The question is, can Graham crack up American audiences?
“I need something LOUD,” says Graham Norton as he swishes through the designer collections at Bergdorf Goodman on a recent shopping spree.
He proceeds to pull a lipstick-red Jil Sander jacket from its hanger, then snatches a sunburst yellow shirt and muted blue trousers by Theory and a Dolce & Gabbana denim shirt.
An unabashed queer eye for haute couture, Norton has been named GQ’s “worst-dressed man” for two consecutive years.
“I really think it’s the gay thing,” Norton snickers. “All of these supposedly heterosexual fashion editors at GQ and Esquire say Orlando Bloom or David Beckham is the best-dressed man.
“But what they’re really saying is that they fancy them because all they’re wearing is jeans and a T-shirt. I don’t think they hate me because I’m gay. I think they hate me because I’m not beautiful.”
Such is the off-kilter charm of the host of Comedy Central’s new “The Graham Norton Effect,” which airs at 10 p.m. Thursdays.
It’s the same wry, saucy wit that has bolstered the comic’s popular British chat show, “So Graham Norton,” where mischievous humor, naughty Web sites and erotic sex toys are as much a part of the shtick as his deafeningly loud suits.
Norton says his new show “really will be the same show.” That means no monologue and no desk, and more “Let’s Make a Deal”-style games with the audience and unusual comedic antics with the guests.
Norton has surfed porn sites with Joan Collins and Carrie Fisher and engaged in priceless comedic scenarios with Dustin Hoffman, Cher and John Malkovich.
“He’s really naughty,” purrs Lauren Corrao, a programming executive at Comedy Central. “He gets celebrities to do things you’d never think they’d do, (and) he plays with the audience in a way that nobody else does.”
In this era of post-Janet Jackson puritanism, it may be even harder to get away with some of Norton’s racier stunts.
“We’re still feeling the ripple of the nipple,” he says of the Federal Communication Commission’s current crusade for media decency. “Our timing isn’t great, but funny’s funny. In the end we’re going to make our show and they’ll beep it and blur it and you still get the joke. But for some weird reason, you just can’t be seeing it.”
Formally trained as an actor at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama, the 39-year-old Irish comic got his big break in 1997 when he was nominated for the Perrier comedy award at the Edinburgh Festival, which led to a raft of TV offers in Britain.
But to have a show in America has long been his goal.
“Now I sound so ambitious,” he says, laughing. “It really was just kind of a pipe dream. I’ve done very little proactively to make this happen.”
To eventually be deemed “best-dressed” would be nice, too.
“I don’t feel personally judged by GQ,” says Norton. “They’ve only seen me in my bright shiny suits.”
Back at Bergdorf’s, he spots a pair of white Keanan Duffy cotton jeans with silver piping, pearls and rhinestones on the pockets.
“Oooh, I like that,” he coos. “It’s my attraction to shiny things. It catches my shiny eye.”
The birthday bunch
Talk-show host Merv Griffin is 79. Actress Janet Leigh is 77. Actress-singer Della Reese is 73. Actor Ned Beatty is 67. Actor Burt Ward (“Batman”) is 58. Actor Fred Dryer is 58. Actor Sylvester Stallone is 58. Actor Geoffrey Rush is 53. Rapper 50 Cent is 28. Actresses Tia and Tamera Mowry (“Sister, Sister”) are 26. Actor Jeremy Suarez (“Bernie Mac”) is 14.