Norton: Statue in home town a waste of money

Chat show host Graham Norton has branded plans to erect a statue of him in his Co Cork hometown for The Gathering as “a waste of money”.

But the Bafta-award winning comedian, who hosts BBC’s flagship Friday night comedy chat show, The Graham Norton Show, has indicated that he may attend a Cork Rebel Week event in Bandon in October.

His attendance, at an as yet to be announced event, was revealed by Rebel Week organisers yesterday after Norton said a statue of him would “look hideous”.

Organisers of what is one of the county’s key Gathering initiatives had hoped to commission a local sculptor to create a statue of Norton, to be unveiled by the star himself, as one of the highlights of the week-long event from Oct 14 to 20.

Norton was among several high-profile stars issued with a Cork Passport earlier this week — another Rebel Week initiative.

But when asked about the statue proposal yesterday, Norton said: “They haven’t made one yet thank God. Thank you for reminding me — I must write to them and beg them not to. It’s such a waste of money and it would look hideous.”

But a spokesperson for Rebel Week said the sculpture had only ever been a suggestion.

“Mr Norton has communicated to our Bandon committee that he feels, during these recessionary times, a statue would not be an appropriate proposition, which we were happy to take on board,” organiser Padraic O’Kane said.

“However, he has expressed his support of an alternative proposal, the details of which will be released very soon by Cork Rebel Week.”

Graham William Walker was born in Clondalkin, Dublin, but grew up in Bandon, where he attended Bandon Grammar School.

He went to UCC, but did not complete his studies, before he moved to England, adopted his great grandmother’s maiden name, Norton, and pursued a career in show business.

He honed his innuendo-laden comedy style as a stand-up and with regular appearances as a panellist on radio comedy shows, before breaking into a TV career.

He became best-known in Ireland around 1996 for his portrayal as the hilarious hyper Fr Noel Furlong in the iconic Fr Ted series.

But he shot to international fame when he moved to Channel 4 to host his own chat shows, including So Graham Norton and V Graham Norton.

In 2003, he was named as one of the 1,000 funniest acts in British comedy, and moved to the BBC in 2005, where he presented several shows including How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria and Strictly Dance Fever.

He has hosted his own TV chat show on BBC since 2007, and his own Radio 2 show.

He took over from Terry Wogan as BBC’s host of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Last year, he sold his production company to ITV in 2012 for an estimated £17m.

Norton owns a holiday home in Ahakista, West Cork, which has a private beach on Dunmanus Bay.