Before he gets here, can I just ask, how do we actually address him?
Downloaded from YTS.MX
Right, well... Ah, yes.
Now that he's been made... Yes, no, brilliant, Tracey.
Presumably... Your Lordship whatever. What?
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
Your Lordship? Sure.
He hasn't been made... KNOCKING
Oh, right. OK.
Yeah, hey. Yeah, so, this is Henry.
SONG: 'Rappers Delight'
Get down, ooh!
# You don't stop the rock it To the bang-bang boogie,
# Say up jump the boogie
# To the rhythm of the boogie The beat... #
Hello.
When I think of Lenny Henry, I actually smile.
He just makes me smile.
That's a good one, hey-hey!
I can't imagine anyone saying, "I don't like Lenny Henry."
That doesn't seem possible.
Well, I've sucked on some pretty wonderful things, Bernie,
but that takes the biscuit.
How would I describe Lenny Henry?
Tall, Black, and funny.
Lieutenant Uhuru? Yes, Captain?
Brilliant comedian. Brilliant fundraiser.
And now, a word from our sponsor.
Brilliant campaigner.
He's such a part of our culture in this country.
# Walk this way, talk this way... #
There really is nothing that he can't do.
He sets his mind to it and he just does it.
SONG: 'Sir Duke' by Stevie Wonder
He's a British TV icon, he's a household name.
He's up there with Branston Pickle, you know what I mean?
He's a very good actor,
and I think that's what makes some of his characterisations so good.
Good morning. This is Trevor MacDoughnut,
reporting for News At Ten.
A world without Lenny would be much less funny.
Thank you, thank you very much.
He was an essential part of Tiswas.
People loved him, all ages loved him. Still do.
More champagne, darling.
Oh, thank you! Everywhere.
He is one of a kind,
he's funny, very emotional, very caring.
All hail Lenny Henry!
It's time to present the Special Recognition Award,
which this year goes to a force of nature,
who has been blazing a trail for nearly half a century.
Please give a huge round of applause to Sir Lenny Henry!
APPLAUSE
I think, in the way that George Clinton and Bootsy Collins
are funkateers, I think I'm a workateer.
I like work.
My mum did four jobs.
I saw my mum making cakes, and dresses,
and going to the factory and doing all sorts to put food on the table.
It's a working-class thing, you know.
You snooze, you lose.
I've been doing this thing since I was 16.
Back then, we used to play football in the park,
and often I wouldn't get picked, right.
Partly because I was crap at football,
but mainly because I didn't look like anybody else in the team,
so I didn't get to play.
But here's the thing about this industry.
I was allowed to play.
APPLAUSE
Thank you to my family, my friends,
and most of all, thank you so much, Lisa,
I love you very much. I'll cherish this.
It's great. Peace. APPLAUSE
That special recognition with my missus there,
and with all those people, on the telly,
was a big moment. It was wonderful.
Because...
..I never went into it for that.
I went into it to make my friends laugh.
I was kind of like a comedy jukebox for them.
They'd sort of go, "Do Benny Hill, Lenny,"
and I'd do Benny Hill.
And my friends thought, "That's funny."
# You're a star, you're a star
# A lame suit And a new guitar... #
When I was 16, I went on New Faces.
And I won.
I did an audition.
I walked out and I was a bit nervous,
but I did this to the microphone.
EXHALES Like that.
And for some reason, they all laughed.
"Thank you very much." And they laughed again.
And then at the end of it all, they stood up and clapped.
First standing ovation ever,
and I thought, "Ooh, I like this!"
He's a really new, exciting face to television, just 16 years old.
Enough from me, let him express himself in three minutes,
as we bring on Mr Lenny Henry!
I did Max Bygraves.
I did Tommy Cooper.
I did Michael Crawford.
And I just went through it all like I was presenting a show.
AS MICHAEL CRAWFORD: Who saw the Queen on Christmas Day,
then, my darling?
That's my baby Jessica, that is.
LAUGHTER
Oh, there's a lot of people out there.
I went home, and my mum wanted to know where I'd been
because I'd bunked off school all day.
"Where have you been?" "I've been to Birmingham."
"Why? "I did an audition." "Audition for what?"
Went on like this for quite some time, then she said,
"Do it." "What do you mean?"
"Do it for me now, the audition."
And I had to do the whole thing for her,
ten minutes on the front doorstep before I could have my tea.
It was great. So I had her acceptance,
because up till then, I was a kind of waste of space.
You know, she thought I was useless,
and then suddenly I was this kid who could be on telly.
# Saturday, Saturday
# Saturday is Tiswas day... #
When I was a kid around that sort of '70s, '80s time,
you were either a Swap Shop kid or a Tiswas kid,
and I was very much team Tiswas.
