Graham Norton's road from risqué to Rock with Laughter

Graham Norton will be the first non-Midland host of Birmingham's annual Rock With Laughter Show next month. He tells

that he loves doing stand-up – but is just too lazy.

Back in the 1990s, it would have been hard to imagine Graham Norton fronting a family-orientated variety show.

As the enfant terrible of late-night television, he revelled in the controversy caused by his risque humour on Channel 4 and Five.

But now aged 48, and with a string of middle-of-the-road hit TV shows behind him, he is a pillar of the broadcasting establishment.

And he is thrilled to have landed the role as the frontman of Rock with Laughter, Birmingham's annual grand show of music and comedy.

"I always get a bit jealous when I get these comedians on my shows, who do these big arena tours.

"I used to do stand-up, but in those days there weren't the big venues that you get today.

"To go into a room with 10,000 people in front of you, that must be amazing."

Graham says his move from edgy cult act to mainstream family entertainment is simply the natural progression of growing older.

"I think it is unseemly for an older gentleman to be doing that sort of thing," he says, reflecting on his wilder days.

Norton is the first non-Midland comic to host the show – his predecessors are Brummie Jasper Carrott and Dudley's Lenny Henry, but Norton says he is well familiar with the area from his days as a touring comic.

He will be joined on the stage by fellow comics Jimmy Carr, Dara O Briain and Sarah Millican, while music will come from 10cc, Gabrielle and Marti Pellow.

Rock With Laughter was the brainchild of Jasper Carrott, who first hosted the show in 2005.

Carrott dislikes the "variety" tag – "You can't advertise a show as a 'variety' performance now because it is a dead word," he said during an interview in 2007 – but he seems happy for the show to be described as a modern, updated version of the variety productions that pulled crowds years ago.

"It's such a great idea, I don't know why there isn't something like this in London," says Norton.

"People are looking for things to do in the run-up to Christmas. I know people don't want to risk something they might not enjoy, but if 10,000 people have turned up, you have made a good choice."

Norton says he will be very much an active compere, and is certainly not just there to introduce the acts.

"I will be doing my stand up," he says.

The recent ITV reality series Show Me The Funny featured an assortment of aspiring unknowns trying to make their way as comics, with the message that stand-up is the hardest job in comedy.

Norton is not so sure. "It looks harder than it is," he says. "It is daunting, that's why I like being the compere.

"If you've got a huge band on in a few minutes, it takes the pressure of you.

"No two shows are ever the same. You can be playing the same club, and have a steaming gig one night, and then the next night, everything is the same, but it doesn't go down well at all.

"Or sometimes you say something that doesn't work one night, and then the next night you get a huge laugh."

Norton says there have been times when his act sometimes went too far.

"I was once talking to a chap in the audience, and I asked him where his wife was, and he said 'she's dead'. "I thought he was lying, trying to trip me up, and I carried on, but as the show went on, I wasn't so sure, and somebody shouted 'leave him alone'. Somebody else went 'he's a comic, he knows what he's doing'," but the reality was I didn't know what I was doing at all."

Norton says he is in no hurry to return to his days as a touring stand-up.

"To be honest, I'm lazy. When I do things like this, I really enjoy them, but I can't be bothered to do a tour, but this enables me to dip my toe in the water without the commitment."

* Rock with Laughter comes to Birmingham's LG Arena on December 16 and 17. Tickets are priced £22.50 to £32.50 (plus booking and transaction fees).

Visit www.rockwithlaughter.com