PLUME: Which direction do you see the show going in? I know a lot of people have said, “We miss the old audience participation, the way it used to be handled.” Or the doggie phone…

NORTON: I think it’s harder in a way for American audiences, because you hadn’t been watching it for very long before it suddenly changed. Whereas over here, the doggie phone and stand up/sit down had been going for five years, so we just felt better to give them a rest while the audience still liked them, but while we were getting a bit bored of them - before the audience got bored with them. We’re all really kind of happy with where the show is right now. There’s always things you want to change, and after one night we’ll say, “Ooh, we must focus on that area and make that better …” But it’s just really fun doing them five nights a week, because in the past if we did a terrible show we’d spend all week beating ourselves up over it. Now, if a show kind of bombs, we just kind of think, “Oh well! Another one tomorrow.” It’s quite nice … It’s just like work, but fun work.

PLUME: It’s interesting in watching the Series 5 shows as opposed to the earlier shows - it seemed a little less intimate then. Maybe it was the fact that the set was five times as big. And I guess the last series had the prepared cards that you would use in audience participation…

NORTON: Oh you know, I think we got rid of those - I think. We’ve stopped going that. We kind of got rid of the audience at the beginning of the show now … The audience stuff tends to be going into the commercial break or around the games. That’s when those stories come out now.

NORTON: Yes. I mean, there are things that I expected to get picked up on more, like the Internet and things. I just thought more shows would have copied that by now, by they don’t. I don’t quite know why.

PLUME: It seems like something that your format is uniquely able to do. I can’t imagine Jay Leno or David Letterman turning over and saying, “Well, let’s go look at the web.”

NORTON: Yeah, their guests don’t seem that up for playing, or don’t seem required to play that much. Occasionally Leno seems to get his guests to do things for him. Lettermen’s guests tend to be fairly straight-forward interviews, unless the guest decides to go mad.

PLUME: Which is few and far between, unfortunately. It seems that the US shows, compared to your show, are much more of a factory type show. Yours seems improvisational half the time.

NORTON: A lot of it is, because we use the audience so much. I mean, you can’t plan for that. So, you know, you just see what you get.

PLUME: Do you still do stand-up as well?

NORTON: Yeah, I do very little stand-up here, still, but last year I did some in New York. Because it was New York, I was able to do it in a small venue, and I really, really enjoyed it, so I’m going back again … I think I’m also going to do some on the West Coast.

PLUME: So when are we going to see your HBO special?

NORTON: You know, as rude as my show is, my stand-up is worse.

PLUME: I frankly can’t imagine it, now.

NORTON: I know. Isn’t it funny? But it is.

PLUME: By worse, do you mean as far as content?

NORTON: Yeah, content. It’s fully worse in the other way as well. It’s just generally worse.

PLUME: Well, you have videos available in the UK, don’t you?

NORTON: Yeah, I do.

PLUME: Are there any plans to make those available in the US?

NORTON: I wish they were. I’m surprised that BBC America hasn’t licensed them so they can do them in US format. Maybe they will.

PLUME: Do you own your stand-up tapes, or is that licensed to other venues?

NORTON: I think so. I own the production company. What does that mean?

PLUME: That possibly you could do US versions of those for release through your own website…

NORTON: Oh, I guess we could. We did them all as co-productions with distributors here, so I think they probably have licensing agreements with US companies. So that’s probably how it would go.

PLUME: It would seem the demand is starting to get there, to where it probably would sell if they were made available.

NORTON: Well the great thing is about America - even if you only sold a few, it’d be a lot compared to here.

PLUME: Are you, right now, satisfied with where your career is?

NORTON: I am, really. I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do. It’s slightly unnerving, because I’m kind of thinking I’m not sure how much longer I want to do five nights a week for, and it’s just that thing of “God, this is further than I ever dreamt I’d get.” So, it’s like, “What the hell am I going to do next?” Maybe I should just retire. I don’t know. I don’t know. So yes, I’m very happy to be doing what I’m doing, but it’s tinged with a slight anxiety about the future.

PLUME: What are the things that you still hope to accomplish?

NORTON: That’s it - I’m done. It’d be nice to get an Oscar, but that would be it.

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