THE FLAMBOYANT HOST OF BBC AMERICA'S 'SO GRAHAM NORTON' TALKS TO Q CINEMA ABOUT TOILET HUMOR, HIS FAVORITE GUESTS AND WHY ROBIN GIBB WANTS TO RIP HIS HEAD OFF . . .

B Y . T O D D . C A M P

For out-there Irish talk show host Graham Norton, star of BBC America's So Graham Norton and V Graham Norton, the stodgy format of plugging films and chatting about your new book is best left to Leno and Letterman.  
Norton has changed chat forever with half-naked escorts, outrageous stories from his audience, the latest in adult toys, naughty Web sites, and, oh, yes, an occasional celebrity guest.
  Norton's show air twice a night starting at 10 p.m. on BBC America. He brings his outrageous antics to the States at the end of March for a week of programs airing live in the UK and on BBC America.

Q: How did you first get started on the chat show circuit?

GN: I was sort of an unsuccessful actor turned stand-up and I got a chance to guest host someone else's talk show and then out of that came my own talk show. A lot of it was stolen from stuff that I would do in my stand-up like the phone calls or, you know, the messing with the audience, those were things I was doing in my live shows. The tthing is, it looks like a chat show. It's got the geography of a chat show. But really it's not. It's just sort of messing about with the odd guest.

Q: I notice you don't do a lot of plugging for whatever movie or TV show the celebrity might be making the rounds for . . .

GN: We rarely do very pluggy interviews, or we rarely do very biographical interviews. We mostly pick out like one rude thing they ever did, get them to tell that and then we move on.

Q: How has the show evolved?

GN: The original So show was once a week and it was longer, ending up taking about 50 minutes. Here in Britain, we -- cleverly, just to annoy BBC America -- we changed the name, but it's more or less the same show. We do it five nights a week and it's called V Graham Norton.

Q:What does the "V" stand for?

GN: Oh, it's so clever, I can't tell you, Todd. It's kind of picking up from the So Graham Norton, so it's "Very" Graham Norton, but it's also V for five nights. You see? I told you it was too clever for our own good.

Q: Are guests getting more comfortable with the show's somewhat unusual format?

GN: They're getting more familiar. In the beginning, what we'd do is we'd give them tapes, or I'd take them out for lunch, and all that sort of stuff. But now, it's sort of incredible. We get people like Dustin Hoffman, who's really familiar with the show and wanted to be on and just has a great time on the show. It's very odd. In practical terms, nothing's changed. We're still making the same show. We're in the same offices. But we're slowly becoming aware that, 'Oh, people in America are watching this.' Which is sort of disconcerting.

Q: It's hard to imagine Dustin Hoffman, who rarely does talk shows as it is, feeling at home on your show.

GN: Actually, funny enough, just last week he came on again and caused an outrage by using the "c" word. In fairness, it did go out unbleeped. I forgot to ask why. Maybe it was a mistake. I assumed it would be bleeped, but maybe because Dustin Hoffman said it, it was alright. It was like having God on television.

Q: Have you ever had guests on that were childhood heroes of your or anyone you've felt somewhat starstruck around?

GN: The ones that I've been starstruck by, and I'm really glad that they were as nice as I thought they were going to be, were people like Sophia Loren, or Dolly Parton or Cher, you know, people I've kind of grown up loving. I'd have been really upset if I hadn't liked them or if they didn't have a good time. The more surprising people are the ones I would consider kind of heavyweight actors, like Dustin Hoffman or Dennis Hopper. People like that, you sort think, 'Oh, they're going to think this is such a load of old rubbish. This is just going to be embarrassing.' And you forget that sort of serious, heavyweight actors have fun, too. On a personal level, I've sort of enjoyed that most, in that that's been the biggest surprise to me, finding that what I would consider sort of worthy performers have this really sort of childish side as well.

Q: I guess they like fart jokes just as much as everyone else.

GN: You see? It's funny. Farts equals funny.

Q: On a recent episode with Sandra Bernhard, I remember her remarking that she was astonished that your show was on television, adding that you were a giant, raving queen and no one in the audience even seemed to mind.

GN: I really do remember that. I don't know if it was left in or not, but on that night I remember her standing there going, "Truly, this is an island." (he laughs) Which I thought was pretty accurate actually. Again, we forget, even in Britain, this is kind of part of the television landscape now. But it's still an anomaly. I would hate for people to watch this show and think, 'Oh, right, that's what British television is like.' It really isn't that like this.

Q: You do get a bit racy on occasion. Has any of this ever gotten you into any trouble?

