As previewed, Tom Hiddleston appeared on The Graham Norton Show on Friday in the UK. I believe this episode airs here in the US on BBC America next weekend. Tom has a weird history on Norton’s couch. I tend to think he’s very dependent on the other guests, and if he’s sitting with people he really admires, he turns into a dancing bear and a LOOK-AT-ME try-hard. Remember when he was on the same show as Kenneth Branagh and Robert DeNiro? My god, the cringes. His next visit went over a lot better, possibly because he was sitting beside Samuel L. Jackson, and Tom chilled out a bit (he made the effort). And this most recent interview wasn’t that bad. Yes, Tom is still extra. Yes, he overexplains his stories. But it wasn’t cringey.
Here’s the clip where Tom talks about being at Eton with Eddie Redmayne and doing a school production of A Passage to India.
Here’s a clip where Tom is talking about filming in Hawaii for Kong: Skull Island, and then the couch – which also involved Ruth Wilson, Ricky Gervais and Tinie Tempah – going off on a tangent as they talked about taxidermy and more. There’s an interesting part where Tom admits to Ruth Wilson that he too is afraid of sharks in swimming pools. Like, both Ruth and Tom have a fear of a shark coming into a swimming pool. Tom says the fear comes from Thunderball, the Bond film.
Basically, Tom’s appearance did no harm. I’m interested – very interested – in seeing the American promotional tour though. Tom blanketed the media last year when he was promoting I Saw the Light, so imagine how much bigger it’s going to be with a King Kong movie.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
He was going to agree with Kyrie Irving that the Earth is flat – a belief he has held for some time now, thanks to Eton immersion in the classics – but was too scared of Ricky Gervais and his new-fangled atheist turn of phrase. So he kept quiet. If only I’d realised before that Flat Earthism works better than a ball gag. My internet fantasy sex life would have been very different.
The Eton immersion in the classics? The classical Greeks and later Romans mostly believed the Earth is spherical. This idea we have today that the flat Earth theory was widely spread ’till the end of the middle ages is false.
ETA: I know what you wrote was a joke, I just want to point out that we as society believe in certain things that aren’t true at all.
Oh give it a rest, Crox. I am messing about. Like I always do. Be as nannying and serious and picky as you like, but FGS leave me out of it. You’re so tiring. And I am not messing about when I say that. Be you as much as you like, just please, please, please leave me out of it.
ETA: Seriously, Crox, arseholes. Just leave me out of your LEGS nannying, ok?
OK, OK.
@Crox Just fyi, that looked more like classic greek “nannying” to me. 😉
I totally get what you are saying Crox. It’s the rise of Christianity that suspended reason and science in Europe. The authority of the bible displaced it, much like what we see in evangelical churches in the US today. Thank goodness for the Muslim scholars who translated and shared early Greek philosophical/science/math texts with Europe.
There is an excellent book for anyone interested. It’s called The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason.
Its just snark Sixer, after all this is CeleBITCHY, right?
No need to be so defensive…
@ Coco +1
Thought it was funny. Sixer should take a seat.
@Sixer, he does owe you. He hasn’t done anything silly for you to laugh at in a while. As for Kyrie Irving, the Cavs play here in another week and I think I’ll hold up a sign that the edge of the earth is just behind my seat.
If the edge of the Earth is just behind your seat, could you look to see if there are any Sixlet dirty socks there? Because the bloody things must go somewhere, and it sure ain’t my laundry basket.
I’ll check. I’m also looking for my great aunt’s public transit senior pass
Sixer, Lightpurple – I went to Westfield Stratford yesterday and they have a Build-a-Bear there, looks like it’s cats and dogs too. I did have a chuckle as I walked past.
Could you also check for sets of house keys, lightpurple?
Becky – one day, Build-a-Bear will happen. I’m sure of it. And we will celebrate with a virtual choux pastry swan.
Will do. Also will be checking for her glasses as those seem to be her new favorite item to lose on a daily basis.
Mr Sixer can’t keep hold of a pair of glasses to save his life. Man alive, lightpurple, we are living the same life.
I snortled.
Legs HAS been doing you a great disservice, letting you think you needed to rely on the mechanical an obvious solution. We have always known words and neediness were his weaknesses though, so perhaps shame on us for not realizing a well placed stern look could accomplish the same as a gag.
I’ve got leg shackles on The Bloke so he can’t play polo with princes. I’m always open to new solutions!
Hey Sixer -have you seen the Blokes new Valentines CBeebes bedtime story? He can put me to bed anytime 😉
@Sixer, so is The Bloke easing is way back into good graces?
