S16.E00: Liam Neeson, Anna Kendrick, Eddie Redmayne, Bradley Wiggins, Conchita Wurst (Holiday Special 2014)

[maraleia]

 

Get ready for the bells with a special New Year's edition of the Bafta award-winning talk show featuring the biggest celebrities, the brightest conversation and the best jokes.

 

[dubbel zout]

Is this a compilation show?

[joelene]

I don't think it's ever been that before, so I imagine it'll be a regular show. Only more festive.

[dubbel zout]

Thanks, joelene. I couldn't remember if this was one of his regular compilation shows or not.

[Quof]

It seemed to be a new show, with some highlights from the past year as well.   I hadn't seen Kendrick on a talk show before. She seemed a little desperate for attention. And I couldn't understand a word Wiggins said.

[twizzwhizz11]

I enjoyed it for the most part. Liam seemed a little out of it (unless that's just how he usually is in interviews/talk shows) and I couldn't understand anything Bradley was saying. Eddie was adorable and took all the embarrassing moments in stride. I feel like I've heard the story of how he told Stephen Hawking they were both Capricorns too many times already and I don't feel like I've seen too many of his interviews. He needs to get a new anecdote. Anna was sweet too. She went a little too long on the power bar/trail mix bit (though it was funny to hear that the British don't have power bars). I thought all the advice was a little weird though, considering Eddie has been to the Golden Globes/Oscars before...for Les Mis?

 

Anyway, liked the highlights from the Red Chair. The best ones were from when The Monuments Men cast was on the show.

[Quof]

I was trying to figure out where Wiggins was from, because I truly couldn`t understand him.  I normally enjoy the various accents on GN, for example, John Bishop cracks me up, and the look on Billy Crystal`s face as he tries to understand him is priceless.  

[Mumbles]

What a bore fest. Even my New Years Eve was more interesting.

I hadn't seen Kendrick on a talk show before. She seemed a little desperate for attention.

She has her fans. I am not one. She comes off always to me as a highly successful Drama Club kid with a permanent "Who farted?" face.

[Kromm]

I confess I don't get her.  She's undeniably really talented.  There's no NEED for her to come off as desperate for attention,.. and yet she does.

 

In a way it was funny that Graham actually ignored her and only asked questions of the others until near the very end.  Maybe he pegged onto her attitude when the cameras were off and decided he didn't want to reward the behavior.

Or maybe she said more earlier on and the episode got edited down.

 

Although I've seen her on Letterman and Conan before, and she DID come off slightly better in those venues. If you go search for clips of those on Youtube and watch, the pattern seems to be that she's just a really bizarre person, with an even weirder sense of humor.  Which opens the possibility that her 'tude on Norton was (in her mind) some kind of gag.  If that sounds farfetched watch this one particular clip. What she says in the first part of it is odd... but not THAT odd.  But the story she tells later on about her and her friend Aubrey Plaza?  It seems to indicate a liking for punking people in weird ways.

 

Edited January 4, 2015 by Kromm

[attica]

I'm so used to seeing cyclists only in spandex, it was nice to see Wiggins in a fancy suit, with his hair all done. I liked him immensely, especially the way he was 'crediting' his poor wife.

 

Thank goodness Graham gave Neeson crap for the ridiculousness of the plots of the Taken sequels. Nice of Liam to shout out his stunt dude.

 

I get more of a Drama Club Kid vibe from Redmayne than from Kendrick, but I grant it's a close race.

[dubbel zout]

Thank goodness Graham gave Neeson crap for the ridiculousness of the plots of the Taken sequels. Nice of Liam to shout out his stunt dude.

 

I love how trashy the Takens are. The ludicrous plots just add the the fun. The fact that Neeson became an action star in his late fifties is awesome, as was his praise of his stunt guy. I wonder how much younger he is; if they've worked together for sixteen years, he can't be too much of a spring chicken.

Conchita was exactly what a Eurovision winner should be. (I mean that in the best possible way.)

[Mumbles]

I was surprised how much I enjoyed Conchita. That song sounded like a James Bond theme - over-the-top, dramatic. A few years ago BBC America showed the Eurovision competition. I wish they'd do so again.

[peeayebee]

Anyway, liked the highlights from the Red Chair. The best ones were from when The Monuments Men cast was on the show.

I didn't see any Red Chair stuff.

 

I didn't get a bad impression from Kendrick. I thought she was just fine. IOW, I like her. I thought the bit with Power Bar and then trail mix was pretty funny.

 

I love Liam Neeson as a guest (and as an actor, of course). 

 

Eddie Redmayne seems like a nice person, but I didn't think he was a good storyteller. Neither was Wiggins, whom I was having trouble understanding like others here. It was weird that at times he reminded me of Jon Hamm. Kind of a cross betw Jon Hamm and Adrian Brody.

 

Loved Redmayne demonstrating his Oliver audition.

 

I really loved the funny photos that Graham showed. I'd seen a couple of them before, but they're fantastic,

[kassygreene]

I suspect with great sadness that this year's BBCAmerica airing of GN's New Year's Eve show was heavily edited, as we had only the four guests and Conchita; no flashback clips, no Red Chair... Had to make room for that Star Trek The Next Generation marathon.

