Graham Norton spent eight years working as a waiter in London during the Christmas period, and he’s detailed his ‘outrageous’ experiences of the festive season in the 80s
Graham Norton shared a candid throwback of the Christmas he’d happily forget. Known for his popular TV talk show and as the face of Eurovision, Graham spoke about his less glamorous days when he was a waiter in London’s Covent Garden during the yuletide season back in the ’80s, reports OK!.
The Irish-born star worked at a place called Smith’s and delved into those memories in an essay for a Christmas book. He described witnessing wild office parties, admitting that there were times he couldn’t quite grasp the “joy” in them. With eight years in the hospitality sector under his belt, Graham detailed the fortnight of festive corporate bashes where he served tables.
He shared, “I cannot stress enough that this was a different time, but the rampant 80s excess of office Christmas parties was intense, frightening, and on occasion, stomach-churning. My first clue that these groups were after more than paper hats and finding the ring in the plum pudding happened on the second day of the festive madness. Several large tables filled the basement and we were swamped. Bread to be sliced, champagne to open, orders to take. After twenty minutes, the place looked like The Poseidon Adventure after the giant wave.”
Graham shared his past experiences, revealing: “Day and night, for two weeks it went on, and in various forms for the next eight years, I delivered unwanted turkey to people who were just hell-bent on having the most ‘fun’ they possibly could. Fun? As I watched them drink and eat themselves into dribbling fools, I couldn’t see the joy.”
He continued, “Like cats chasing shadows along a wall, these revellers would never catch what they were chasing. Christmas had been something I used to look forward to for months. Stockpiling gifts under my bed, carefully rewriting my lists for Santa, sitting with my family to watch the seasonal specials on television, but now I was just an unwilling witness to the fall of the Roman empire.”
After spending a year in San Francisco, Graham moved to London to study at the Central School of Speech and Drama and took up waiting tables while honing his craft. His break into stand-up comedy soon led to being discovered by Channel 4, where he secured his own chat show and cemented his status as a beloved TV presenter.
