PLUME: And what took so long for a best-of compilation to finally hit DVD?

NORTON: Well, we’ve had it in Britain – there’s 3 or 4 DVDs in Britain that have been released over the years – but with this one, BBC Worldwide suddenly picked up on the fact that, “Oh, people in America might buy that!” They went, “Ooo, let’s try and make some cash.” So we did a bit of a reedit and put more Americans in than had been in the original version, and put it out there.

PLUME: Is there a deal in place for a DVD release of the first series of the Comedy Central show?

NORTON: Oh, I don’t know.

PLUME: They’ve been releasing everything else under the sun…

NORTON: I suppose they’ll wait and see what the demand is.

PLUME: For something like that, is your preference for it to be released as a complete series, or as a best-of?

NORTON: I think best-of is my feeling, because I think the show is compiled quite well into moments…

PLUME: So you have the ability to extract things…

NORTON: Yes. But watching whole shows again later – I mean, I can’t bear watching them again later. We like to just shove them out there. It’s not fine wine. It doesn’t improve with age.

PLUME: That’s seriously undercutting yourself…

NORTON: No, seriously. It’s disposable TV – we make it that week, we show it that week. And that’s why I think it compiles well.

PLUME: Are you planning to do any stand-up in the near future?

NORTON: I have no actual plans, but I’d like to, yeah.

PLUME: What kind of prep work does that take? Is it something you could do on the spur of the moment?

NORTON: No, I think you need to give it a couple of months, just because the theaters get booked. Particularly because the sort of scale of theaters that I would like to do – which is somewhere between 200-300 seaters – there aren’t that many of them. Or at least aren’t that many nice ones.

PLUME: So until then, you just need to keep appearing on Colin Quinn’s Tough Crowd…

NORTON: Yes! And actually, I already have another appearance lined up. I like it there. It’s so not my world.

PLUME: How would you compare that dynamic amongst US comedians with UK comedians? Is there a difference in interaction?

NORTON: Not really. A comedian’s a comedian. They’re a very kind of cynical bunch. I guess that’s why I like them. Here, I suppose, they’re slightly more kind of serious about their careers and all that sort of stuff – whereas in Britain, it’s still a bit kind of… There are people like that who are quite driven, but mostly they’re just out for a laugh.

PLUME: So we’ll see you on the next edition of Last Comic Standing…

NORTON: Dear god. If that ever happens, shoot me. You have my permission.

PLUME: I’m writing that down… “Shoot Graham…”

NORTON: “If he appears on Last Comic Standing…”

PLUME: “If he appears on Last Comic Standing.”

NORTON: Yeah.

PLUME: That’ll be the headline…

NORTON: “They Shoot Comics, Don’t They?”

PLUME: Exactly… That’ll be your version of it…

NORTON: (laughing) That’ll be my show.

PLUME: At the end of our last conversation, you said you were happy with where your career was at. Would you say that’s still the case?

NORTON: I think so, yeah. I’m certainly more nervous now than I was, because I’ve got to go back to Britain now and start something totally unknown…

PLUME: Do you feel they might turn against you, now that you’ve “Gone American?”

NORTON: Britain’s such a twisted, weird little place… God knows… God knows…

PLUME: There’s our headline!

NORTON: (laughing) We’ll see what happens.

10 QUESTIONS

1. What is your favorite piece of music?
At the moment, it’s “Starry-Eyed Surprise” by a DJ named Paul Oakenfold

2. What is your favorite film?
E.T.

3. What is your favorite TV program, past or current?
What’s made me genuinely happy… I was very, very, very fond of Ally McBeal. Don’t know why… I think it was probably shit, but it brought me to a happy place.

4. What do you feel has been your most important professional accomplishment to date?
I guess being the first person to succeed at doing five nights a week on British TV. We’re all kind of proud, in a quiet way.

5. Which project do you feel didn’t live up to what you envisioned?
Oh, so many. I’m so sick of hearing the expression, “Oh, that’ll do.” Most projects don’t live up to my expectations.

6. What is your favorite book?
The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath.

7. If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?
I’d get network Standards & Practices on American television.

8. Who – or what – would you say has had the biggest influence on your career?
I suppose “what” would be working in restaurants, as having the biggest influence on my career. Working in restaurants has made me what I am today – 1) the work ethic, and 2) just that desperation to get out of them. Who has influenced me more than anyone else? Oh, let’s give Joan Rivers a name check.

9. What is your next project?
Doing that week of shows in New York and that stand-up in New York.

10. What is the one project that you’ve always wanted to do, but have yet to be able to?
Write a novel.

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