Preview: The Graham Norton Show

Picture: John Phillips/PA Wire

When you've got the Sexiest Man Alive on your sofa, you might expect everyone, and everything, else to fade into the background.

Okay, so Bradley Cooper (recently named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive) wasn't on my sofa (I wish), but he is on the settee tonight on the latest episode of The Graham Norton Show. 

Despite his gorgeousness (and trust me, just as good looking, if not better, in the flesh), the other guests on tonight's show manage to get their fare share of attention.

Picture: John Phillips/PA Wire

 

The statuesque Jessica Biel holds her own against comedians James Corden and Sarah Millican, sharing funny stories about dieting for film role. Talking about a time she cracked, she says: “One cheat day I went to Dunkin Donuts and ordered 24 doughnuts and went to a pizza joint and ordered two giant pizzas and I sat in the car and I put as much bread and dough into my mouth as I could possibly manage. It was the best moment.” 

If only we could all look like her after binging on pizza and doughnuts (I'd hate her if she wasn't so lovely as well as being beautiful).

Comedian Millican, who causes the audience to burst into stomach-aching laughter every time she tells a story, banters with Biel over dieting, asking her: “Have you ever eaten a croissant out of a bin? If we are going to talk about binging I should step forward. It was my bin and it was my croissant but I told my friend and she said, ‘oh, you’re posh now’ because it was a croissant!"

Millican is touring the country on her Thoroughly Modern Millican tour, and reveals why  Chatterbox may not have been such a good name for her DVD (it has to do with a film of the same name about something talking which shouldn't be talking).

Corden, who has just released his first book May I Have Your Attention Please?, makes no secret of his crush on Biel - but reveals he has a bigger crush on David Beckham, and that the two of them are having a bromance.

He says: “If you ever meet him you don’t know whether to shake his hand or lick his face. He is so nice.

“Yes, occasionally we will send a text to each other and things like that. But he started it and the first time he sent a text I had to call all my friends to tell them before replying. My girlfriend says she always knows when I am texting David because I look really happy, which is really tragic!” 

Picture: John Phillips/PA Wire

Momentarily eclipsing Corden's crush on Beckham this week is his crush on Cooper, who is unsurprisingly humble (if you've ever seen him interviewed before you'll know he's pretty self-deprecating) about his accolade as the Sexiest Man Alive. He says:  “I’m at an age where I don’t care about things like that anymore. I actually thought it was a joke when I heard. It’s annoying because I started to think about how not sexy I am. The other day I opened a door and thought, ‘I can do that a lot sexier.” 

I think the women in the audience would disagree that he could be sexier, and if he could, there might be mass fainting every time he opens a door.

The actor is promoting the release of Hangover 2 on DVD, and speaks about his hopes for a third film in the series. He says: “I personally want to do it and I hope we are starting shooting in September. The third one would have a different structure to the first two and will be set in Los Angeles.”

Music on the show is from Lenny Kravitz, who perfoms Black and White America, and then chats to Norton. He may not have been named the Sexiest Man Alive, but he reveals he has been given one of the highest honours the French government can give.

The Graham Norton Show is on BBC One tonight at 10.35pm.