The Graham Norton Show. Graham Norton. Credit: So Television, Christopher Baines
The Graham Norton Show

The Graham Norton Show

  • TV chat show
  • BBC One / BBC Two
  • 2007 - 2024
  • 494 episodes (31 series)

Comic chat show presented by Graham Norton. The biggest names in showbiz join the host on his sofa.

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Series 11, Episode 6 - Will Smith, Gary Barlow, Sir Tom Jones

Will Smith reveals his 11 year old pop star daughter is a 'handful', Gary Barlow says The Queen is excited about her Jubilee weekend, while Tom Jones talks about crying on The Voice.

Further details

Will Smith explains his four-year absence from starring in movies, "I've been working on family stuff. Willow has been whipping her hair and I've been producing Jayden in Karate Kid."

Talking further about his film-star son and pop-star daughter, Will says, "Willow is a handful. She knows so absolutely, positively what she wants to do and I have to do what she says. She has energy and is aggressive and strong, she is a brick."

As the producer of the hugely successful movie, Will is asked how much he paid Jayden for Karate Kid, Will says, "Less than I would if he was someone else's kid!" Adding, "He is such a hard worker and I am really proud of how dedicated he is. He doesn't perceive it as something he is supposed to have or that is supposed to be easy. He gets out there and he grinds and sometimes has to work twice as hard because he is my son. He wants it badly and he wants to prove it to me but he also wants to show me."

Jokingly, he adds, "I say to him, 'son, if you listen to everything I say and if you stay focused, I promise you will be the second biggest movie star in the world!'"

Describing his new movie, Men in Black 3, as "Very clever," Will says, "I was very concerned about how my ears would look in 3D but I've seen the film and it's okay, my ears are not going to be in your popcorn!"

Talking about doing his own stunts in the film, he said, "I started off thinking 'I don't need a stunt man, I'm Will Smith, what do I need a stunt man for?' Then I had to jump out of a second storey window and we did it eight or nine times and then I remembered I am 42 and I'm like, 'Can someone go get the stunt man from his trailer? We don't need him but just get him to come out and watch the next one!' It takes longer to heal up after those things and I'm doing less stunts in the future."

On losing his fortune before the success of Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Will says, "Man, I spent it all. We had made millions of dollars and at such a young age you think it's going to last forever but by the time I was 19 I was broke. We put an album out that flopped and I was 'poor people' broke."

Talking about the success of Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Will says, "I have done so many movies but in every country in the world that is the thing I am most known for, no matter how big the movies get." Asked if that bugs him, he says, "As long as they are shouting 'Will' I am cool, I don't care what it's for."

Accompanied by Gary Barlow on keyboards and with Graham's enthusiastic audience, Will performs the theme tune to Fresh Prince.

Gary, talking about his involvement in the Jubilee Celebration Concert reveals, "The Queen is absolutely delighted with the whole line up. Only a couple of weeks ago I got the job of presenting the whole plan of the concert to her and I'd learnt everything about the gig, there's not a question she can throw at me that I'm going to falter on. And she said, 'So all that equipment, how long is that going to take to dismantle?' At this point I'm guessing, so I say 'about six or seven hours,' and she said, 'so, the concert finishes at half ten at night, which means you will be doing that all night at the front of the palace where my family lives.'

"At this point I say, 'moving on Your Majesty, this is the royal box, this is where you will be sitting and she said, 'how am I going to get there?' It was something else I didn't know the answer to! She is incredible for her age and very, very smart and excited about the whole weekend."

On his own royal encounter, Will says, "It was really cool, I sat next to Prince Charles at the premiere of Ali and someone taps his shoulder before the love scene comes up and he looked down the whole time and when it came to an end someone tapped him again and he looked up. He missed my best work!"

Interjecting, Gary says, "There'll be no point in the concert where he'll need to be to be tapped on the shoulder!"

Revealing he will be back for another series of X Factor, Gary says, "If there is one note to self for me, I want to enjoy it more this time, especially the audition side of it. I always thought of myself as the serious music guy but actually 98% of the acts are absolutely awful and incredibly funny, so I want to enjoy them this time round."

Tom Jones, talking about his longevity and why he keeps going, says, "It's the love of it. I just love singing and I'm getting paid for it. There's nothing better than that when you're doing something you love. It's like a hobby and you turn the hobby into a profession. It's not like work at all. I was asked the other day, 'Are you working hard?' and I said 'I haven't worked since 1962!'"

Talking about The Voice, Tom says, "I cry every week. When I saw the American version and saw people crying I thought, 'that can't be real' but it is! The worse part is you can't keep them all. There have been some great singers but they can't all win. It's hard deciding who stays and who goes."

Revealing a particularly intimate encounter with a fan, Tom says, "We were at a motorway toilet - I was actually in the booth - when a female fan came right up over the top of the door. When I started shouting at her, she said, 'you have terrible manners and I am never buying one of your records again!'"

Tom performs Hit or Miss live in the studio.

Broadcast details

Date
Friday 18th May 2012
Time
10:35pm
Channel
BBC One
Length
45 minutes

Repeats

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Monday 21st May 2012 11:55pm BBC1
Tuesday 22nd May 2012 12:25am BBC1 Scot
Tuesday 22nd May 2012 12:25am BBC1 Wales

Cast & crew

Cast
Graham Norton Host / Presenter
Guest cast
Will Smith Guest
Gary Barlow Guest
Tom Jones (as Sir Tom Jones) Guest
Writing team
Rob Colley Writer
Dan Gaster Writer
Jez Stevenson Writer
Production team
Steve Smith Director
Jon Magnusson Series Producer
Mike Altman Producer
Pete Snell Producer
Alan Thorpe Producer
Graham Stuart Executive Producer
Perry Widdowson Editor
Chris Webster Production Designer
Jonathan Whitehead (as Trellis) Composer

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