And when is Free Fire going to open here? I need me some Alien Beauty.
I have, Betti, of course!
The Bloke is still dead to me in all but a sexual sense. I’m back to admitting him into my boudoir though, just with the leg shackles.
I don’t know. I also need me some Alien Beauty – rare I can fancy an internet boyfriend AND like him.
I am going to remember this hilarity and snark when we finally find out if [as rumored] our VP does not believe in evolution!!
The neighborhood pool where I grew up had a deep diving pool that was painted a darker color and I always thought there could be a mad scientist who had created a secret trap door through which a mechanical shark would swim. I’m a little relieved to know I’m not alone in my irrational fears…
That’s insane and makes so much sense at the same time.
I have a fear of snakes and other reptiles popping out from the toilet.
I once read a story about a snake emerging from a pipe somewhere in a house in the US…
There was an incident here in the news some time ago that a rat managed to climb up the sewage piping and out of the toilet (not while somebody was using it). I shiver just thinking about it.
If you haven’t watched the Norton episode, they do discuss fears of snakes, reptiles, and sharks popping out from the toilet.
Now I’ll have to watch it. Anyone talking about sharks popping out of the toilet deserves my full attention!
@Crox Hahhhhh no way. Ok, that’s absolutely horrifying and I am not even afraid of rats. I’ll pee in a bottle from hereon thankyouverymuch.
My front tooth is fake because I dove into the deep end and became convinced there was a shark chasing me. Raced to the pool edge and went to pull myself out. Was in such a panic that my arms splayed out and I chipped my front tooth on the pool edge. So happy to hear I’m not alone
I remember being sent to the Off licence on an errand not long after reading Jaws, and being scared that a Great White would pop up out of a drain…In the middle of London !
We don’t even have Great Whites at the seaside.
The irrationality is strong in me.
I always get the heebie jeebies if I can’t see the bottom of whatever I am swimming in. If diving in the sea, when I come to the surface and am waiting to be picked up, I have to keep putting my face back in the water to check nothing is coming for me before I get on the boat. That’s relatively rational, since there will often have been reef sharks on the dive but I get just as scared in murky swimming pools.
Mind you, when I think about it, if a swimming pool is that murky, it’s not dying of a shark attack I need to worry about….🤔
I have this irrational fear of dark bottom pools. I will NOT swim in one. In fact, I didn’t put in an offer on an otherwise perfect home because the pool had a dark bottom. I am afraid that there might be all kinds of life in there – sharks, assorted other fish including piranha, alligators, etc. That’s why I’m so glad we have a home in the Bahamas… clear water, can see all the way to the bottom.
I don’t like getting in any kind of water.
Fell overboard in the Gulf of Mexico as a child and never have enjoyed water since.
Anyway I am waiting to see one thing only and that is will Hiddle Piddle have new shoes to wear on his most excellent monkey promo tour.
😉
Man U guys just can’t get over the Hiddz huh? The other guests were SO MUCH MORE captivating. That actress is gorgeous! Gervais was a good time and Norton even showed Hiddz up. It’s a real spell he has you all under….time to check yourselves into Hiddz addicts anonymous
I mean, this happened in Florida last year. It was a five ft blacktip shark. So he’s not completely nuts.
Sharknado is real!!
At this point, Tom should have a healthy, metaphorical fear of both sharks AND snakes.
Why not, I have a real fear of both, spiders (despite my name 😆 ) and moths.
Slugs too, Spidey. A robust fear of all bottomfeeders, actually.
Metaphorically and literally.
still trying to work out what a metaphorical fear feels like 😖
Kinda takes the fun out of it if I have to explain it.
Got it now, must have been that good night’s sleep I just got.
Sorry.
(golf claps) Well done, MI6.
*bows*
Thank you, Elle. I’m here all week 😉
I saw the whole show and felt he was really out of character. I cant decide. Was he sad or just restrained? I means its very very possible that his publicist has started giving him some media training but I dont think I saw him laugh once. I saw an online discussion in which people speculated that as non nonsense as Ruth Wilson is and as hyper sensitive as he is, they may not have enjoyed working together and that was the energy we were reading. Or that he was scared stiff to draw Ricky Gervais attention because Ricky is not above airing a few Taylor jokes just for the hell of it. I’m gonna have to watch a few more of his future interviews to figure this one out.
I felt he was subdued. Hardly surprising given recent events. If he puts a foot wrong currently, the media pile in (e.g. about his GG speech – not great but not worthy of the absolute roasting it received). Then when he is restrained people moan because he is boring. He can’t win at the moment. No wonder the poor bloke looked nervous and didn’t smile much.
