Review: AN EVENING WITH GRAHAM NORTON at Michael Fowler Centre

Graham Norton arrived on stage only a few minutes past the advertised start time and he seemed quite nervous when he began the show. 

Early on he mistakenly thought he was in Christchurch, before pretty quickly retracting that and remembered he was in Wellington. The crowd quickly forgave him for this mishap.

Within ten minutes, he had settled into his performance, taking us on a journey through his early years on television, aided by video clips from his first appearance on Irish TV and then as a host of his own talk show. He explained how difficult it was to get the stars to start coming onto the show and he struggled for content in the early years. 

We were then treated to a couple of infamous scenes from his Graham Norton show, featuring Robbie Williams sharing a story he really shouldn't have and Miriam Margolyes at her shocking best, when she was star struck meeting Laurence Olivier. The audience lapped these up and had the biggest reaction of the night.

The second half of the show was Q&A from the audience. He was remarkably open and honest with his answers and often segued into a personal story, before asking for the next question. I have to say the accoustics at the theatre were incredible, We could hear a question from the opposite side of the auditorium without aid of a microphone!

I did enjoy the show, but left feeling that there weren't quite the belly laughs I was hoping for. Listening to the audience as we left the venue, the consensus was that they thoroughly enjoyed their night and I guess that is all you could hope for.

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Lead Performer in a Musical - Top 3

1. LJ Benet - The Lost Boys, A New Musical

24.2% of votes

2. Joshua Henry - Ragtime

14% of votes

3. Sam Tutty - Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

11.8% of votes

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