The Graham Norton Show Series 26, Episode 9 - Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Jamie Oliver, David Mitchell, Kesha - British Comedy Guide (original) (raw)

Hillary Clinton talks about the possibility of running for US President again, Chelsea Clinton reveals what it was like being thrust onto the world stage aged 12, Jamie Oliver says closing his restaurants was heart breaking, David Mitchell jokes about his new book, and Kesha performs live in the studio.

Hillary Clinton talking about her new publication The Book of Gutsy Women and on working with her daughter, says: "It is a joy to work with her as we were on the same wavelength about who to include, but Chelsea will tell you it was a more challenging process for her than it was for me."

Chelsea Clinton explains: "I knew my mother wrote longhand, but I didn't know what it would mean for our collaboration. Firstly, I should say that I write on a computer because it is 2019! She would send me a photograph of a single page of writing, with all its corrections, as an attachment in an email. Arguably, I worked more (on the book) because it took a while to figure out how to decipher her handwriting and how to unlock all the email attachments. Her main defence is that she knows other authors that write longhand!"

Asked if she will run again for President, Hilary says: "I hear the rumours and have been deluged over the last few weeks thinking about it but, right now I am not at all planning that. And, if I did I'd have to make up my mind very quickly because it is all moving so fast. I do want to continue influencing the debate and I am working really hard to make it clear that we have to hold our current leadership accountable - I am out there all the time pointing out the foolishness and craziness we are currently experiencing. I'm not going anywhere, I just don't know what role I will be in."

Chelsea, asked if her blood runs cold when she hears her mother say that she does not ruling out running again, says: "She is first and foremost my mom and as proud as I am of everything she has done, I feel very protective of her. I have never figured out why she inspires so much hate and why she is so threatening to some people. I know she takes all that as righteous fuel, and not only will she continue to influence the debate, she will push the debate forward. I am in her corner no matter what, but it's for her to decide."

Asked about the ridicule she received as a child when her father was elected president, she says, "I don't think it was possible to protect me from it. Partly, because at school people would repeat what they'd heard, and partly because I was seeing both conservative and liberal TV shows making fun of me. It was a bit disorientating. Thankfully, I knew it was absolutely bonkers that adults were making fun of me and I was thankful to my mom who told me it was not about me, it was all about them."

Hilary interjects, "It was so bizarre. There were plenty of reasons to criticise Bill and me - that's totally fair game, but why pick on a child? It hurt me a lot, but it also bewildered me. You expect to be battered bruised a little by what people say, but I think everybody's kids should be totally off limits."

Chelsea continues: "I take it very personally if anyone attacks Malia and Sasha Obama or even Barron Trump. I disagree with President Trump on everything, but I will stand on the barricade to defend his son's right to privacy and his son's right to have the childhood every kid deserves no matter what their address."

Jamie Oliver, talking about his new book Veg, he says: "I wrote it nearly nine years ago, but it wasn't quite the right time to publish then. We have come a long way since then. Vegetarianism and veganism can be divisive, but I just want to get more people eating more veg."

And, on the closure of his restaurants, he says: "It was 13 years of hard work and Fifteen was my baby, but I ran out of money, ran out of everything and it was really tough, but you have to crack on and try to get yourself together. I've had the best of it - I don't know anyone who had it better than me - and I've had the worst of it - that's life. You have to focus it to a positive."

Asked if he will open more restaurants, he says, "Absolutely I'll think about it, but not until after Brexit and after the high street has sorted itself out. If you run a business in this country, there has been no good news for anybody for five years. It's been tough and there is a lot of mess to sort out."

David, talking about his new book Dishonesty is the Second-Best Policy, and asked how he selected which of his Observer columns to include, he jokingly says, "I felt there was no choice but to read them all and then I scored them out of 10 but ended up being slightly polite with myself so everything ended up between six and eight. Nothing got above a nine because I thought that would be getting above myself. It wasn't as helpful a process as I thought it would be!"

Asked who he would put into a book about gutsy women, says, "I'd be tempted to put Victoria Wood in there. There's no better comedian, writer and comic actress, she was the best and we thought she would be around for another few decades. I thought she was brilliant."

Kesha performs Raising Hell live in the studio, before joining Graham for a chat about her new album.