Jeez. The MEDIA didn’t roast him. He got some gentle ribbing for half a night. The public (that doesn’t rabidly follow him) forgot about it by the next day. That is if they ever thought about him or his speech at all.
ETA: he was fine in the interview. prolly because there wasn’t much of him. a little of him goes a long way.
Agreed, Anon. He has been the subject of ridicule since last summer and that seems to have taken its toll. It’s been a pile on ever since, but he’s recovering.
@ anon I think hiddleston’s problem is that he is too eager and people hate that he try’s too hard. He doesn’t need to he is talented and attractive. The last time he was on Norton he did an impression of Robert dinero in front of the man. I mean it was gross. Then he did one of graham it was too much. I think most people cringed. He needs to tone it down. Then again he is the guy that dated a vapid lying popstar for three months and whored out the whole thing for the world. I don’t know how he couldn’t see that Taylor just wanted to use him to show Calvin Harris that she was over him. Then there is that article in gq where he is trying to tell us that the media scrutiny was soo difficult and it didn’t work between them because of it. I don’t know but the writer made him seem like a sad eager beaver. Then a few days after his birthday he thanks everyone for bday wishes which is fine he could’ve just ended it there but then decides to add that he went for a run in the rain and then had a slice of cake. Does he want to us to pity him. If so it’s pathetic shouldn’t he dating someone else by now. It was only a summer thing. The guy is a wet blanket.
His personality appeals to me. And those stunning good looks.
He was there to promote a movie. He did that. The energy I read with Ruth Wilson was affection as they were quite handsy with one another at the start of the show and he had been to see her play. She was there to promote Hedda Gabler, which she did. Ricky Gervais pretty much monopolized every thing from that point forward to the point that even Graham Norton seemed subdued in comparison. Which is fine because Ricky is funny and Norton let him go with it.
He’s handsy with all his coworkers so that doesn’t say much. I doubt there’s any problems between him and Ruth but I also doubt they have much in common. He’s a bit wet and she’s no nonsense kick ass.
She actually laid her hand on his leg when he leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. She was the touchy one.
Probably popped a beta blocker before the show. Because with Gervais on the couch, his usual antics could have gotten him roasted.
Wasn’t there a story earlier that he had actually talked on the show about having the nickname Hiddle Piddle at school and also another outing for the story about him peeing on Tom Hollander during filming of TNM but those didn’t make the final edit that was aired? Suggests that there might have been quite a lot of other stuff he said.
Personally, though, I prefer this version. At least I don’t have to watch subdued Hiddles through my fingers while screaming ‘No! Nooo! Argh! STOP talking!!’
He wasn’t as embarrassingly try hard as he can be. In fact he was just kinda dull. Ricky was funny , Ruth Wilson is so charismatic and Daniel ratcliffe has huge energy and a natural funny way of telling stories hiddleston just doesn’t have. I just don’t think he’s very good at chat shows. He’s not really that quick witted and he cares too much about how he comes across so it all becomes either a little to try hard or in this case he came across as quite boring.
Ruth Wilson is AMAZING in the 2006 PBS version of Jane Eyre with Toby Stephens as Rochester. Do check it out if you haven’t seen it. A breakout perfomance.
We should have a Hiddleston corniness meter.
We do. It is called Sixer!
BRAVO to secret Squirrel!
He looked so fine in that suit. Two thumbs up to Gucci. And I’ve decided I’m a fan of the shorter hair with just a hint of facial hair. Looking good Tom.
I think he’s so handsome, such a cutie! Definitely looking good
Not seen the show, but given the bad rap he got for previous outings on the show, and the GG debacle, I’m not really surprised he was subdued.
If you want to see an episode of the GNS when someone takes over, try finding the one with Lee Mack when Branagh was on with him.
Lee Mack is really funny though. 😉
Tom was fine on it, to be fair. But his personality is not really suited to the beautifully loose irreverence of the show. Those who usually end up being the most entertaining are those who see Graham’s sofa, once their promo of whatever it is they’re selling is out of the way. quite rightly, as the equivalent of an end-of-week Friday night down the pub,
He may be funny, but the episode I meant he never gave anyone else a look in. In the end Ken just gave up trying, sat back and let him get on with it.
I remain puzzled at his popularity.
I am straight but I honestly thought I’d rather do Ruth Wilson than this snoozefest of an old Etonian. At least she’s sexy and has some kind of intrigue about her.
