Trivia / The Graham Norton Show

• Awesome, Dear Boy: Dame Helen Mirren alludes to this, saying she'd love to star in The Fast and the Furious films because they look like a lot of fun. She eventually got her wish and was featured in several films in the franchise starting with The Fate of the Furious.
• Corpsing:
  • Sometimes Graham has been reduced to hysterical laughter by a guest's story, or a Red Chair story.
  • Lee Mack's story about his first stand-up gig caused both Martin Clunes and John Cleese, of all people, to break out in uncontrollable laughter. Mack also shocked the two of them into laughter when he took Cleese's joke about marrying someone who was "very age inappropriate" for him and responded with "Well, the old Gary Glitter line!"
  • Both Bill Murray and Matt Damon couldn't stop laughing at Hugh Bonneville's red lips and wooly jumper on Top Gear. Every time the conversation started to shift, Murray brought the "wooly jumper" back and they all resumed laughing until they cried.
  • Tom Cruise was reduced to hysterical giggles by Seth MacFarlane doing his "Kermit the frog saying the Taken" bit.
  • Jennifer Lawrence needed tissues after Jack Whitehall's story about having a problem with the toilets in a Spanish bar.
  • Jodie Foster and Russell Crowe were in hysterics by the end of Greg Davies' story about taking a dump at a school while hungover and wearing his mother's knickers and trousers, but poor Ryan Gosling had been cracking up for most of the story already and just lost it at the end.
  • Robbie Williams made Graham, Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick, and Daniel Radcliffe collapse into howls of laughter when he told a story about once getting a handjob off a Loony Fan cleaning his hotel room - who he later discovered had posed as a cleaning lady just to do so.
• Creator-Driven Successor: This show is one to Norton's previous chat shows: So Graham Norton (1998-2002) and V Graham Norton (2002-2003) shown on Channel 4; and The Graham Norton Effect (2004), shown on Comedy Central. All these shows were more adult-oriented, containing heavy sexual and adult jokes, and plenty of nudity and graphic language.
• Promoted Fanboy:
  • Cher revealed to Graham that she was a fan of him in Father Ted.
  • Charlize Theron on her first appearance said she was a big fan of the show.
  • Jonah Hill was astonished to hear that Dame Julie Andrews had been married to the late Blake Edwards and spent a few minutes geeking out about his films.
  • Emilia Clarke did not hide the fact that she was a huge Friends fan when she sat alongside Matt LeBlanc, and asked him to ask her how she was doing.
  • Anytime David Attenborough appears on the show, there's always someone who geeks out over him - and rightfully so. Cameron Diaz, Ana Matronic, Jessica Chastain and Elle King, for example.
  • Tom Holland on his first appearance remarked that since he watched the show so much he felt like he knew Graham.
  • Will Smith has gone on record about how much he loves the show, which is evident by how much energy he brings every time he's on.
    Will Smith: There's no place in the world I'd rather come to get energized than to come sit with you, man! You know how to do it!
  • Melissa McCarthy and Emma Stone both geeked out over Rick Astley.
  • Michael B. Jordan gushing over Steve Carell's character's action figures, particularly the one of Brick Tamland.
  • Matty Healy of The 1975 with◊ Timothée Chalamet.
  • Sally Field telling Keeley Hawes and everyone else on the couch how great Bodyguard (UK 2018) is, and debating spoilers with Graham.
  • Killing Eve star Jodie Comer and comedian Joe Lycett have both commented that they felt like they've won a competition to be on the show.
  • Zac Efron has told many stories on the show about meeting people who have influenced him or played a major part in his life, from Tom Cruise (who he would subsequently appear on the show with a few years after telling said story) to Michael Jackson, but his speech to Matthew Broderick about how much Ferris Bueller's Day Off helped him start living his life to the fullest is perhaps the pinnacle of fanboy moments.
    Graham: I think we should stop the show now, we've had a lovely genuine moment.
  • Taylor Swift and Sophie Turner shared a squee-filled hug once Taylor was brought to the sofa after her performance, and approved their matching fringe cuts.
  • Paloma Faith brought up an encounter with Andrew Scott (the Hot Priest of Fleabag) on the red carpet of the BAFTAs, where she mentioned having "a bit of alone time with Episode 5", to a blushing Andrew Scott, who is unsure whether to be flattered or mortified, but settles on both.
    Paloma Faith: I've had my moment, and do you know what, Andrew - thank you.
    Lee Mack: Can I point out that when I watched it without my wife, that was just to get ahead of the series?
    Stephen Fry: I just want it known that the fact that I had my sofa steam cleaned three weeks ago is entirely coincidental.
• Shoot the Money: Most episodes end with audience members telling stories in the Big Red Chair, with nonsensical/boring/disgusting/disturbing/etc. stories result in chair being flipped back and the storyteller being booted off. The chair was originally made for a one-off segment as a tribute to Ronnie Corbett's signature showcase on The Two Ronnies, but the chair and the necessary hydraulics were so expensive to make and use that the producers had the chair slightly altered^note It was originally an oversized recreation of Corbett's famous chair but was turned into a wingback and reupholstered with bright-red fabric and turned the bit into a recurring segment in order to justify the cost.

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