[a hundred things] #009 - The Graham Norton Show
100 SHOWS I LOVE, OR HAVE LOVED BUT LOVE NO LONGER
#009 - The Graham Norton Show
This is going to be another of those posts that's mostly clips, but there's not exactly much you can say about a talk show.
The Graham Norton Show airs every Friday night, and is my favourite talk show ever. (The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is my second.)
The magic of the show is the (mostly) brilliant guests, Graham being a genuinely funny and interesting host, The Red Chair (more later) and the fact that many episodes are just Graham showing celebrities funny things on tumblr.
The Red Chair is a section right at the end of the show, where audience members get in the chair to tell an anecdote. If Graham or the celebrities don't like the story, they pull a lever and the audience member is sent flying out of the chair. It's awesome.
The only let down in the show is the musical performances. I'll watch them if its an artist I like, but placing it between the main show and The Red Chair does interrupt the sillyness of the show as a whole. There are exceptions, usually when the singer is also one of the guests on the couch (sometimes they're just there to sing).
The guests usually follow the same format. It's often two or three actors/musicians/other pop-culture celebrity (like Lord Sugar, a businessman but also the star of The Apprentice), both male and female, and a (most of the time) British or Irish comedian. Sometimes they have notable sportspeople like Mo Farah, Lewis Hamilton, Jessica Ennis etc, but with the odd exception, they don't make for the most fun guests.
WATCHING THE SHOW
The brilliant Graham Norton Fan on youtube posts every single episode of the show, only most of the time with clips from whatever the guest is promoting edited out. UK viewers can also watch on BBC One Fridays at 10.35pm.
FAVOURITE EPISODES
A few episodes stand out in my mind, so I'm going to link to the full episodes of them, complete with why I love them so much, before I get into the individual clips.
will.i.am, Miriam Margolyes, Adam Lambert & Greg Davies [Part One | Part Two | Part Three]
This is, for my money, the funniest episode of the entire show, because of Will and Miriam. They form the most bizarre friendship, and although I already loved Miriam, this episode made me love will.i.am. Graham and Greg are just 0_o throughout.
David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Jon Richardson & Josh Groban [Part One | Part Two | Part Three]
Just looking at this guest list will tell you why I love this episode so much. As well as PERFECT GUESTS, there's also the brilliant gay couple in the audience and their text conversations.
CLIPS
First, we must begin with The Fresh Prince Saga.
There was an episode featuring Will Smith, Gary Barlow, and Tom Jones. At one point in the show, Will performed the Fresh Prince rap, with Gary playing keyboard. It was great:
Then, a few weeks ago, Will and Jaden Smith were both guests. Jaden displayed his rapping skills while Will beatboxed (Jaden was, sadly, pretty unremarkable.) Then things took a turn for the awesome. Will brought out DJ Jazzy Jeff, and the three of them did a Fresh Prince/Switch mash-up. THEN, they brought out Alfonso Ribeiro to do the Carlton Dance to It's Not Unusual. And THEN, they got Graham to dance to Apache with them. It was the greatest thing that has ever happened.
Other Clips
There are SO MANY CLIPS that I'm only showing you clips from the past three seasons, with the exception of a few memorable favourites.
Daniel Radcliffe sings The Elements - DanRad is always a joy on this show.
Isla Fisher's pig snort - DanRad's on this one too.
PineNuts vs Cumberbitches - safe to say, the Cumberbitches win.
Benedict Cumberbatch's Sinister Trailer - plus bonus Graham Norton impression while introducing Bonnie Tyler!
Gwyneth Paltrow grabs Lee Mack's penis - the moment that made me really NOT understand the Gwyneth hate. She was awesome.
Tom Cruise and Gerard Butler's phone call - where Tom is nice to a fan on the phone and then Gerard makes things REALLY creepy.
Judi Dench! - just being awesome in a suprisingly see-through top.
Olivia Colman - being precious about her teeth.
