Graham Norton hilariously details outrageous Christmas with ‘dribbling fools’ he’d rather forget
Graham Norton once opened up about the Christmas he'd prefer to wipe from his memory. The TV presenter, famed for hosting Eurovision and his self-titled chat show, detailed his experiences of working as a waiter in London during the festive period back in 1980s, after he relocated from Ireland.
The 61 year old, who originally hails from Cork, worked in a restaurant called Smith's, located in Covent Garden. In an essay for the book Last Christmas, Graham recalled the wild office parties he saw and how in certain moments struggled to see the "joy" of such celebrations. He spent eight years working in the hospitality industry and recalled how each Christmas, two weeks of office parties would take place, at which he would work as a waiter.
Recalling what the parties were like, he began: "I cannot stress enough that this was a different time, but the rampant 80s excess of office Christmas parties was intense, frightening, and on occasion, stomach-churning. My first clue that these groups were after more than paper hats and finding the ring in the plum pudding happened on the second day of the festive madness. Several large tables filled the basement and we were swamped. Bread to be sliced, champagne to open, orders to take. After twenty minutes, the place looked like The Poseidon Adventure after the giant wave."
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Graham went on to describe his experiences, adding: "Day and night, for two weeks it went on, and in various forms for the next eight years, I delivered unwanted turkey to people who were just hell-bent on having the most ‘fun’ they possibly could. Fun? As I watched them drink and eat themselves into dribbling fools, I couldn’t see the joy.
"Like cats chasing shadows along a wall, these revellers would never catch what they were chasing. Christmas had been something I used to look forward to for months. Stockpiling gifts under my bed, carefully rewriting my lists for Santa, sitting with my family to watch the seasonal specials on television, but now I was just an unwilling witness to the fall of the Roman empire."
Graham moved to London after spending a year in San Francisco. He arrived in the capital to attend the Central School of Speech and Drama, and began working as a waiter while studying.
He kicked off his career as a stand-up comedian and it wasn't long until he'd been snapped up by Channel 4, landing his own chat show and creating his image as a much-loved presenter.
