Graham Norton reveals why Robert De Niro’s anecdote on his discuss present needed to be ‘cut out’
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Graham Norton has revealed why a rambling anecdote told by Robert De Niro on his BBC One chat show was never shown on air.
The Irish talk show host began presenting his popular Friday night show in 2007 and has even become a hit in the United States. Despite the success of the show, there have been plenty of awkward moments over the years, most recently when James Corden had to correct Timothee Chalamet.
Earlier this week, Norton made an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, where the two talk show hosts shared stories about interviewing A-listers and promoting his new novel, Frankie.
During their conversation, Meyers asked Norton if there have ever been any occasions where he’s had to intervene when a guest’s story isn’t going quite to plan.
“If there’s an easy way to end it, I will… ‘shut up! Save yourself! Run!’”, joked the 61-year-old.
Norton then went on to tell a story about Robert De Niro, who has been on his show several times, despite the Oscar winner not being great at holding a conversation.
“I remember, Robert De Niro, he’s a lovely man, but he’s not that chatty. He’s been on an enormous amount of times, and I’ve discovered that he’s a benign presence. It’s not like he’s having a horrible time – he’s having a nice time! – he just doesn’t like to talk very much,” Norton explained.
He was on our show, it must have been the fourth time he was on, and he was having such a nice time that he started to tell an anecdote! And we were like, ‘oh my god, Robert De Niro is telling an anecdote’. Well… it soon became clear why he doesn’t.”
“It was properly like, you know one of those old ladies going, ‘it was on a Wednesday… no… I tell a lie it was a Thursday… no it would have been a Wednesday because I took the bins out the night before’ – it was like that.
“It was going on for some time. And bless him, he could tell that this is spaghetti in my head… and he looks at me and he goes, ‘why am I telling this?’”
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“We cut it out,” added Norton as Meyer’s audience applauded.
Elsewhere, Norton is set to be replaced on his BBC One show while his comedy tour takes him overseas.
The Irish host is taking an extended break from his BBC chat show next month while he performs An Evening With Graham Norton in Australia.
Rather than halting production of the series, the corporation is pushing on with a replacement, and Claudia Winkleman will be overtaking Norton while he’s away.
The news was announced on The Graham Norton Show on Friday (10 January), in which Traitors host Winkleman is a guest alongside Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Billy Porter and Myles Smith.
After Norton revealed the news, Winkleman quipped: “I apologise in advance”.