Lord Sugar being grumpy on Twitter
Matt Lucas gets mugged - Jeremy Renner finds it amusing.
Mark Wahlberg flips the red chair - Mark was annoyingly drunk in this episode, but it was funny for Graham and Michael Fassbender being clueless what to do about it, and Sarah Silverman getting more and more irate with him. This is poor Laura Mvula's first TV appearance too.
Paul Rudd and Dame Helen Mirren kiss!
Bill Bailey and Nicolas Hoult do the zombie run - then Graham, Nick, Bill and Denzel Washington have a staring contest.
Pets in funny clothes - with Josh Groban, Frank Skinner and Billie Piper.
Graham writes DanRad fanfiction
Robbie Williams on meeting Gwyneth Paltrow
Javier Bardem's Hair - with bonus Daniel Craig bad hair.
The formula for Bond Girl Names
Russell Brand's singing lessons - Ron sounds hilarious.
Will Smith and Gary Barlow's action figures
Zac Efron and Matt leBlanc on voice dubbing
Julie Walters has had enough
Tattoo Failures - with a less drunk Mark Wahlberg!
Patrick Stewart is the poster boy for baldness
Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law basically being the best
Antonio Banderas teaches Graham how to swordfight
Robin Williams and Elijah Wood on Oscars
Cliff Richard Calendars
Chris O'Dowd eats a fly
Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe discuss kissing
Angry Downton Abbey tweets
Amazing Red Chair Story
Funny Exam Answers
JEDWARD!
Funny Dog Photos - with Ewan McGregor and Chris O'Dowd
Robot Graham
Mark Ruffalo acts out a fan's dream conversation
Bill Bailey demonstrates how to bungee-kidnap the Queen
PREVIOUS ENTRIES IN THE 100 THINGS BLOGGING CHALLENGE
#001 - Life on Mars | #002 - Glee | #003 - Grandma's House | #004 - Jon Richardson: A Little Bit OCD | #005 - Threesome | #006 - The Last Leg | #007 - Please Like Me | #008 - Auction Hunters
#009 - The Graham Norton Show
This is going to be another of those posts that's mostly clips, but there's not exactly much you can say about a talk show.
The Graham Norton Show airs every Friday night, and is my favourite talk show ever. (The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is my second.)
The magic of the show is the (mostly) brilliant guests, Graham being a genuinely funny and interesting host, The Red Chair (more later) and the fact that many episodes are just Graham showing celebrities funny things on tumblr.
The Red Chair is a section right at the end of the show, where audience members get in the chair to tell an anecdote. If Graham or the celebrities don't like the story, they pull a lever and the audience member is sent flying out of the chair. It's awesome.
The only let down in the show is the musical performances. I'll watch them if its an artist I like, but placing it between the main show and The Red Chair does interrupt the sillyness of the show as a whole. There are exceptions, usually when the singer is also one of the guests on the couch (sometimes they're just there to sing).
The guests usually follow the same format. It's often two or three actors/musicians/other pop-culture celebrity (like Lord Sugar, a businessman but also the star of The Apprentice), both male and female, and a (most of the time) British or Irish comedian. Sometimes they have notable sportspeople like Mo Farah, Lewis Hamilton, Jessica Ennis etc, but with the odd exception, they don't make for the most fun guests.
WATCHING THE SHOW
The brilliant Graham Norton Fan on youtube posts every single episode of the show, only most of the time with clips from whatever the guest is promoting edited out. UK viewers can also watch on BBC One Fridays at 10.35pm.
FAVOURITE EPISODES
A few episodes stand out in my mind, so I'm going to link to the full episodes of them, complete with why I love them so much, before I get into the individual clips.
will.i.am, Miriam Margolyes, Adam Lambert & Greg Davies [Part One | Part Two | Part Three]
This is, for my money, the funniest episode of the entire show, because of Will and Miriam. They form the most bizarre friendship, and although I already loved Miriam, this episode made me love will.i.am. Graham and Greg are just 0_o throughout.