Before your very eyes...
I used to get the Tiswas magazine, that's how much of a fan I was.
..the basket will disappear.
I knew about Tiswas, this mad show on a Saturday morning on ITV,
and in '78, I went on.
Sim Salabim.
Really? Yeah. Ah-buh-buh-buh.
There was just something so extraordinary about that show.
It was so fresh and anarchic.
Shall we bow? Very nice.
It felt a bit naughty.
Tiswas was very alternative. Tiswas was crazy.
It was a fantastically important part of student life.
And then there was Lenny, this comic powerhouse,
who was so brilliant, we loved him.
SONG: 'Teenage Kicks' by The Undertones
Tiswas actually established him live on Saturday mornings
for four or five years.
So when he came to things like Comic Relief,
he just had no problem with that at all.
He really blossoms on live television. He loves it.
When Len started to become successful,
we noticed the difference
because it wasn't quite so hard on a day-to-day basis to live.
We were really poor.
And Len was really young.
Sorry, lads!
So to take that responsibility on was huge.
Could I have my glasses, please?
I'm afraid I can't read without them.
He did this impression of the then very young
and new newscaster on ITN,
you know, Trevor McDonald, who we immediately changed,
rather unkindly, to Trevor MacDoughnut.
British Leyland announced today that 19,000 brand-new Mini Metros
rolled off the assembly line.
A spokesman said somebody forgot to put the handbrake on.
I used to love doing impressions of Trevor
because he was probably the most famous Black guy on television.
To me, Trevor was a god.
Now, from whichever planet you are watching us tonight,
from all of us here, good night.
He picks up those wonderful idiosyncrasies that we all have.
And he exaggerates them brilliantly in a comic form.
In Oxford Street today,
a suicidal Japanese fighter pilot crashed his plane...
Lenny? Pardon?
'One day...'
he just walked on.
"Hello, Lenny."
It just blew my mind!
The look on Lenny Henry's face was just absolutely marvellous.
Well, good morning, Daddy.
It's really nice to see you, and how is Mummy going on?
I've decided to come to give you a small lesson in...
Some tips. ..in how it's done.
Well, that's amazing.
Why don't you sit down there, Mr MacDoughnut,
and let's see if we can really get it on.
I thought, you know,
letting yourself go for a moment would do no harm.
Reports are coming in that Mr Albert Shortfuse,
who is known as The Human Cannonball,
was still stuck in the barrel of a cannon
at Barnard Circus this morning.
A doctor has tied a rope around his ankles
and says he's certain that the man will pull through.
'I was very glad that I did it.'
I thought it was great to play a tiny, tiny, tiny part
in the comic life of this great, great man.
# Saturday is Tiswas day... #
He wanted to develop, which was one of the great things about Lenny,
he's always wanting to develop.
It's probably why he's lasted so long, cos he's always moving on.
I'm just doing the rapid change from the doctor David Bellamy
to your old friend and compatriot
Algernon Winston Spencer Churchill Razzmatazz, right.
Algernon was the first time I went,
"What about if I didn't do an impersonation of somebody?"
Rather than being just a young kid telling jokes,
it was the very beginning of him wanting to do characters.
OK, it's great out here!
The first time I went, "Hello, my good friends. How are you doing?"
it felt kind of funny.
I wouldn't do it now, but it felt kind of funny, especially for kids.
The good thing about bread and condensed milk sandwiches
is you can really get into the dunking in the tea.
Oh, no, that's revolting! It's really great.
In fact, I'm dunking for Jamaica!
As a character, it was just funny, because he was quite cartoony.
I don't think anybody had seen anything like that before,
and it was easy to impersonate,
which I think is why he was so hugely successful.
So, from that point of view, it was very clever.
I remember a breakthrough thing where a child this big came up to me
and said, "Ooooooooo-kay."
And the whole thing was to do it for as long as you could do it,
so he did a very long O and he did a very long K,
so this kid went, "Oooooooooooo..."
HOLDS NOTE
I thought, "Oh, this is bigger than anything I've ever done before."
From my earliest memory as a child, Lenny Henry was just there.
I mean, he was like part of the furniture,
he was part of the family.
I'd grown up watching Dick Emery and The Two Ronnies, Benny Hill...
I grew up watching these things. Morecambe and Wise.
So when Three Of A Kind came along, it was just characters and sketches.
HE SINGS
Three Of A Kind was a great show.
And it was kind of mainstream alternative,
if that makes any sense. Which, in a way, was Lenny's vibe.
# Who really wants To sit around in class
# When you can dance around And sing about grass? #
I think my generation and the one that followed
will always remember him for the joy he spread.
