Graham Norton has named the worst guest he has ever interviewed on his BBC chatshow.
Norton revealed this at the Henley Literary Festival last week, where he described interviewing this particular guest as "hell". The celebrity he named was US actor Mark Whalberg, according to reports. The interview which took place in 2013, also featured Sarah Silverman and Michael Fassbender.
Explaining how the interview started to go wrong quickly, Norton said: “If you ever see a drunk person on the show, it’s because they’ve arrived drunk – we have not made that happen".
He continued: “[He] was a weird one because when he arrived, he didn’t seem drunk".
“He told me about his film, told me a couple of stories about stunts going wrong or whatever, and then it was only 15 minutes into the show when whatever the hell was in his system really took hold – and it was hell".
Elsewhere, Norton stated that the other guests on the show were unable to speak due to Whalberg's drunken behaviour.
“No one could tell a story,” he explained. “You tried to tell a story, he’d just interrupt and at one stage, Michael Fassbender was telling a story, and this one was going quite well".
“He was really getting into the heart of the anecdote", he added. “I thought, ‘this one is going well – I wonder why’ and I looked over at Mark Wahlberg and he was asleep. So yeah, we don’t encourage [getting drunk]".
While insisting that the producers do not get the guests drunk, Norton did say that they do have a drink waiting on them when they arrive on set.
“While we’re showing a clip or getting the music ready, they might be able to rush in and top you up, but the most you can have is two, three tops", he said. "So if anyone does want to appear on the show and be drunk, my tip to you would be pre-load".