GN: I don't know how we get away with this, but we're in big trouble today. Which Gibb was it who died? Maurice died. Well one of the living ones is very upset. He just went on a daytime chat show and said if he runs across me he'll rip my head off, which seems quite strong.

Q: What did you do to incur the wrath of a Gibb?

GN: I did make a slight joke about Maurice's death which was tactless and it was terrible and we crossed a line, but we did apologize. What more can you do? You say something, you regret it and you apologize. But obviously this apology hasn't reached this living Gibb, so he's very annoyed with me. I'm sitting here very nervous.

Q: What joke did you make?

GN: It was a really silly joke. We were just talking about him dying -- he was dead when we did it -- and we could just imagine the life support machine going ". . . ah, ah, ah, ah, staying alive," and this it just stopping and not staying alive. I think I even apologized as I said it, but it's not enough for the living Gibb.

Q: Any other controversies you know of?

GN: What else got us in hot water? We did have a lady playing the pennywhistle with a piece of her anatomy they wasn't her mouth. That got us into a bit of trouble, but we got away with it. It wasn't upheld. But I have a feeling that these complaints about the Gibb thing will be upheld, particularly when his brother is on TV saying he wants to rip my head off. We can't really go with the, "I'm sure the family are fine about it."

Q: Getting back to Sandra's remark, it is pretty astounding that you, as an openly gay man, can be a major celebrity and chat show host without the kind of baggage attached that we've come to expect in the States. Here you would immediately be slapped with the title "Openly gay talk show host."

GN: It's the same here. There was a thing in today's paper that started off, you know, "Gay TV presenter . . ." and I just thought, "What? Why? Who doesn't know that now? Who doesn't know? Who is that news to?" But there you go. They feel obliged to do it.

But I think there's always been a tradition of guys like me in Britain, that kind of camp, effete guy, I just suppose I'm the one that is kind of mainstream and says that I'm gay whereas all the other ones have been mainstream having never kind of talked about their sexuality. They've joked around it, but never really said they are.

Q: Still, you've seen American television. You have to admit your show takes a few more risks that we Yanks are accustomed to seeing.

GN: Absolutely. We had some people from Leno over filming and they were telling us the sort of restraints that they have on what they can say, what they show. I had a silly calender in which each month was a different picture of dog shit. How mild it that? People have to pick that up in a little sandwich bag. It's out there. It's on the pavement. How shocking can that be to anybody? But they were saying that they'd never be allowed to show that. In a way, I think it's kind of incredible that your talk shows are as funny as they are, because they have to really think hard writing jokes. We just kind of go to the first stop. We just go to kind of farts and poo and oh, here's something funny.

Q: So why does it seem like everything on British television seems so much better than what's on here?

GN: We sit here and write about American TV and say "Why can't British television do this?" It's one of thse things where the grass is always greener, and you only import good stuff. You haven't imported our documentaries on the potato, you're importing things that are a success here. It's kind of rose-tinted spectacles I think. Also, I suppose, if just had a diet of British comedy and nothing else, you'd soon get very tired of it.

Q: So where does this tradition of naughtiness come from?
GN: Britain has always had a tradition of what we call seaside humor, because of these dirty postcards you've always been able to buy at seaside resorts. It's the only way we can deal with issues about sex is by laughing at them. Like whenever we've tried to copy your daytime shows, your Oprah, or Montel Williams, they're just embarassing here, because we're just hopeless at talking about anything like that. Whereas my audience is incredibly open about talking about stuff because we're laughing at it. If someone told the same stories as they tell on my show on a daytime show, everyone would have to nod their head and say, "Oh, I'm sensing self-esteem issues and I beg you to get therapy." Whereas, we just celebrate it. We go, "Hooray, you drank so much you fell over and ate you mother's carpet and vomited on the dog." We're just thrilled by their excess and their foolishness.

Q: Were you always a fan of British comedies and if so, what did you grow up watching?

GN: I grew up in Irlend, so we got a much stronger mix of American TV than British television. I grew up with one television station, watching things like I Love Lucy and That Girl and Executive Suite, quite random shows. I used to see The Dick Cavett Show and  Flip Wilson. I remember being a huge fan of Geraldine on Flip Wilson. It used to make me laugh more than anything else when I was a kid. That seems British to me, 'cause there's not much drag going on on American TV.

Q: Did you ever think that some day you yourself might be a TV star in the States?

GN: We make things and we don't think anyone's going to want to see them. Channel 4 did always say, 'Be sure to clear everything for worldwide,' and we'd be like, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Like anyone's ever going to see this."