# Yeah, it's such a thrill... #
He was a very happy spirit.
# Please tell me who's the dad
# It's you, Ron Ron Ron
# No, you, Jon Jon. #
When I got my show...
..we started with a stand-up routine.
I kind of, as a punter, understood
that the show would be stand-up and sketches.
So that slightly shunted me into doing stand-up,
which I'd never done.
And it was a joyous feeling to have this other thing.
Another arrow for my quiver.
My favourite parties are Jamaican blues parties, they're the best.
You know where they are... Yeah, yeah.
You know where they are cos the whole street's shaking.
The last two buildings on the terrace
aren't buildings at all, they're the bass speakers.
LAUGHTER
The word goes round,
"There's a blues party tonight, you know, you coming?"
"Yeah, man, but I'll wait till it warms up."
"All right, I'll see you on Saturday."
The Lenny Henry Show ran for donkey's years.
Kick it!
He was very, very early as an example of changing Britain,
of Britain with an entirely new, multicultural demographic.
Having a sketch show on the BBC,
as a Black man, he was the first to do that.
That's who you're listening to, Delbert Wilkins
on the Brixton Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC,
are you feeling totally sponditious? CROWD: Yeah!
He's a massive trailblazer, a massive pioneer.
When I first come here, people told me
the only way to get a job in Hengland
was with the old school tie.
So I wore my old school tie for three years,
not a damn thing happened.
I just had all these characters that were based on real people.
My mum, my dad, my uncle, the guy who delivers bread.
So, Deakus came from out of that.
And I thought, he can talk about the Windrush thing.
And Delbert could talk about, "The riots in Brixton, you get me?"
I used to drive a BMW convertible, the car was wicked,
I converted it myself, ha-ha-ha-ha!
Imitation leopard-skin seats.
Those imitation leopards are a bugger to catch,
you know what I mean?
It's nice when something goes into the zeitgeist
and people are talking about it.
And, you know, for a brief minute there,
The Lenny Henry Show and Three Of A Kind
were things where kids would do the characters in the playground.
I'll check you later.
That is a thing to cherish.
# When I was a little girl
# I had a ragdoll
# Only doll I ever owned
# It gets stronger... #
'In my act, I always did a bit about music.
'I loved getting funky on stage.'
So, anything I could do,
where I could be Stevie Wonder or Earth, Wind and Fire, or Prince,
that was a thing for me.
Say, aren't you famous?
Yeah, I'm pretty famous.
In fact, I guess you could say I'm pretty AND famous.
I used to do Buck Cherry on Three Of A Kind.
I did Eddie Grunt. I did Break Wind and Fire.
And that gave me a taste for doing parodies.
So, I always wanted to do that stuff.
Right now, we just forget being serious for one moment
about the things that bother the world,
and we get serious about love.
Because you're gonna hear the finest pop music,
the finest soul sound,
from just about the sexiest guy you're ever gonna see on any stage,
please welcome the main man,
get sexy for Theophilus P Wildebeeste!
Theophilus P Wildebeeste was a straight-up parody
of alpha male singers
who were selling their sexuality as a thing.
It was raw charisma, raw sexuality.
But, also, bit dodgy.
My name is Theophilus P Wildebeeste,
I am the most fertile man in the universe.
So, I thought,
that's a thing to talk about, let's make a sexist soul singer.
And that was the joke.
I'm going to come amongst you.
That doesn't mean I'm gonna spontaneously explode
or something like that,
it just means I'm gonna step down into the audience
and rap with the ladies, cos that's the kind of guy I am.
Certain things you could get away with, like, 20 years ago,
you would absolutely not be able to get away with now,
but the character was just so funny at the time,
and completely outrageous.
You got any African in you?
Would you like some? LAUGHTER
It's a joke, goddamn...!
I'm sorry, baby. It's a joke, goddamnit.
It was funny, but it was also sexy.
Hey.
You know, at the absolute core of comedy is truth.
# I'm a soul singer, baby... #
If you're going to play a sex bomb soul singer,
you've got to be able to be a sex bomb soul singer.
And, of course, Lenny could do it.
I'm from Philadelphia, PA.
The PA stands for personal appliance,
and I'm wearing it right now.
He was satirising something that he could actually do.
Honest Jon's.
Hello!
Hey. You all right?
'Music is a big part of my life.'
So I had that in my DNA from the beginning.
Ooh, what's that?
Doo-wop from the 50s, from Jamaica. Absolutely brilliant.
Jamaican doo-wop? Yep. Absolutely brilliant.
Don't... Get out, really?
From a label called Death Is Not The End.
Well, great, you couldn't stick some of it on, could you?
