Daniel Radcliffe has admitted he felt ‘mortified’ after singing the Elements song in front of Rihanna, despite the viral attention the moment has received in the years since.
In 2010, the Harry Potter actor appeared on The Graham Norton Show alongside guests including actor Colin Farrell, comedian Rhod Gilbert and, of course, Rihanna.
At one point, Daniel, who’s now 33, performed a song called The Elements by humourist Tom Lehrer, which – as indicated by the tune’s title – is all about the elements in the periodic table.
The clip of the actor singing the track currently has over eight million views on YouTube… but looking back on the moment 12 years later, the Weird: The Al Yankovic Story star confessed he now feels ‘mortified’ it ever happened.
Explaining how ‘at ease’ he feels when he goes on The Graham Norton Show thanks to the charismatic talk show host, Daniel said: ‘My most surreal experience was sitting next to Rihanna and Colin Farrell on Graham Norton and doing the Elements song.’
‘Now, I’m mortified: “You did the nerdiest thing possible next to two of the coolest people on the planet. What were you thinking?”’ he told The Guardian.
‘But doing that and Alphabet Aerobics [on Jimmy Fallon] have both got me jobs.’
As it turns out, Daniel’s rendition of The Elements song ended up helping him bag the job playing Weird Al in the new biographical parody film about the musician.
‘Sometimes doing something really nerdy on a chatshow will work out for you, years later,’ he said.
One person commented on the YouTube clip of Daniel from The Graham Norton Show saying how ‘amazing’ they found it that it helped him be cast as Weird Al.
‘This explains him playing Weird Al. Especially the shush part when people start clapping & the “Now clap” part at the end,’ another commented.
‘Plus his love for weird artists like Tom Lehrer in the 1st place made him a top contender to begin with.’
‘I’ve got a new-found respect for Daniel Radcliffe after watching him do this,’ someone else wrote.
The Graham Norton Show airs tonight at 10.40pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
