Not your average chat show... (V Graham Norton)

Member Name: Daniel K

Product:	V Graham Norton
Date:	02/08/03 (227 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very funny, Shown 5 times a week, Different format to other chat shows

Disadvantages: Can be offensive at times

'V Graham Norton' is in my opinion one of the best comedy chat shows on TV, not only because it's hosted by the rude, but funny Graham Norton, but also because it's very diverse in it's content, and is always worth a watch (unless you hate Graham Norton, obviously!).

The show is simply a continuation of 'So Graham Norton', which had the same format, but was only once a week and an hour long. In comparison, 'V Graham Norton' is just 30-35 minutes long, but shown every night Monday to Friday on Channel Four, usually at 10:00 at night. I usually watch this show every night, more so if someone I like is being interviewed, and have followed the show almost from when it started on TV around May 2002.

'V Graham Norton' mostly consists of celebrity chat, audience participation and games, all rounded off with Graham Norton's outrageous sense of humour and innuendos. If you don't like this sort of thing, I’d advise against watching this, as some of the jokes can be near the mark, but not really offensive.

The show begins each night with Graham Norton doing a kind of stand-up, and informing us about events in the news or the latest celebrity gossip. Most of the time, he's laughing at other people's expense, but a lot of his jokes are funny, and I usually can't help but laugh. After this bit, Graham usually dresses up, sometimes as one of his 'regular' characters (if you've seen the show, you'll know who I mean), to introduce the guest on the show.

His guests are usually a big name celebrity, such as a TV host, singer or musician, a film or television actor, or sometimes a sports personality. Graham usually chats to his guests, albeit briefly, before bringing up a topic associated with his guest. He then applies this to the studio audience, who may have unusual stories to tell connected with an aforementioned topic, or have to re-enact a scene from a movie,
etc.

After this there is an ad break, before going back to Graham and continuing to chat to his guest. Sometimes a second guest is brought out, particularly if it's a singer who's going to perform their latest song at the end of the show. Graham Norton also has a tendency to get out unusual gadgets or objects to show his guests and the audience, and these have included accessories for your pets, novelty items, or labour-saving devices, but it's nearly always something weird!

Sometimes on the show, Graham Norton will take a look at a website on his laptop computer; usually one that is affiliated with his guest stars, or something unusual. He also has a webcam, which is either spying on the unsuspecting public, getting people to dress up or perform something; other than that, Graham may send a member of the audience out on the streets to perform a task of some sort, and then watch their progress with the webcam.

These kind of stunts add variety and humour to the show, and although a lot of what goes on seems to be contrived or set up, the results are usually hilarious and unexpected, unless you know exactly what to expect from the show! 'V Graham Norton' nearly always finishes with some kind of game/competition, where people compete for a prize - favourites for this section seem to include people recreating a famous scene from a movie (again) or guessing things about members of the public e.g. pairing up which couples go together.

'V Graham Norton' has an interesting format, and lots of different things going on in just one episode to keep you interested. However, it does rely on a lot of the same jokes and humour, and a few people have said before that having the show on five times a week is too much. Although I don't completely agree with this, having 'V Graham Norton' shown a lot on Channel Four means it does get pretty repetitive after a while, but there is usually a break when it's
not on TV for a few weeks a year, such as at Easter earlier this year.

So there you have it. I feel that 'V Graham Norton' is a very funny show, but could maybe be scaled down a bit or shown less often, as there is a danger it could kill of the show. As I mentioned above, this programme will not appeal to all viewers, but I think it's a pretty good watch, as long as you enjoy this watching this kind of thing.

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