Yeah. MUSIC STARTS
This is Jamaican doo-wop? Ha-ha!
MUSIC PLAYS
Beautiful.
LENNY SINGS ALONG
# Now I know the meaning... #
# Doo do-do. #
I don't think I've got this one. Lord Beginner. The Mighty Terror.
All these calypso names are great. Yeah, exactly.
And there's some categories there
that people have probably never heard of.
Palm Wine, Mento, Joropo.
This is my dream come true.
When I go to places, or off on holiday or something,
I always aim for a place like this.
Because it's great. Look, comics, records,
what could be better than this?
OK, I'll take those three. Er, 62 altogether.
You know, my mum used to feed 100 people with £60.
Thank you very much. Not even a pound off!
See ya! I will be back.
If I had my way, I'd have my band up here, my fantasy band, yeah?
On guitar, Prince.
On bass guitar,
Prince.
Keyboard, Prince.
I love Prince, he's a genius. And he's little, isn't he?
What is he, nine inches tall?
He's like a penis with a quiff, ladies and gentlemen, he is.
I met Prince. I was at an after-party.
I'm standing by the speakers, having the best night of my life,
and he walked over and he said, "You're Lenny, right?"
And I went...
And I couldn't speak to him. I didn't know what to say.
But afterwards, after he'd gone away, I went,
"Argh! Prince just said hello!"
As an expert, Kate, you think he's got what it takes, don't you,
as a singer?
I think Lenny's a really good singer,
he's done some singing on the new album, it's really good.
Yes, you are on Kate's new album. Yes.
Doing what? How much? Singing.
Just, just... LAUGHTER
My elephant impression, Michael. LAUGHTER
HE TRUMPETS
It's a biggie.
Kate Bush had seen me sing, I think, at Amnesty and Comic Relief,
mainly doing Theo. And she said, "Well, you can sing.
"You should come and be on this track that I'm doing."
It's called Why Should I Love You? It's a beautiful song.
SONG: 'Why Should I Love You?' by Kate Bush
I went to her house.
And she had a recording studio in the back.
While she was setting up,
she was smoking fags and talking about the track.
And I can hear the track, and it's funky.
And I can hear this guitar, and I went...
"Oh, this is great. It sounds like Prince."
She went, "Oh, it is Prince."
And I literally almost wet myself. "What?!"
'WHY SHOULD I LOVE YOU?' PLAYS
Oh, yeah!
What in...?
That's Lenny?!
I feel like a lot of people don't know that.
That's not public knowledge.
Ha-ha, that's cool, man.
Lenny and Prince and Kate Bush.
Now that's three of a kind!
Everything I'd done before that was impressions of, you know,
Noddy Holder, and T.Rex, or whatever.
So, to be asked to perform as yourself, to sing as yourself,
is a big deal, because when you're singing as yourself,
you're kind of naked.
I wasn't naked, but that's what it felt like.
He does have this amazing singing voice.
I remember watching an episode of The Masked Singer.
# Your lights are on But you're not home... #
As soon as he opened his mouth, you knew it was Lenny.
Sing it, y'all!
# Might as well face it You're addicted to love... #
Come on, Rita!
# Might as well face it... # You got a shoutout!
Davina, come on!
# Might as well... #
The comedian in me was like,
"I'm gonna name someone who it definitely isn't,
"but at the same time, the Black community will be like,
"Come on, Mo, man."
Who's behind the mask, Mo?
Erm, I think it's Ainsley Harriott.
HE LAUGHS
I knew it wasn't Ainsley Harriott!
CHANTING: Take it off, take it off, take it off, take it off!
# Who's that behind the mask? #
It's Sir Lenny Henry, everybody!
I think the Shakespeare thing really stuck it in for you.
Well, you gave me that, because you'd been to see him.
And you were great.
Did you ever play at The Globe yourself?
No, I've been to The Globe.
LAUGHTER
From Shakespeare to Blob. It's a huge career arc.
About 2009, 2010,
I was starting to think
that I needed to have more gas in the tank
so that I can... offer more, contribute more.
Oh, my fair warrior! Oh, my dear Othello!
I'd never done Shakespeare. So, Othello came about
because I talked to Judi Dench, Paterson Joseph, Adrian Lester,
and they said, "You can do this. Why don't you try it?"
If more thou dost perceive, let me know more.
Set thy wife on to observe.
Leave me, Iago.
I loved it. I LOVED it.
Very quickly, and seemingly without any struggle,
he was suddenly a classical actor.
It was huge to actually make that leap
into kind of a completely different genre,
and to succeed at it.
I suppose a relatively late-starting career, really,
but he seems to have caught up pretty quickly.
