Legendary talk show host Graham Norton revealed which celebrity was “hell” to interview at the Henley Literary Festival 2025. According to the BBC chat show host, one Hollywood actor was the hardest to interview because he turned up drunk to the set, and his antics left the veteran host baffled.
Here’s what Graham Norton said about the actor’s infamous appearance.
Graham Norton remembers Mark Wahlberg sitting on his lap during 2013 appearance
While Graham Norton has interviewed many celebrities over the years, perhaps some of the most famous ones, no guest has seemingly stood out like Mark Wahlberg, who allegedly turned up drunk to the chat show and caused a memorable stir.
During the Henley Literary Festival 2025 on Friday, October 10, Norton recalled Wahlberg’s appearance on his show alongside Sarah Silverman and Michael Fassbender (via The Independent).
“If you ever see a drunk person on the show, it’s because they’ve arrived drunk — we have not made that happen,” Norton clarified, addressing the rumor that producers get celebrities drunk on the show.
He said, “Mark Wahlberg was a weird one because when he arrived, he didn’t seem drunk. He told me about his film, told me a couple of stories about stunts going wrong or whatever, and then it was only 15 minutes into the show when whatever the hell was in his system really took hold — and it was hell,” Norton recalled of Wahlberg’s controversial stint.
“No one could tell a story,” Norton continued. “You’d try to tell a story, and he’d just interrupt, and at one stage, Michael Fassbender was telling a story — this one was going quite well. He was really getting into the heart of the anecdote.” Norton added, “I thought, ‘This one is going well — I wonder why,’ and I looked over at Mark Wahlberg and he was asleep. So yeah, we don’t encourage that.”
Wahlberg later told Digital Spy that people had taken his drunken antics too seriously and that it was all pre-planned with Sarah Silverman.
Either way, it remains one of the most memorable and infamous episodes in The Graham Norton Show’s history.
