Graham Norton has altered the U.K.’s pop cultural landscape , and his eyebrow-raising naughtiness is about to enter American living rooms. Through his highly-rated Channel 4 talk shows “So Graham Norton,” and “V(ery) Graham Norton”, the openly gay comedian has garnered fans of every age, sexuality and social standing across England, from gay teen boys to married housewives and sporty working class lads.

This week, Norton brings his campy, screaming queerness to American households with the launch of his first American series on Comedy Central. “The Graham Norton Effect” debuts at 10:00 p.m., on Thursday, June 24. Airing weekly, the show will echo the British incarnation’s format – interviews, elaborate pranks, skits and loads of Norton’s hysterical, saucy banter, with an enviable celebrity guest list that includes Cher, Diana Ross, Heath Ledger, Shirley MacLaine, Lucy Lawless, Dustin Hoffman and Dolly Parton. The GLT caught up with Norton recently where he spoke by phone from his new Manhattan apartment.

What cultural impact does he hope to have in the states? “I think it’s too late for my cultural effect here,” Norton muses with a laugh. “I think the cultural effect happened. There are enough gay people on TV now and there’s a wide range of them. So I just want to have fun and I hope people like the show.”

Today, Norton resides in an apartment located in Manhattan’s Murray Hill neighborhood, a convenient stroll from his show’s Chelsea studio (“where else?” he quips). Having parted ways with Channel 4 back home, he’s freed up for the summer and Comedy Central’s 13 weekly tapings. “Summer in New York and one show a week – look out liver!” he jokes. “It’s fantastic but worrying. In Britain the one thing that saved me is I learned how to drive essentially to cut down my drinking. And suddenly I’m in New York without a car. My car is like my AA sponsor! I’m unleashed. And the bars are open until 4:00 a.m.! It’s good but I’m glad I’m leaving in September!”

New York is a place Norton’s visited quite frequently over the past couple of years – for sold-out standup comedy engagements, some episodes of his U.K. program, and a cameo in the “Absolutely Fabulous” New York special. Unlike in London, however, Norton can walk around N.Y.C. without being recognized at every turn. A blessing – and a drawback, depending on his mood.

“If I’m having a Sally Field in ‘Soapdish’ moment I go to Times Square,” he proffers, “and there’s lots of tourists there to recognize me. I feel all good and loved and I can come home!”

The show has earned Norton household-name status in the U.K. – with fans on both sides of the closet.

“I get lots of straight guys coming up going ‘Oh, my girlfriend loves your show,’” he admits. “They neevveer [like it themselves]. Or they’ll say it in a begrudging way, like ‘I have to admit it’s quite funny, that show.’ And the little [unspoken] end brackets are ‘despite you being a great big screaming faggot!’ It’s weird because there is something odd in that I’m out and the show is quite campy and gay, but at the same time the show must work on some other level if they all like it.”

Born Graham Walker in County Cork, Ireland, Norton admits he’s always – like most everybody – fostered childhood dreams of becoming a TV star. He sampled a first taste of public adoration during the 1990s through numerous Edinburgh Festival hit one-man shows, including “The Karen Carpenter Bar and Grill” and “Charlie’s Angels Go to Hell.” But it was an inadvertent coup that led to TV fame: When he guest hosted talk show “Not the Jack Docherty Show” in 1997, Norton and Docherty himself went head-to-head for “Best Newcomer” honors at the British Comedy Awards. Norton won.

“Isn’t that awful,” Norton laughs with a wee dash of remorse. “It was very ‘All About Eve.’ And at the awards I was sitting at the same table as him! I had to go on stage [to get the award] and when I came back my boyfriend told me ‘it was really quiet.’”

Come 1999, Norton fulfilled his childhood ambition by landing his own television show, “So Graham Norton”, on Channel 4, winning numerous additional comedy/TV/gay awards over the years, including a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award. In 2001, Norton famously turned down a $9 million contract from the BBC, fearing his show’s ribald and sometimes risqué elements would be toned down: Keep in mind this is a man who brings out and shares items like “Microwavable Hot Cock” dildos and sex fetish personal ads with his bemused (and sometimes confused) celebrity guests and audiences.

Norton, who famously did a special from Dollywood on one occasion, insists that his still elusive, ultimate dream guest would be Madonna, although he doesn’t have a single question in mind to ask her: “I’d stare and go ‘Ooh, you’re Madonna.’”

Queers have appeared in Norton’s guest seat as well, including Alan Cumming, Jean Paul Gaultier, Skin of Skunk Anansie, Boy George and Dead or Alive’s Pete Burns.

Audience members also find themselves in the spotlight with Norton. One momentous episode found Norton asking single audience members to stand up and, after weeding out the guest – a woman – who hadn’t dated in the longest time, he had her image and phone number displayed on the huge screen at a soccer game going on. After a couple of minutes, someone called the studio and Norton tried to set them up. (The woman declined the date.) On another occasion, Norton had a young girl tell of a horrifically embarrassing incident – her father discovered her vibrator.

“I bumped into her sister about a year later and apparently her family hadn’t spoken to this girl since she told the story on TV,” Norton recalls.

“Her sister had brokered a peace treaty, [and] they were going to have a big dinner [and reconcile], and the night before the dinner they showed a ‘Best of Graham Norton’ show and there she was again!”

While such delightful elements will be in place for Comedy Central’s incarnation, Norton admits that one British staple will be missing: Betty, an elderly woman who occupies a spot in the audience almost every night and has achieved her own fame as a result.

“We might have to recast,” Norton muses. “… She’s literally an audience member. We didn’t find her. She just shows up in the audience. But I wrote Betty a note before I went away. We’re due to have a fish and chips supper when I get back.”

Americans have been able to sample Norton for a while through BBC America, which airs edited, compiled editions of his Channel 4 program; and “The Best of Graham Norton” is being released by BBC Video in the U.S., on August 10.

Meanwhile, Norton returns to London in the fall to commence a new U.K. talk show on the BBC, but he is contracted by Comedy Central for two years of “Effect”, in addition to producing an hour-long standup special and hosting duties on four episodes of the cable network’s “Reel Comedy” behind-the-scenes movie series. “I think if this show is a disaster we’ll all just quietly forget about them!” he says of these additional commitments.

Perhaps he may even be able to squeeze in a little time for love. Norton’s currently single (he lived with an American, Scott Michaels, from 1995-2001), a status happily exploited for some while.

“The upside [of being a celebrity] is you get a higher quality of casual sex,” he notes. “The downside is the chances of actually getting a boyfriend are tiny.” However, Norton admits to feeling “a little broody” lately and is itching for some steady lovin’… from a more mature partner.

“What I’m desperately aiming for now is an age-appropriate boyfriend,” the 41-year-old confesses. “I’ve been through a rash of ridiculously young guys, and it’s just stupid. One wanted to take my picture with his car. I thought that … I don’t know what the fuck it was! I actually did refuse. Only because we already had sex – if it was part of foreplay, I was there!”