I loved it when he turned up in Broadchurch.
If I did this, why would I call it in?
It doesn't make any sense. How stupid would I have to be?
Not stupid, maybe. Desperate.
Check the CCTV. Please.
What a show, and when they asked me, I was like... shocked.
Lenny was such a fantastic addition,
both in terms of the way he embodied that character
and everything that he brought to it, but just to have him around.
It was a treat.
You told them I was violent.
I just rang him every week saying, "You're guilty, you're guilty,"
and he accused me of being prejudiced.
SONG: 'Doctor Who'
Because I'd done Broadchurch, I got a part in Doctor Who.
And it was very cool.
Sir, it seems we have three of your motorcycles following us.
What exactly do I pay you for?
'I got to wield a gun.
'I got to be in a car chase.'
It was fantastic!
Lenny's had the impact of a great popular comedian,
made lots of people happy,
which is a wonderful job for a human being to do.
And now he's added to that, brilliant, serious actor,
so it's a very rich brew.
I told you to be discreet.
We must remove them all immediately.
No.
'I love the idea of fantasy because it's not reality.'
I've been reading comics since I was six or seven.
That felt like a pretty cool world to me.
A world where you could say, "Flame on,"
and burst into flames and fly off into the sky.
I thought, "Well, that's a good world."
Thief!
So I think the reason I've become really interested
in playing a part in fantasy
is because those things are possible now
because of visual effects.
Leave him.
You wait your turn, Empress, I shall attend to you soon.
The technology has caught up with the imagination of those writers.
And I think that's a wonderful thing.
Len is really nerdy.
That's something that I don't think people know about him.
Hiya. Hi.
My brother Paul said he has this unerring knack
of finding a comic book store in any town.
He could be in the Amazon
and he would find a comic book store to go to.
Ohhh!
I don't get it, but, hey, I mean, if it brings him joy.
I spend a lot of time in comic shops.
And it's a kind of weird thing for a person of my age to admit,
but there's something glorious
about disappearing into a comic or a book, you know. It's great.
Once you're in somewhere like this, or in a record shop or something,
your brain sort of goes "eeee",
and all you're doing is having a joyous experience.
What I realise is that comics probably inspired me
to do everything I've ever done.
Thank you. There you go.
Very happy, I can read 'em on the train!
Lenny's one of the most famous people in the United Kingdom,
one of the most recognisable faces.
First the big people, now the stars,
eyes open when they should be sleeping.
But now, of course, with Lord Of The Rings, with The Witcher,
he's known all round the world.
Those big streaming shows go everywhere.
Almost like...
Like they're watching for something.
Watching for what?
A tongue-lashing, if you don't mind your own cartwheels.
It's everything he ever wanted as a child,
he's putting on elf ears and gigantic feet.
He's just in heaven.
He's conquered so many other worlds,
he might as well conquer Middle-earth as well.
SONG: 'U Can't Touch This' by MC Hammer
"The Lenaissance."
It's great!
I think it's something that I might have to put on a pair of pants
or a T-shirt or something.
# Break it down... #
It shows that you can be a certain age and there's a next step.
This is me finding the next level of what I want to do.
Are you ready to get deep down and sexy tonight, Tom?
I'm ready to get deep down and sexy every night.
Every night? Yeah.
Goddamn show-off.
Lenny is Mr Comic Relief.
It's time for the moment you've all been waiting for,
no, it's not a toilet break. Oh, man.
# I can't get enough Of your love... #
He is the co-founder of Comic Relief,
alongside Richard Curtis.
Yeah, boy.
And I think the nation is so thankful to both of them
for what they started.
Richard is very much the leader, and, erm...
he's my hero.
NEWSREADER: Dawn. And as the sun breaks through
the piercing chill of night on the plain outside Korem,
it lights up a biblical famine, now, in the 20th century.
He took it upon himself to go to Ethiopia,
and he met these people who told him directly what they needed.
Came back and said, "We've got to do something."
I got in touch with Lenny right at the beginning
of our intention to do the Comic Relief stage show.
And he leapt in with more zest than anyone else
and helped me and us recruit everybody
who was going to be in that show.
Lots of people didn't want to do it.
But all the younger ones just went, "Yeah, we'll do that."
Ladies and gentlemen,
a warm West End welcome for the Frank Bruno Shakespeare Players.
APPLAUSE
Hello.
I don't think he had any idea what he was, as it were,
historically letting himself in for.
He thought he was just going to be, you know, friendly on one night.
Juliet! Juliet! Juliet!
CHEERING
We raised a lot of money with that show.
It's where Billy Connolly did, "Jojoba, shampoo."
