Why is the Jonathan Ross show so crap compared to Graham Norton?

[MeinKraft]

JR is perfectly nice, the guests are personable and witty and yet it just doesn't have the warmth of the Graham Norton show. I don't know what's missing. Is it the giant empty blue studio maybe?

I can't watch GN because of the red chair, does he still do that?

I remember the Matthew Perry one.

MM said she hated Marta Kaufman and he was visibly a bit offended because Kaufman was a senior producer on Friends

She then said she had "creamed her knickers" over something and he was visibly repulsed.

He occasionally does it but it features a lot less

The most annoying JR I saw was AGES ago when he tried to force Bob Geldof to disclose details about Tiger Lily and Bob got progressively more irritated as it went on. She was still very young then

Just watching the episode of GN with will.i.am and GN shows a picture of him with prince william and gn says "will.i.am ans Will.one.is" ha ha ha
Miriam claimed not to recognise prince william 🤔

Well the truth is that they're both egotists as probably many/most people in show business are. Maybe it sadly goes with the territory. Graham Norton does seem to be better at bringing out the guests though, and a lot of them seem to be enjoying themselves on the show. And they keep returning as pps have said. Graham N can be very funny but he does have a sneery attitude to non-celebs as you can see in his 'big red chair' section which I hate.

Jonathan Ross I used to like years ago, I remember him presenting a series about films on BBC Four (not Film 20..) and I could appreciate his knowledge and enthusiasm, but as he got older he got more and more pleased with himself and the guests on his chatshow were just there as props to allow him to talk and joke, he seemed to think. You could see some of them getting visibly annoyed! Plus he was often creepy around the women.

It was probably a good day for the BBC when him and Russell Brand did that wildly inappropriate thing leaving messages on the answerphone of Andrew Sachs and they got to sack him. Graham N has worked out much better for them!

JR is perfectly nice

Er no. I gave up watching him years ago because I got totally fed up of him talking over and interrupting his guests. I didn't want to hear him, I wanted to hear from the people invited on the show! It seemed like the JR EGO trip show.

GN is warm and funny and lets the guests speak for themselves. He seems to genuinely enjoy chatting and doesn't treat it like a vehicle for his own voice.

Jonathon Ross is awful. I've no idea why anyone likes him.

I really like GN although I find his show too sycophantic. He needs to stop sucking up to the big stars so much.

Is that the one where he was trying to get BG to slag off Paula and MH and said "it must be so difficult for you, and must have taken you so long to make the decision to take her..did you have to do a lot of soul searching" (or something) and BG just replied "not even for a nano second".

@ScentOfAMemory

Possibly

What I remember distinctly is JR carping on that "my 7 year old is cuter than yours" completely trying to push Geldof into referring to himself as Tiger's Dad publicly - and Geldof basically gave every social cue possible to try and get him to stop and he kept going

Try Morrisons! That's where I buy it from

I agree. It seemed much better then. Is it the calibre of his guests?

Just looked at Ocado. They list the rose.

I miss Chatty Man. Alan Carr is the best host ever - GN second

This. He's like one of those actors that is much better when they're given decent direction. Like Bill Nighy. He always goes completely over the top when left to his own devices but is much better when he's obviously reined in. JR needs someone to tell him not to make it all about him.

And that stupid sad face he pulls followed by a fake laugh when the guest makes a joke at his expense just has to go.

GN has a more people focused personality and seems to do more research on the less obvious elements of a guests work. Guests are scheduled so they seem to have something in common with at least one other guest. Then they interact with the audience.

JR is just a lazy interviewer with an obnoxious personality (not fond of him).

Yes, this is the thing that no other show does!

This is an interesting question to me. I feel like ITV have asked themselves the same thing many a time. They tried to change the JR format to be more like GN but it still doesn’t come close.

I think a big part of it is that the guests feel more relaxed with GN. Yes, they all come out together and have a drink, but also GN isn’t trying to push boundaries on stories/secrets etc. He knows everyone has a job to do, and just tries to have a bit of fun doing it with everyone having their turn. JR occasionally oversteps of offends.

I think ultimately, Graham Norton's sofa is a bit of a 'safe space', in that the guests know Graham's job is to make them look good. He won't ask the tricky questions or set them up like James Corden. Graham knows that his booking team need to be seen as the 'fun, nice" chatshow to attract the big names.

You won't ever hear of a celeb being 'cancelled' because of something they said on the GN show (apart from the time Mark Whalberg got absolutely battered on wine!)

I do wish though that sometimes he wouldn't be QUITE so fanboy about certain guests. I won't watch when someone like Tom Cruise or Madonna are one because it's so insanely fawning. Whereas, someone like Judy Dench, he's more willing to take a few risks because they clearly know each other very well.

Old thread but just watching Jonathan Ross ignore female guest and direct question after question to the 2 male guests sitting either side of her. Pathetic.

Have always hated the JR show and amazed he has lasted this long, he never lets them speak! Graham Norton is lovely, I have been to a few of the recordings of the show and he seems just as lovely off screen.

The calibre of GN guests is much higher plus he has the red chair priceless !