guest comes on:

<Dress up in stupid uniform tenuously related to forthcoming guest>

I suppose the show's still funny if watched every once in a while, but there's no way it should be running daily!

SprostonGreen

CRAP !

I dont watch it, I have in the past seen it and got a gigle out of it, but now its the same old same old, the formula being described very well in the 2nd or 3rd post.

p.pete

I think he's actually on tv too much for me to be bothered watching. He has the kind of personality that is ok in small doses and is generally funny - about 5 minutes sufices for me too (but only maybe once every week or two).

ella minnow pea

like deirdre o kane


i agree the first 10 mins are ok, or when he has a good guest on

BuffyBot

I still like the show..but there are only so many times you can have

1) Grace Jones
2) Jackie Collins
or
3) Liza bloody Minnelli

on your TV and not scream

p.pete

Originally posted by BuffyBot
I still like the show..but there are only so many times you can have

1) Grace Jones
2) Jackie Collins
or
3) Liza bloody Minnelli

on your TV and not scream

But hey, they're available;)

BuffyBot

Originally posted by p.pete
But hey, they're available;)

Too available, unfortunately. Some originality would work wonders on the show sometimes

p.pete

Originally posted by BuffyBot
Too available, unfortunately. Some originality would work wonders on the show sometimes

Yeah, tbh I used to watch it a lot more then I do now. A lot of his ideas are stale never mind the guests. I don't think it's possible to pitch yourself as a comedian and a chat show host and expect it to work all the time.

segadreamcast

I think Graham needs to cut his losses - give back whatever bonus (500,000 extra or 1 million perhaps?) to do a daily show, get back to a weekly show with two decent guests on it - and work from there again.

Nightly - I have to admit I admire his stamina, he has kept it going as well as he could, but the guests and the production standards just aren't there. Plus his friend betty seems to be getting sick of it - I only noticed her back for the first time in (litreally) months this week? Poor woman...

Think graham should've moved to BBC when they were supposed to be gunning for him? The Patrick Kielty show (the guy they apparently hired instead) isn't exactly a roaring success...

oneweb

Yeah, Graham Norton was good when he was only on once a week. I think being on every weeknight has just diluted the content to a sort of 'meh'. He's a bit much to watch, which is perfectly fine in small doses. I really turned off him though last year when he was going on about Big Brother. He kept goin' on about that Jade one looking like a pig (yeah, ok). And then, all of a sudden he changed his tune. "Ah no, but she's great. Why do people laugh at her". Every other show he was trying to undo those piggy comments <edit>after he heard that Jade thought he was a good presenter (or she admired him or something)

Sometimes he pushes the line too far to be funny. I go for "Atari Jaguar" on this one.

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by oneweb
he was going on about Big Brother. He kept goin' on about that Jade one looking like a pig (yeah, ok). And then, all of a sudden he changed his tune. "Ah no, but she's great. Why do people laugh at her"

that was him and every tabloid in the UK. there was a programme about it on BBC1 the other night