It's where Rik did, "Do you love me, do you like my pants?"
It was legendary, it was a night of nights.
There was a little conversation on the night after the show,
saying why are we doing a stage show when all of us are TV people?
We all thought, "This is something we should do again."
So now, on BBC One, we don our red noses
and hand over to Comic Relief.
Lenny was very much head recruiter, head enthusiast,
and then by agreeing to be one of the hosts on the night,
he kind of also anchored the entire night
and gave us a realistic chance of pulling off the first show.
Keep on ringing cos there's great things coming up.
Hmm, now there is, however, a change of play.
I didn't say it, I didn't say it!
He hosted for the whole seven hours.
It pushed through on his enthusiasm and his passion and his youth.
I remember at the end of the night, I'd lost my voice,
and he felt he'd lost his career.
Please, please, please, ring, ring, ring.
You just have this thing in your body that just goes,
"We're doing it cos of this." And if you can communicate that,
the British public, who are brilliant, by the way,
go, "Yeah, I'm gonna do that."
"I want to help that kid, I want to help that family."
When I was asked to be involved in Comic Relief,
long after Lenny had been part of it, of course.
Let's go!
There's a sense of national service there,
there's a sense of being called to be part of something
that feels noble and that you want to do your best for.
Are you ready, guys?
ALL: Release the noses!
I think Lenny embodies the kind of complex mixture of Comic Relief
which is joy, celebration, wild live stuff.
Welcome to Comic Relief!
But then, as it were, the change of gear, which is so tricky.
If this was happening to a neighbour of yours, you'd bust a gut to help.
If you knew somebody, you know, on your doorstep,
who'd walked 11 days cos they were starving
and they needed a quid for food,
you'd say, "Have a bloody quid," you know?
Actually, "Here, have five."
The point is, forget geography, these are your neighbours,
this is your doorstep.
Please help.
There's an authenticity to him,
there's something specifically human
that means he has become symbolic
of everything that Comic Relief stands for.
I can't really imagine Comic Relief having thrived without him.
You can't stop people like Lenny Henry.
You gotta watch out for people who are incentivised
to make better things happen in the world,
cos once they start, they just can't stop.
It is now my pleasure
to announce the total raised by Comic Relief and Sport Relief
since we first started is...
over a billion pounds! CHEERING
It's, in fact, gone up to one and a half billion since then,
and it's interesting to think
just how many of those millions Lenny is responsible for,
cos it's a lot.
# So if you've got a quid
# Just give it to a kid... #
The British public deserve a big communal medal
because they've been step by step with us since we began.
And, you know, a billion and a half pounds later, they're still there.
# Another Red Nose Day of fun! #
In the '50s, my parents emigrated from Jamaica to Dudley.
What was my dad thinking? "Bloody blue sky all the time."
LAUGHTER
"All this joyous reggae music.
"Where can a man get some Des O'Connor?"
Somebody once said to me, it might have been Max Bygraves,
"Present a moving target."
Never stay in one place for too long. So, don't get stuck.
I love the idea of creating new work,
and making things happen, in an inclusive and an equal way.
So, Three Little Birds is kind of that.
# Three little birds Sat on my window
# And they told me I don't need to worry... #
Three Little Birds is a drama series set in the 1950s,
and it's about three Black women from Jamaica
coming to Britain ten years after Windrush.
This isn't my mum's story, by the way, it's fictional,
but it is inspired by my mum and sort of everybody's story.
You thought she was quietly in the background this morning
watching you at home, but in fact, from Dudley,
come in, your mother, Mrs Henry!
My mum was always very funny about the Windrush.
She came over in '57 and she said,
"Well, there was no camera crew for me. Nobody sang a calypso for me."
Oh, no.
My mum was 30-something when she came here,
and had a lot of experiences
of people saying horrible things to her,
and having to survive. And although this isn't her story,
the people I've talked to, the stories are pretty much similar,
you know. Yeah.
You come here, you feel the cold.
I don't think my dad took his pyjamas off
for the whole time he was here,
he had his pyjamas on all the time he was in England.
Back in the day when I used to go in the make-up chair,
I'd be there for like five minutes. Yeah.
Now it's like, "Sit your backside down,
"this is going to be a long day for you."
OK, here we go.
To do your first series that you made up
is an incredibly privileged thing to be able to do.
And action.
It's very emotional because it wasn't there before.
This is something you put into the world.
If you've made something happen, it's a big thing.
Your church need you.
Rainy season soon come.
Rainy season. Mrs Benson, you remember last year,
the only way you could reach church was by canoe.
One of the reasons I wanted to do Three Little Birds
is the pride I have in my family is huge.
