COMEDY

Graham Norton started his career as a stand-up comedian, showing at Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 1997, his show was nominated for a Perrier award, the most prestigious comedy award in the UK. His Edinburgh shows brought him plenty of attention, including BBC Radio 4, who asked him to be a regular comedian on Loose Ends (1986-)

TV PRESENTING

After his Fringe shows thrust him into the spotlight, he was a guest presenter on The Jack Docherty Show (1997-1999) for Channel 5, which won him the Best Newcomer award at the British Comedy Awards. He then became a go-to host, fronting shows such as Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment (1997-2000), Strictly Dance Fever (2005-2006), When Will I Be Famous (2007) and Let It Shine (2017).

Graham began his BBC career in 2001 when he was asked to host Comic Relief (1985-). Graham became a go-to host for musical-themed reality shows including How to Solve a Problem Like Maria (2006), Any Dream Will Do (2007), I’d Do Anything (2008) and Over the Rainbow (2010), where aspiring stage stars competed for a lead role on the West End.

His most famous show is the eponymous The Graham Norton Show (2007-) which began on BBC Two, before moving to BBC One in 2009. In 2019, he became a judge on BBC’s Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK (2019-) alongside Alan Carr and Michelle Visage.

He has also been the host for the BAFTA television awards an impressive 11 times. In 2009, Graham took over from Terry Wogan as the iconic UK voice for the annual Eurovision Song Contest.

He co-owned a production company called SO Television from 1998 to 2012 where he sold it to ITV. In his time in charge, the company produced shows including So Graham Norton (1998-2002) for Channel 4, Paul Daniels in a Black Hole (2001) for the BBC, Russell Brand (2004) for Channel 4 and the aforementioned Graham Norton Show.

RADIO

Since 1999, Graham has appeared in more than 100 episodes of the BBC Radio 4 panel show Just a Minute (1967-). In 2010, he started presenting a Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 2, co-hosting with agony aunt Maria McErlance. He featured on Radio 2 until 2020 where he moved to Virgin Radio.

ACTING

Not only visible on our screens as a presenter, Graham has dipped his toe in the world of acting for TV, film and stage. Between 1996-1998, Graham played Father Noel Furlong in Father Ted (1995-1998), starred in Absolutely Fabulous (1992-2012) in 2002, starred in American comedy spoof film Another Gay Movie (2006), I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007) and Disney animation Soul (2020). In 2009, Graham made his West End debut starting in La Cage Aux Folles at the Playhouse Theatre.

WRITING

Graham contributed a regular agony aunt column for The Telegraph newspaper between 2006 and 2018, before turning his pen to fiction and non-fiction books. Ask Graham (2011), So Me (2011) and The Life and Loves of a He Devil (2014) are all biographical books exploring his time in the public eye. His works of fiction have become very successful; his debut novel Holding (2016) won the Popular Fiction Book of the Year award in the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards before being adapted for ITV in 2022. He followed this book up with A Keeper (2018), Home Stretch (2020), The Swimmer (2022) and Forever Home (2022).

CHARITY

Graham is very passionate about using his public image to help others and he supports a number of small and large charities. In 2013, he broke the Guinness World Record for the most questions asked on a TV chat show, raising over £1 million for Comic Relief, supports the Elton John AIDS Foundation, ICU 4 U, Amnesty International, Crusade, Bowel Cancer UK, Make Poverty History, the Terence Higgins Trust and the Samaritans.

ACCOLADES

In 2003, Graham was listed in The Observer as one of the 1,000 funniest acts in British comedy, in 2004 he was named the most powerful person in TV comedy by the Radio Times and in 2014 he was named in the top 10 on the World Pride Power List. He was named by Debrett as one of the top 500 British people of influence. His career in presenting has won him a number of awards including:

– The Gaytime Award for Gay Presenter of the Year in 1999

– The Royal TV Society Best Presenter Award in 2001

– The International Emmy for Popular Arts in 2001

– The BAFTA Best Entertainment Performance Award in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2018

– The BAFTA Lew Grade Award for Entertainment Programme in 2013

– The BAFTA Best Comedy Programme or Series Award in 2015

– The NTA Best Talk Show Award in 2002

– The NTA Special Recognition Award in 2017

SPEAKING

Graham Norton will give your guests a night of entertainment and humour from the minute you sit down to the minute you leave. He is available for corporate events, after-dinner speeches, hosting duties, presentations and private parties.

An openly gay performer, he made a name for himself and represented the LGBTQ+ company ever since he publicly came out in the 1990’s. He can speak about sexuality, the media, social media and working in TV, radio and film.

Call +44 1753 439 289 or email Great British Speakers now to book TV and Radio Presenter Graham Norton for your corporate event.

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