He’s just boring ever so slightly pretentious and he can’t deliver the punch line to his longwinded stories to save his life.
i’m not straight, so sometimes i assume i don’t find him attractive because my tastes in men are rarely in line with those of straight women (i’m bisexual, and none of the american/australian chrises or the posh pasty brits do it for me, while i find oscar isaac, jake gyllenhaal and dev patel ridiculously attractive, so i took it for granted that my non-straightness gives me different taste ¯\_(ツ)_/¯). but it’s interesting hearing straight women say they don’t get TH popularity either lol.
and omg ruth is so sexy and confident, and such a good actor. so attractive.
Ruth is hot AF. Girl crush!! In my twitter feed this weekend all the men were drooling.
Oscar Isaac has always been attractive but how ridiculously hot did Dev Patel become lately? I am not one for pasty brits either ( says this pasty Brit 😉) give me Diego Luna, Jason momoa, or Pedro pascal any day!
You should see {if you have not already} a wonderful ghost story with Ruth called I AM THE PRETTY THING THAT LIVES IN THE HOUSE.
@Chloe, i’m british and the same age as dev patel, so i used to watch him on skins. he was always a cute kid imo, but now he’s grown to be quite handsome.
@third ginger it’s on netflix, i’ll it watch it tonight. thanks for the tip!
Each to his (or her) own taste. I personally like fair-skinned men – there I’ve said it! I like them sort of gingery with blue eyes. I don’t consider them pasty — that is discrimination against those of us of the Celtic persuasion, whose ancestral DNA took a gander at the pale yellowish disk in the sky (when it could be glimpsed through the clouds) and thought – who needs melanin to protect against THAT puny thing? What we need is something to make sure we get some Vitamin D from that sun thing.
@justme
“That is discrimination against those of us of the Celtic persuasion,”
Well I guess I am discriminating against myself then 😘
As I said each to his own. I just get sick of hearing those of us who are fair-skinned inevitable referred to as “pasty”. When my daughter was younger she was teased incessantly because she was so white and couldn’t tan (so was I in fact – I was always told that I looked “unhealthy”). All skin colors are beautiful!
‘that is discrimination against those of us of the Celtic persuasion’
i hope this is a joke.
i’m also white, pasty and freckly. maybe i suffer from internalised pasty discrimination.
Of course it was a joke (you didn’t get that from my comments about ancestral DNA peering at the sun?) But yes I do get a bit sick of the fact that only really fair people’s skin color is open for abusive comments. I happen to think very very pale skin is beautiful — not pasty. Actually judging by the number of British and Irish people that I’ve seen who go for the “fake tan” look (which usually looks ridiculous and orange) I think there may be some self-loathing going on. Or maybe they just want to look like The Donald (mother from Scotland).
Lol wtf? Discrimination against fair skinned people? You sound like one of those trump supporters who feels disproportionately victimised in the big bad multicultural world. And for the record I am also fair skinned. Who said fairskinned people can’t be beautiful? If they don’t like the brits that are so popular here it doesn’t mean that ALL fairskinned people are unattractive. Smh!
Oh Lord, I’m not a Trump supporter! I just get sick of all the “pasty” jokes that’s all. You can say you dislike Tom’s accent, his posh upbringing, his education etc. – but why is it ok to make fun of his skin color? If I made fun of a dark skinned person’s skin color I’d be skinned alive (and quite rightly too). I should not have used the “discrimination” word – not even as a joke of course — Sorry for my transgression!
I’m so ghost white I burn, not tan. My black as black can be boyfriend is gorgeous. We are perfect together. A person is a person no matter what color
@justme
Why are you are so triggered that a few women here have the audacity to say they aren’t attracted to him?
Look Ruth Wilson has Celtic and English ancestry like Hiddleston. So obviously this is not a bias against all Celtic people as they seem to find her good looking.
The comment comparing this to comments about black peoples skin is ill informed. Come on now you know it’s not the same given history..
I had 3 Irish grandparents and one Scot. I love the sun. At 64 the age spots just connect to form a tan.
I am a fan of his – though not a “fangirl”. I just have come to the point that I cannot stand reading about “pasty” people anymore. It seems to me to be a term of abuse. I was laughed at as a kid because I was so pale, so was my daughter, who was frequently in tears when she was a young teen because of it. Of course we all know that black people have suffered because of their skin color and the teasing we went through was not in any way the same – not close! And black skin is beautiful – but so is what is abusively call pasty skin. Rarely do actresses get the pasty designation btw – it is usually actors (because somehow a tanned rugged person is more manly I guess.) Oh and as I said above the word” discrimination” was used as a joke – which obviously fell flat and for which I apologize — mea culpa!
