S17.E01: Kim Cattrall, Stanley Tucci, Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse, Years & Years

[maraleia]

The irrepressible host returns with another sofa full of stars, including Sensitive Skin star Kim Cattrall, Hunger Games and Fortitude actor Stanley Tucci, who reveals another string to his bow when he talks about his new cookery book, The Tucci Table. Comedians Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse discuss how they are teaming up again to go on tour, and there is music by electro-pop trio Years & Years, performing their single, King.

[Matt K]

Really dislike Graham Norton's beard. Really hope he gets rid of it soon.

[peeayebee]

I don't mind it.

 

I thought it was a pretty good show. I hadn't heard of Harry and Paul before, which I guess is excusable as an American even though they've been around for many years. I might check out some clips of theirs.

 

In the monologue when Graham says who's going to be on the show, the pic of Kim Cattrall had me worried. It looked like she had had face-changing plastic surgery, but when she came out she looked pretty normal.

 

I've always liked Stanley Tucci. Love his sense of humor. Like him, I found those foreign menu translations hilarious.

 

Years and Years. Not a fan. 

 

The Red Chair was pretty good, esp with Petra.

[dubbel zout]

Harry Enfield resembles Kenneth Branagh. I think it's the glasses. 

 

I don't mind Graham's beard, but I think it ages him.

 

Years and Years. Not a fan.

 

Nor am I, but I FF 98 percent of the music acts.

 

Stanley Tucci is so adorable.

[SmithW6079]

I enjoyed this episode. I thought the couch interacted well with each other. I liked Stanley Tucci's laughing fit at the menu items. I never watched "Sex and the City," so I don't know Kim Cattral's work (I remember her from a "Star Trek" movie), but I liked the clip of the show she's in now, and I loved that she got excited when Graham said he thought it reminded him of an indie movie and explained that's how they shot it.

 

The band struck me as an '80s-type band, so I enjoyed the song they did.

 

I guessing that the Czech girl was the fiancee of the guy who was flipped just before. The whipping tradition is real. From Czech Easter: 

• Pussywillow and pomlázka

Young, live pussywillow twigs are thought to bring health and youth to anyone who is whipped with them. An Easter pomlázka (from pomladit or "make younger") is a braided whip made from pussywillow twigs. It has been used for centuries by boys who go caroling on Easter Monday and symbolically whip girls on the legs. In the past, pomlázka was also used by the farmer's wife to whip the livestock and everyone in the household, including men and children. There would be no Czech Easter without the pomlázka.

 

Boys used to make their own pomlázkas in the past. The more twigs, the more difficult it was to braid one. This skill is not widespread anymore and pomlázkas can be bought in stores and street stands. Some men don't even bother and use a single twig or even a wooden spoon!

 

[attica]

Years and Years. Not a fan.

 

Still, the one kid's hands-over-mouth gasp at the Easter Whipping made me giggle. I think maybe he hasn't gotten out much yet.

 

Cattrall's done an awful lot of stage work lately. I think it suits her. (BTW, the Hugo Blick who's showrunning her dealio is the same dude who did The Honourable Woman with Maggie Gyllenhaal, which I liked tons.)

 

I had a Tucci sighting one day on the street near my work. He was wearing his coat like a cape. How do you not love a guy like that? (I also like that Emily Blunt fixed him up with her sister, and now they're married.)

[ChicagoCita]

I was a bit peeved at Kim Cattrall's implication that Steven Gerrard of Liverpool is stupid. He's the captain of his team, and the captain of the England international squad. There are stupid footballers, but I've never heard that about Gerrard, who's very well thought of; good player, homegrown Scouser, generous to charities, can't think of a whiff of scandal about him.  (Trying to think of an American equivalent, maybe Cal Ripken Jr.?)  He's wildly popular in Liverpool, and her implication that he needs to have things explained to him isn't going to win Ms. Cattrall too many fans in those parts.

 

Don't like Graham's beard, it ages him.

[proserpina65]

There are stupid footballers, but I've never heard that about Gerrard,

 

I have, but only as snarky good fun, so I don't know how true it is.  He does have a somewhat idiosyncratic speech pattern which could make one think that he's a bit slow.  He seems like a nice bloke, though.