Edited January 5, 2015 by kassygreene

[sugarbaker design]

I thought all the advice was a little weird though, considering Eddie has been to the Golden Globes/Oscars before...for Les Mis?

 

 

I thought it was specific advice for nominees.

 

Anyway, liked the highlights from the Red Chair.

 

 

We didn't get that on BBC America.  Dammit.

[Qoass]

Anna Kendrick was on The Daily Show last month and I thought she was delightful.

 

I had no problem understanding Bradley Wiggins.  Trust me:  you didn't miss a thing.

[dusang]

I thought it was specific advice for nominees.

 

Except it was "they don't actually serve food" -- which you'd know if you'd ever been there, nominee or not.

[attica]

Points to Neeson's response about auditioning: "Never, darling!" I'm all about the camp.

[theatremouse]

Except it was "they don't actually serve food" -- which you'd know if you'd ever been there, nominee or not.

Right but I think the distinction is (I might be remembering this wrong) Graham sort of prompted her about advice for Eddie as a first time nominee, which means even if Graham knew he'd been before, but not nominated before, she didn't necessarily know that and the first thing that came to her mind was that the Globes are good because there's booze but they tell you there will be food and there isn't. So all that suggests is Anna Kendrick didn't remember he'd attended before sans nomination. I mean it was a silly very talk show way to try to steer the conversation, not really her fault for responding that way. Any time I hear anyone asked about what it's like to be at the GGs they basically say exactly what she did.

[SmithW6079]

I liked Anna Kendrick and Eddie Redmayne; I think they liked each other too and seemed to play off well with each other, and I think they had the most interaction between them. The cyclist was bored by it all, I thought, with those "show-biz" types. At at one point he seemed annoyed at Eddie for asking a question he must have answered backstage previously, but I thought Eddie was just trying to get him to talk (which is Graham's job).

 

I've always thought Liam Nesson was classy (and hot), and yes, his becoming an action star in his late 50s is both hilarious (ironic?) and inspirational. I watched him on a news program last year talking about Natasha Richardson. It was heartbreaking how much they must have loved each other, and then she died in a freak accident.

 

I couldn't understand the cyclist much either, but I did like his story about his wife and how much she could lift, and then them panning to the audience to pick her out. Also liked Eddie's exasperation/admiration for Graham's researchers.

Edited January 8, 2015 by SmithW6079

[paramitch]

I thought this was one of the more successful recent episodes, if we totally ignore the cyclist, who just seemed like a mumbly ass.

 

But I thought Kendrick and Redmayne especially were delightful, as was Neeson (who is always dependable and so much fun on these things). And I think Liam is an awfully good sport about "Taken," considering that he filmed it at the speed of light, has pretty much admitted he felt he sucked in it, and he's now had deliver that freaking speech about 10000 times (half those on this very show). Although it was all worth it for the previous "Graham" appearance when he left the speech as an outgoing message for a fan on their voicemail, ending with a chipper, "Leave a message!" I love him.

 

Redmayne probably surprised me the most -- I thought he was pretty funny and down-to-earth, and he also was a great sport about some of the embarrassing stuff Graham's team uncovered (his crush on Nala in "The Lion King" is adorable).

 

The one thing I thought was weird was that Graham never mentioned Redmayne's kinship to Anna both as a fellow child musical performer and also as a movie musical veteran -- I mean, "Les Miz" had its problems, but Redmayne was absolutely superb as Marius, I thought (and I really had hated him and found him drippy and boring in "My Week with Marilyn" so he surprised the crap out of me both with his chops and singing ability). It was just odd that Graham kind of treated the couch like only Kendrick had been in a prestige movie musical project.

 

I didn't mind Kendrick and thought she seemed just naturally goofy and enthusiastic. I also loved her support for Redmayne's cartoon crushes (especially, "But they just draw some of them really sexy!" when talking about the FOX in "Robin Hood!").

 

For me, this was one of the better recent episodes. I really hate that Graham has started dividing up the couch more frequently over the past year -- it really affects the rhythm of the show.

[peeayebee]

And I think Liam is an awfully good sport about "Taken," considering that he filmed it at the speed of light, has pretty much admitted he felt he sucked in it, and he's now had deliver that freaking speech about 10000 times (half those on this very show). Although it was all worth it for the previous "Graham" appearance when he left the speech as an outgoing message for a fan on their voicemail, ending with a chipper, "Leave a message!" I love him.

Did you see his latest appearance on Jimmy Fallon?

 

[Brookside]

I suspect with great sadness that this year's BBCAmerica airing of GN's New Year's Eve show was heavily edited, as we had only the four guests and Conchita; no flashback clips, no Red Chair... Had to make room for that Star Trek The Next Generation marathon.

 

I believe the BBCAmerica version is always edited - at least it has been as long as I've seen it here.  In the UK, it's just under an hour (no ads), in the US it's around 50 minutes, with ads.  We're losing probably 15 minutes in the US.  I go to Youtube for the original - and for lots of previous episodes.

[JustaPerson]

Yea they didn't mention ER being in Les Mis, and when they were talking about AK being nominated for a Tony they didn't mention that Eddie Redmayne won a Tony