Graham Norton

I loved Lucille Ball growing up. ”

I've heard other gay people say when they were growing up they felt 'foreign.' Growing up, I was able to label these feelings as: 'I'm a Protestant.' It wasn't until I left, I thought: 'Oh, those weren't Protestant feelings.' ”

An awful lot of female celebrities are very beautiful whereas a lot of male celebrities are not so hot. ”

Some people think they're depressed and they go to the doctor and want pills. And you just think: 'You hate where you live, you've lost your job, your boyfriend has dumped you, could all this be why you're depressed?' ”

Britain's such a twisted, weird little place. ”

It sounds deeply shallow, but for brief spells every member of the public can be fascinating. ”

The BBC is a victim of its own independence. ”

If you'd told the young Graham Norton that I'd one day have this amount of money, I'd have assumed it would have come from a lottery win. ”

Because society places a value on masculinity, gay men aspire to it. If you go to a gay club and the doorman says, 'You do realise this is a gay club, don't you lads?' you get all excited because you think, 'Wow, he thought I was straight!' ”

I don't think you should have to try to be nice, I think most people are nice. I think being cheerful and nice is just a politeness. ”