They literally did see the signs in the window that said,
"No Blacks, no Irish, no dogs."
My brothers were attacked on the street
when they were going home from work, or whatever,
by Teddy Boys, and stuff.
The fact that we survived all of that,
the racism, the bullying, the name calling,
and basically "hintegrated", as my mum used to say...
The fact that we got through that is a miracle.
I'd like to go for this straightaway, please, if possible.
I wanted to salute them
because they taught me how to be better and how to overcome that.
Here we go, for a take.
And action!
I live in the country now.
AUDIENCE: Ooh!
I'm the only Black guy within a hundred miles.
Anything to do with Blackness, I'm the expert.
I get geezers knocking on my front door.
"Lenny, my daughter's going to Senegal for her gap year.
"Do you know anybody she can stay with?"
Lenny has great things to say
about the way our society could be much better,
could be much more diverse, could be much more inclusive.
"Come this way, I'll teach you to play basketball as well."
And because he made his name
as somebody who was a great entertainer,
when he talks, people listen.
More Black people on British television, that's what I say.
APPLAUSE There's got to be more.
Me, Trevor McDonald, Gary Wilmot, the whole cast of Desmonds,
and the Black guy in the Budweiser advert who says "serious",
it's not enough.
I had this whole eight-minute,
nine-minute routine about Black people on television.
"Why aren't there more of us?"
And that bit developed into a kind of thought process.
It stopped being about jokes and it became a thing that I did think.
Why is it when I go filming,
there's no people of colour behind the camera?
Why is it when I go into a meeting,
there's never anybody that looks like me?
So the why became really important.
That was the TV, reflecting society
Not much diversity
LGBTQ-BAME.
I think Lenny's just trying to make sure
that everyone feels that there is a place for them at this table.
All I can do is tip my dreads to him.
So, yay, Lenny.
Let me have Tomorrow, E-flat major, yeah.
The ripple effect of Lenny Henry will go on and on,
and it doesn't go unnoticed by millions and millions of people.
# The sun'll come out tomorrow
# You bet your bottom dollar That tomorrow
# There'll be su... # Next!
Is there something wrong?
No, no, it's fine, absolutely fine.
No, but we are looking for an eight-year-old girl,
about so high with curly red hair.
Thank you. Can we see the next one, please?
I know what this is.
It's cos I'm a Black man, innit?
LAUGHTER
I believe Lenny sees in his mirror someone who can do anything.
# Tomorrow, tomorrow
# I'll love you tomorrow... #
I think Lenny is about building a legacy.
He recognises his success,
at the same time recognising the work that needs to be done.
I'm absolutely knackered.
I've just arrived at Television Centre.
And we're going to record an episode of The Graham Norton Show.
This is too small.
Damn.
I know, I'd be on Graham Norton like this.
Oh, that's nice. This is it? Yeah.
Right, so it's this and this and that.
If I knew there was a period of time in my life
where some clothes would show up and I'd try them all on,
I would have exploded when I was 14 if I knew this was going to happen.
"You what? A nice lady shows up and you try everything on."
HE SNORES
Hello! Good evening!
You're all so welcome to the show, yes!
These are the things I say to myself before I go on,
"You like an audience.
"You like Graham. You like being out. Enjoy yourself."
He's a BAFTA-winning actor, author, campaigner,
and founding member of Comic Relief,
please welcome the great Sir Lenny Henry!
APPLAUSE
Whoa, so sharp. Thanks.
You look so dapper.
Gorgeous, have a seat, do!
Now, Lenny Henry, not just an actor, an author, too.
And we've got Lenny's children's novel to talk about tonight.
It's called The Book Of Legends.
Essentially, for a kid who loves books,
it's a book about the magic of books.
Yeah, it's a book about stories.
The reason I wrote this book was
it was either go into the jungle with Matt Hancock...
LAUGHTER
..or write a goddamn book!
So I wanted to write a book for somebody that looked like me,
who was about eight or 12, who just liked the idea of adventure,
but didn't see themselves in stories.
And it's also a great defender of libraries and access to books.
Yeah, cos my Auntie Pearl wanted me to read when I was eight.
And so she took me to Dudley Library and signed me up.
Dedicated to Dudley Library. Anyone from Dudley here?
Are you from Dudley? Yes!
Can I have a lift home? LAUGHTER
SONG: 'Express Yourself' by Charles Wright
Everybody say cheese!
Cheese!
I'm next to the Mayor, this is the Mayor.
Got dem gold chains on.
# Express yourself... # It's World Book Day today.
We're doing a big school event for all the kids in this area,
which is Wimbledon.
And it's very exciting, I wish I'd combed my hair for that picture.
