Lenny Henry

Speaker 30:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

Speaker 30:08

The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen eighty nine.

Speaker 30:11

And the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:29

My Castaway this week is one of Britain's most popular comedians. He left school at sixteen with the passable impersonation of Elvis Presley, after which a win on a television talent show launched him on a career as a stand-up comic. It wasn't until he was in his early twenties that he found his rightful home among the talented new breed of alternative comedians. One of the moving spirits behind comic relief, his non-sexist, non-racist brand of humour is now enjoyed by millions. He's the creator of such national figures as Theophilus P. Wildy Beastie and Delbert Wilkins. He is, of course, Lenny Henry.

Presenter1:06

Then he being discovered on new faces has presumably turned out to be something of a a cross you have to bear. It gets mentioned every time you you pop up.

Lenny Henry1:13

It gets mentioned, but I don't actually mind because it was the break of a lifetime. I was working in a factory. I'd done an audition, but I'd given up hope of ever hearing from the T V company. And then suddenly they contacted me. And suddenly, I was on television. I had no experience. This guy was just saying, just treat the camera like a box of groceries. And there I was on television in front of Millie and saying hello to my mum. It was a wonderful experience. So I'll always be grateful to programmes like New Faces and Opportunity to Knock.

Presenter1:39

Mind you, you didn't actually win in the end, did you? We always say you've won new faces, but you lost to a certain lady called Marty Kane.

Lenny Henry1:46

I'm glad actually, because Marty had to go to Las Vegas and she sent me this postcard that said basically.

Lenny Henry1:52

You know, everything's plastic. I want to come home. And um I'm I'm glad'cause I think being like sixteen, seventeen in Las Vegas with all these showgirls and in the middle of a lounge with people walking by saying, Martha, can I play the machines? I don't think I would have liked that very much, you know.

Presenter2:07

I want to hear all the gory details of the career in a minute, but first of all, I gather you're an ideal desert island disker because you've had a lifelong love affair, and you are thirty after all, with music.

Lenny Henry2:18

Yes, um and this is through various things. I used to hang out with DJs when I was uh like from like thirteen onwards really. I always stood by their decks and watched them playing the records and sort of go, What's that? and so DJ's saying, Get lost, kid, will you? Are you getting all thumbprints over me records? And I used to collect records and I used to go to graduate records in Dudley and look for all the Northern Soul records, you know, that sounded like they'd been recorded in a garage somewhere in San Francisco. And I've always collected records ever since I was like from early ages. First record I ever bought was Skin Tight. The last record I bought was De la Sol. And I'll always collect records and I'm a fan, you know.

Presenter2:52

We shall not reveal how many times you've changed your mind about your eight records. We shall ask you instead for the first of them. What is it?

Lenny Henry2:56

Make a sound.

Lenny Henry2:59

The first one is by the mighty midget from Minneapolis, The Purple God Himself, Prince and Its Kiss.

Presenter3:06

Show me.

Presenter3:08

Boat.

Presenter3:09

Don't have to be rich

Presenter3:12

Be my girl, you don't have

Speaker 13:14

Have to be cool.

Speaker 13:16

Room out ain't no particular sign no more.

Presenter3:20

Yeah.

Presenter3:22

Just want your extra time in your

Presenter3:28

Cheers.

Lenny Henry3:35

They'd rescue me pretty quickly off this desert island anyway,'cause my arms would be waggling around, I'd be dancing around all the time.

Lenny Henry3:41

What's that on that island over there? Some guy dancing on his own. Quick! Send that a boat!

Presenter3:46

That was Prince singing Kiss. Now, Lenny, you were supposed to be an engineer in a Midlands car factory.

Lenny Henry3:52

I didn't like it. It wasn't a car factory. We wa it made um welding machines. It was called British Federal Welders. It was a good experience, you know, and we had to do sort of odd jobs around the factory before they sent us to college.

Presenter4:03

Is that what your father did then? Is that why he went?

Lenny Henry4:05

He worked at he worked at uh Beans Industries in um Cowsley.

Lenny Henry4:09

And uh my mum worked in f'cause we they all worked in factories, you know, and they used to say to us, you know, If you don't study and get your exams, you know, you'll end up in a factory and is that what you want?

Presenter4:18

What did your mother do?

Lenny Henry4:19

She did various things when she came. She used to work as a cook in a hospital and um she worked in various factories, diddly drop forgings and she did all sorts of stuff, you know.

