And the BAFTA for ‘BAFTA presenter’ is awarded to…
Graham Norton may have missed out on 2 awards at the BAFTAs, but his performance at this year’s ceremony certainly deserves one!
The BAFTAs certainly look glamorous, but it is essentially an evening of speeches – some are good, some are not so good, and some are downright awful – and listening to them for 2 hours must be hard going. But host Graham Norton managed to keep the audience engaged and laughing at this long and drawn out event. How?
Well, for a start, he said what they wanted to hear. I bet most of the guests at the ceremony were thinking the same thing, that being: “get on with it, we only came for the after show party”. When opening the awards, Graham bluntly reassured his audience: “as I like to say about sex, the sooner we start, the sooner we finish”. Not what you’d expect to hear at a prestigious awards ceremony. But who cares!? It’s honest and it’s entertaining.
So, the 2 hours of endless speeches began and the award winners took to the stage, declaring how surprised and happy they are to have won. Meanwhile, the other nominees had to sit and listen to these speeches while putting on their best ‘I’m happy for the winner’ face, just in case they are caught on camera. Now the losing nominees are disappointed as well as bored. They need cheering up. Cue Graham Norton.
Graham entertained and shocked the audience with numerous unpredictable one-liners, many of which were tongue-in-cheek jibes at other celebrities. He commented on Gary Barlow’s tax evasion, mentioned to “all the viewers who have left Good Morning Britain” had a dig at Simon Cowell’s unsuccessful X Factor musical. Naughty Graham. But somehow, he managed to get away with it. Why? Because he’s Graham Norton.
However, what makes Graham the star of the night for me, is the fact that he had to graciously accept losing out on 2 entertainment awards (to Ant and Dec…who else!?) in front of the whole audience, whilst standing on stage entertaining. Talk about rubbing it in! For that, I think he deserves an award.