Quite often, people from a working-class background,
or people of colour, go, "Oh, well, that's not for me
"cos I don't see myself doing that."
I swear if I'd met a Black Director of Photography
when I was at school,
I'd be a Director of Photography now,
because these things inspire you to do those things.
Sahana, hello, how are you?
Fine, thank you, how are you?
I'm very well. What lovely manners you have.
Thank you.
The book is about two Black kids going off on a quest!
Meeting magical creatures, having magical adventures!
And I just thought it was time to do something
where a kid, like me, but this big, could go, "I'm in that book!"
Your name is Dejean?
It's a very cool name. Thank you.
I'm going to change my name to Dejean. Dejean Henry.
Put your hands together, bring on Sir Lenny Henry!
APPLAUSE
My favourite thing is to just improvise and mess around,
as far as kids are concerned.
CHEERING STOPS
CHEERING
STOPS
BRIEF CHEER
CHEERING
Would you like to hear some jokes?
ALL: Yeah!
Why did the man fall in the well?
Because he could not see that well.
LAUGHTER
When children laugh, it's one of the best noises in the world.
Who wants to come and make a character with me?
When they get you, and they understand what you're up to,
and they start giggling, it's great.
What's your name, my friend? Wesley.
Where you from? Earth.
LAUGHTER
Game recognises game.
Cos I was a funny kid,
so when you see another kid being funny, you go, "Oh, yeah,"
you can see that look on their face. "Can't wait to tell him this joke."
Could you narrow it down a little bit, Wesley?
Europe.
LAUGHTER
I can see this is going to take a long time.
Does anybody else have some jokes?
OK, this kid down here really wants to tell a joke.
What's your name? Buddy.
And what's your joke, please, Buddy?
What do you call a donkey with three legs?
I don't know. A wonky.
Give him a round of applause, ladies and gentlemen!
Will you proceed to read?
CHEERING
Art is really important, art is about problem-solving,
and seeing things in another way,
and putting yourself in someone else's shoes.
Thank you very much, you've been lovely, see ya!
So I say, "Open more libraries, and send more cool people to schools,
"and let's see what happens with the next generation."
Because I bet it would be cool.
Sir Lenworth Henry, for services to drama and to charity.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Do I need to call him Sir? That just tickles me.
Cos I'm sure there are lots of Black sirs, but I only know one.
I started 40 years ago Time sure flies
On Tiswas, man was flinging Custard pies
Mad show from another age
Dashing buckets of water at Kids in a cage
Played Othello, that made the news
Then I played Antipholus of Syracuse
Who? Ne'r mind, then they said I had to meet the Queen
Got out my tuxedo, gave it a Clean
So I'm leaning on a cushion Getting bored
The Queen's coming at me With a big old sword
I'm like, I've reached The end of my time
Gonna be another victim of Knife crime
I thought I'm never gonna See my family again
She taps me on the shoulder Arise, Sir Len
I was gobsmacked Felt like I was in a play
I said, "Thank you very much" She said...
"Ooooooooo-kayyyy".
In our family, we call him the golden child
because he's achieved so much.
But to see him get his knighthood, it's like, "Oh, my God."
It was extraordinary.
My heart was bursting out of my chest with joy and pride.
Ooooh.
If I could use a word to summarise his achievements...
Generous. He gives his time.
Whether it's trying to push through diversity,
whether it's Comic Relief,
he's a generous guy, man.
I think he has made the world a better place for a lot of people.
As an entertainer, his contribution is obvious.
He's entertained an enormous number of people,
spread an incredible amount of love.
As a Black entertainer,
I'd say he's been instrumental in changing the face of Britain.
Thank you very much, thank you!
Wow, when I think about growing up and seeing Lenny on television,
I could get quite emotional about it, I really could,
because there just wasn't anybody there,
you know, it was...
He was everything. He is everything.
Lenny, I'm so thankful to you
because you showed me and so many other people
that it's possible.
I'd like to hug you now.
I love the fact that he would do anything for his family.
I love you, man. I love you, too.
If I phone and say, "Can you come?" he will drop everything,
and for me, that's priceless.
It's very hard to quantify joy, isn't it?
All we know is that without it, we'd be in trouble.
And Lenny has contributed a great deal of joy.
He has raised a million laughs,
probably saved a million lives.
It seems to me like the world would be very different
for a lot of people without Lenny,
and that's not something you could probably say of many entertainers.
If you want to see what a superhero actually looks like,
look at Sir Lenny Henry.
Subtitles by accessibility@itv.com
SONG: 'Three Little Birds'
# Don't worry
# Bout a thing
# Gonna be all right
# Worry
# Bout a thing
# Cos every little thing
# Gonna be all right... #