Close Encounters of the Graham Norton Kind
Tonight - 10 pm GMT - comedian Graham Norton debuts his new chat show on BBC Channel 2 and on BBC America.
Last night, my husband and I got to be one of the lucky first in-studio audience members with a couple of free tickets he scored from his work's social club. He knows I'm a fan of the man, and have had some minor brush-ups with the celebrity. We managed to get front row seats among the 300 or so guests, and enjoyed sneaking peeks at the celeb line-up list that was written on Camera 4's schedule. Looks like we were supposed to see Hilary Swank, but she was a no-show. Nothing to be disappointed about though, as Kim Cattrall (Sex & The City's Samantha) and Elijah Wood (that hairy hobbit guy from The Lord of the Rings) took the hot seat.
True to form, Graham Norton (predictably) had plenty of Brittney Spears jabs and one incredibly naughty paparazzi photo of her...very private, very bald parts. The image, most likely to be fully censored for tele viewers, appeared to shock the American celebrity guests. I don't even want to Google the image, to post on my blog - Brittney's bits are best left for her to deal with. And deal she will have to do, as there will be a lot of top & bottom scratching in her future. Gross, moving on.
There was a very special appearance by a small horse, an entire army of Barbies and an audience guest who got an English Breakfast tattooed on his head - by choice! Much of what we saw will be found in the Podcast, viewable online at his fancy new website here: The Graham Norton Show
We learned that Elijah Wood loves music and is focusing his creative efforts on his own record label (Simian Records) these days. One of the label's bands performed a number, the name was Heloise & the Savoir Faire, a New York City band that I'd have to describe as electro-clash. I like electro-clash, and love New York, so cheered and clapped plenty for them. They are sooooooo LES, B-Burg music scene. Probably saw them hanging out at Lit in the East Village a few years ago, or doing the odd gig at Galapagos or North Six. It is great to see a Hollywood movie star supporting emerging artists from my hometown.
Unlikely that we'll appear on camera tonight, as we were quite far off to the left edge of the stage. My husband (the introvert in this relationship) did get signaled out by comedienne Jo Caufield, during her audiecne warm-up routine. She described him as "the hippie boyfriend who sits home and does fuck all!" Hmmmmm....good thing he has got a warm sense of humor, and maybe he should have kept his business suit on from work.
I've come close to Graham Norton with:
- Appearing (as a lowly extra) in an Absolutely Fabulous special New York City episode in 2002.
- Having a friend, very oddly, ring him up one night while he was on stage performing in New York. She had seen his show the previous night and saved a phone number that he told the audience was the number for a prop phone he was using. He answered, surprised and chatted with her awhile until proclaiming she was a sick! sick! stalker woman. Which, in hindsight, I thought she was as well.
- Learning that he lives just a few doors down from some London friends of ours, in Mile End.
OK, pathetic I know, and hardly makes us on a first name basis - but, hey, my life really isn't that glamourous most days, so I must relish the little A-List sparkle dust that ocassionally sprinkles on it.
Lisa
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