Girl it’s not that serious. These jokes are coming from people who describe themselves as “pasty” or fairskinned. If you feel you been made fun of for your skin tone then I am sorry but it’s in no way comparable to black peoples struggles. You’re wasting your time defending Hiddleston. He’s a successful, wealthy, privileged actor, there’s really no need to feel sorry for him because some people on the internet call him pasty.
Well everyone seemed to take what I just said in a joking manner very seriously indeed! I started to get lectured on my political views (which are NOT my political views by the way) And that is because I touched in what I saw as a humorous way on skin color – I do apologize to any who felt offended.
I do not feel sorry for Hiddleston at all – he is doing fine as far as I can see, and will probably continue to do so.
@justme, you say you’re joking, but it doesn’t look like it. you seem to take it extremely seriously. people made fun of me in school because i was shy, tall and had no boobs, it wasn’t very pleasant. but i would feel very silly to compare what happened to me to people being discriminated against because of their race. in fact, i wouldn’t call that discrimination at all. check your privilege.
also i mentioned gyllenhaal among the men i find attractive, google his holiday pics, he seems fairly pasty to me. i said i don’t find POSH PASTY BRITS attractive. no one said ‘omg fair skinned people are so ugly lol’. in fact half os us said we’re also fair skinned.
Oh for heavens sake — I said three times that I should not have even jokingly used the word “discrimination” — What more do you folks want? I made what I thought was joke – which I tried to explain – (which one should not do with a joke – since if one does not get humor it is usually the fault of the teller – in other words my OWN fault) – then I was practically accused of being a white supremacist. So sorry sorry sorry!!
I checked my privilege – and got the receipt too ! (This by the way is a joke!)
I don’t think anything you said was indicative of white supremacy justme; or even of pasty supremacy…
No confusion here. You’re right, and everybody else who doesn’t share your tastes, is wrong. Simple.
My 24 year old daughter keeps me in line with my admiration of Hiddleston’s looks by saying he’s a popsicle stick compared to Jason Mamoa. She’s gay and her ideal is Janelle Monae.
My 15 year old niece loves Tom Hiddleston. An ass for every seat as they say.
This is only quasi-related to Tom, but the Los Angeles Public Library has an exhibit on Shakespeare and the American west at their Central Branch through next week. Any Celebitchies in the LA area in the next week should try and see it. Really interesting exhibit done in conjunction with the Folger Shakespeare Library.
I’ll relate this to Tom by wondering if he saw the exhibit when he was in LA last month.
Completely agree, it’s a great exhibit and worth the trek to get there
Judging by some of these comments his fans are as extra and hypersensitive as him.
Yeah, I have to tell my daughter all the time, people are mean. Try to develop some thick skin, because it is truly a vicious world out there today.
Well on a much lighter note looks like Tom is back in London via a twitter sighting. Also a truck has delivered a very large package to Mademe Tussards London that’s an eighteen ft full animatronic head of Kong. Part of the promo tour….
Full pics of Tom arriving via Tortilla. The Kong exhibition will also include James Conrad so I imagine he will appear at the unveiling.
Don’t you eat Tortilla’s? :😉
Airport Tom is my favorite iteration – even more than Tuxedo Tom. I think he made a stop at the stylist while he was in LA, he certainly didn’t need all of that luggage for this last weekend. It’s shaping up to be quite the promo tour for the Monkey Movie in March – UK, US, Mexico, Japan and probably China.
I have so many questions, all of them related to that monster suitcase he clearly doesn’t carry clothes in, given that he always wears the same 3 shirts, 2 pairs of pants and 1 pair of boots. Does he carry his books with him? Has he never heard of Kindle? Or does he need to smell his first editions? Does he have trouble sleeping unless he’s surrounded by his collection of fan sent teddy-bears? Does it contain his sextoys? Or his now taxidermied beloved childhood pet? Notes on the people he’s meeting? Notes from his publicist? How many of them are reminders to “talk less, smile more”? Is it the NDA Taylor Swift made him sign? A copy of the riot act his family read him after “Mr. Privacy” whored them out for the paps? So many questions.
@Spidey. Ha! I may have misspelled her username. 😉 Another Large Kong package delivered to Trussards in NYC. Two Waxy Toms!
It’s torilla isn’t it?
Hey Beachgirl or Jetlagged: Never heard of Tortilla?! How is it accessed?
Here you are:
http://www.weibo.com/torilla
good now he has tow waxed character Loki and cap conrad.
two characters *damn you stupid phone*