Luck Of The Irish

It Hasnt Been All Rollicking Laughter, But Theres Beena Lot Of It.

- Kelly Bertrand

Turn on the telly on a Friday night and there he is. Warm, comforting, occasionally scandalous and always side-splittingly funny, Graham Norton has gone from bit-part actor and bartender to a 20-year chat-show veteran and global legend.

But while he’s made his fortune extracting the juiciest and funniest nuggets from the world’s rich and famous, Graham (55) himself has always remained something of an enigma – and that’s exactly how he’d like things to stay.

Often thought of as perpetually happy, the star admits there’s a certain level of acting in his role, comparing it to any other job and alluding to a more realistic reality.

“I’m at work. If your job is frothing milk, you’ve got to froth the milk. My job is to be a cheery chat-show host, so I’d better be that or I’ll get fired. If you’re going to leave the house and go to work, if needed, fake it.”

“We all have our dark times,” he says soberly.

“Maybe it’s because I’m Irish, but for me, dark times are private times. I might talk to friends, but I’m not going to write a newspaper column about it.”