David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Jon Richardson & Josh Groban [Part One | Part Two | Part Three]
Just looking at this guest list will tell you why I love this episode so much. As well as PERFECT GUESTS, there's also the brilliant gay couple in the audience and their text conversations.
CLIPS
First, we must begin with The Fresh Prince Saga.
There was an episode featuring Will Smith, Gary Barlow, and Tom Jones. At one point in the show, Will performed the Fresh Prince rap, with Gary playing keyboard. It was great:
Click to viewThen, a few weeks ago, Will and Jaden Smith were both guests. Jaden displayed his rapping skills while Will beatboxed (Jaden was, sadly, pretty unremarkable.) Then things took a turn for the awesome. Will brought out DJ Jazzy Jeff, and the three of them did a Fresh Prince/Switch mash-up. THEN, they brought out Alfonso Ribeiro to do the Carlton Dance to It's Not Unusual. And THEN, they got Graham to dance to Apache with them. It was the greatest thing that has ever happened.
Other Clips
There are SO MANY CLIPS that I'm only showing you clips from the past three seasons, with the exception of a few memorable favourites.
Daniel Radcliffe sings The Elements - DanRad is always a joy on this show.
Isla Fisher's pig snort - DanRad's on this one too.
PineNuts vs Cumberbitches - safe to say, the Cumberbitches win.
Benedict Cumberbatch's Sinister Trailer - plus bonus Graham Norton impression while introducing Bonnie Tyler!
Gwyneth Paltrow grabs Lee Mack's penis - the moment that made me really NOT understand the Gwyneth hate. She was awesome.
Tom Cruise and Gerard Butler's phone call - where Tom is nice to a fan on the phone and then Gerard makes things REALLY creepy.
Judi Dench! - just being awesome in a suprisingly see-through top.
Olivia Colman - being precious about her teeth.
Lord Sugar being grumpy on Twitter
Matt Lucas gets mugged - Jeremy Renner finds it amusing.
Mark Wahlberg flips the red chair - Mark was annoyingly drunk in this episode, but it was funny for Graham and Michael Fassbender being clueless what to do about it, and Sarah Silverman getting more and more irate with him. This is poor Laura Mvula's first TV appearance too.
Paul Rudd and Dame Helen Mirren kiss!
Bill Bailey and Nicolas Hoult do the zombie run - then Graham, Nick, Bill and Denzel Washington have a staring contest.
Pets in funny clothes - with Josh Groban, Frank Skinner and Billie Piper.
Graham writes DanRad fanfiction
Robbie Williams on meeting Gwyneth Paltrow
Javier Bardem's Hair - with bonus Daniel Craig bad hair.
The formula for Bond Girl Names
Russell Brand's singing lessons - Ron sounds hilarious.
Will Smith and Gary Barlow's action figures
Zac Efron and Matt leBlanc on voice dubbing
Julie Walters has had enough
Tattoo Failures - with a less drunk Mark Wahlberg!
Patrick Stewart is the poster boy for baldness
Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law basically being the best
Antonio Banderas teaches Graham how to swordfight
Robin Williams and Elijah Wood on Oscars
Cliff Richard Calendars
Chris O'Dowd eats a fly
Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe discuss kissing
Angry Downton Abbey tweets
Amazing Red Chair Story
Funny Exam Answers
JEDWARD!
Funny Dog Photos - with Ewan McGregor and Chris O'Dowd
Robot Graham
Mark Ruffalo acts out a fan's dream conversation
Bill Bailey demonstrates how to bungee-kidnap the Queen
PREVIOUS ENTRIES IN THE 100 THINGS BLOGGING CHALLENGE
#001 - Life on Mars | #002 - Glee | #003 - Grandma's House | #004 - Jon Richardson: A Little Bit OCD | #005 - Threesome | #006 - The Last Leg | #007 - Please Like Me | #008 - Auction Hunters