Graham Norton says Irish people are funnier than Brits

The Irish comedian and talk show host, who has lived overseas for half his life, says Irish people are "probably funnier than your average person in the UK."

Norton, who hosts the upcoming Prime Video series Last One Laughing Ireland, has made the definitive claim in a recent interview.

Graham Norton says Irish people are funnier than Brits

Speaking to the Irish Independent, the 60-year-old reckons that the Irish version of Last One Laughing, an international game show consisting of 10 comedians trying to get each other to laugh, is one of the funniest versions he's seen.

That could be, in his opinion, down the nation's love of storytelling.

"Irish people love telling stories and we love hearing them," Norton said. "In the UK, if someone’s going to tell a story, it has to have someone you know in it, or a celebrity. In Ireland, we’ll happily listen to a story — as long as it’s good — about people we’ve never met.

"Also, I think your regular day-to-day Irish person — someone who isn’t a working comedian — is probably funnier than your average person in the UK."

LOL: Last One Laughing, which involves big names in Irish comedy including Amy Huberman, Jason Byrne and Aisling Bea, doesn't pull any punches when it comes to appealing to a global audience, according to the Cork native.

"I love how Irish it is,” he said. "You kind of think, ‘Oh, it’s Amazon. They’ll have an eye on the international market — they’re spending all this money. But, actually, they let us make such an Irish show.

"All the cameos are deep-dive Irish that only an Irish audience could get. There’s a nod, in the little bits of voiceover that I’ve done, to try to explain some of it. "

Last One Laughing: Ireland arrives on Prime Video on Friday, January 19.