Graham Norton Says It’s Getting Harder To Launch Talk Shows: “I Feel Like We Might End Up Being The Last Chat Show On Planet Earth”

British chat show host Graham Norton has said booking top guests is getting harder as studios and record labels “focus all their energy into other places and platforms,” as he ponders how difficult it has become to launch talk shows.

Taylor Swift’s bestie Norton said it is “very hard to stay relevant and say we are still an important part of a promotional tour” now that stars want to advertise projects via podcasts or on YouTube.

He was responding to a question at the RTS London Convention on whether a new chat show could launch, but joked instead: “I feel like we might end up being the last chat show on Planet Earth.”

While Norton said he “tries to make sure the guests have a nice time,” he said he is sometimes surprised at the things they refuse to do compared with what they will do online.

“We ask them to show a picture from their year book and they say ‘no’ and we say ‘alright’ and then I’ll be on YouTube and they are eating f***ing hot wings,” he joked.

As he pondered the future of British chat shows, he said he has given up on his hope of having a “job share” following the cancelation of The Claudia Winkleman Show after one season.

The BBC show hosted by The Traitors host was supposed to air when The Graham Norton Show was off-air in the spring, meaning there would be no clashes between the two programmes produced by Norton’s production company So Television.

However, after one season, Winkleman candidly acknowledged she was “just too nervous to enjoy it” and would be stepping back.

Norton said plans had been in place for a long time to launch Winkleman’s show alongside his and a replacement will likely never be found.

He said he thought his old friend Winkleman was “really good at it” but accepted her decision.

Norton was speaking at the RTS London Convention after talent including Jeremy Clarkson and Steven Knight.