Presenter4:28

You say when she came, this is when she came from Jamaica.

Lenny Henry4:30

Knas in the mid in the mid-fifties.

Presenter4:32

And you were born shortly after that.

Lenny Henry4:34

I was born in'58.

Presenter4:35

And how many of you were there, children?

Lenny Henry4:37

It was uh seven and they came my mum worked for a for a a while, then my dad came over and he bought my sister and then they both worked and then they sent for everybody else. So it was a kind of a it was a kind of a a sort of eventual package deal, you know.

Presenter4:53

And you I find this very difficult to believe, but I've been reading about you, and I discovered that you were a dreamy kind of chap who used to stare out of the window a lot.

Lenny Henry5:01

I do tend to zone out sometimes, you know, I mean, especially at school. I think I was a late a late developer really, uh, as far as acad academia was concerned,'cause I just wasn't interested. There was nothing to inspire me at school.

Presenter5:11

And you were no good at sports.

Lenny Henry5:13

I was useless at sports. I was the one sort of wobbling behind in the sort of cross country, you know, trying to hide in the bushes with the'cause I d I never used to smoke, which is always the thing on cross country runs, you know, you'd stop in a bush and have a fag. But uh but um I just used to be there sort of choking with the smoke'cause I wanted to have a rest, you know. But I hated it. I hated sports.

Presenter5:29

So you were large and uncoordinated, right?

Lenny Henry5:32

Large, uncoordinated and spotty, which didn't help, which is why which is why I started to do impressions'cause I thought, Well, I'm not gonna get girls any other way. I've gotta have something to attract them.

Presenter5:41

So you decided to make people laugh? Well, you discovered you could make people laugh.

Lenny Henry5:44

Well I I've got some brilliant friends who I'm still friends with now called Greg Mac Tommy and they used to encourage me all the time and it was like 20 questions. It was like you know do Mick Jagger, do Elvis Besley, do Max Bygraves, do all the cartoons and they kept doing it all the time. So I got used to doing these command performances wherever I went and I stopped being scared. It was quite a daunting thing because they were very strict you know do Noddy Elder.

Lenny Henry6:11

You know, all the time. And it was embarrassing, especially in Sainsbury's and stuff. It's embarrassing, yeah.

Presenter6:14

It's embarrassing, yeah.

Lenny Henry6:16

So um

Lenny Henry6:17

When it came to the, you know, getting up on stage in front of like all these people at the Queen Mary Ballroom in Dudley, they had a disco every Sunday and it was really good. And I used to get up and do Elvis Impressions just on the dance floor. And one night the DJ said, That looks good, I wonder if it can sing like him as well. And I got up and sang Jailhouse Rock. And I got a big round of applause. And after that, I thought, well, oh, I'll have some of this. This sounds good. You know, I like this.

Presenter6:40

Shall we shall we have a bit of that before we have your second record?

Lenny Henry6:42

Oh no, no, Sue, no. Go on. No, she keeps doing this to me, listener, because I know there's only one listener. I was in a Chinese restaurant last night, right? And the guy was saying, oh, Lady Henry, brilliant. You know, I won't try and do a Chinese restaurant because it's an insult, but Lady Henry, do McDonald. And I said, I'm not going to do Madonna in the middle of a Chinese restaurant. He said, no, no, no. Do Trevor MacDonald. So I had to do Trevor McDonald to get my pancakes. Thanks a lot, guys. You're worse than them.

Presenter7:08

All right, I shall let you off and have a second record instead. What is this?

Lenny Henry7:11

Yeah.

Presenter7:11

Uh

Lenny Henry7:11

This is brilliant. Now, the reason, I mean, they wouldn't let me have any records, listener. I tried to have everything on because I'm a DJ, I can do this job. Anyway, this other record, when I was on tour, this album came out by Rykouda called Get Rhythm. And I love Rykuda. He's great. And he sings like a black man, which is really weird. Check this out.

Speaker 17:31

I'm saying that the thirteen question method is the one you gotta use. You wanna have some fun, cause the thirteenth question method is the one to use.

Speaker 17:42

Mm.

Speaker 17:42

Question number one, you wanna have fun? Mm-hmm.

Speaker 17:48

Number two

Speaker 37:49

Oh, what a dolessy!

Speaker 37:53

Question number three. Wanna go out and eat burger with me, God Almighty, for the thirteenth question that is the one to you.

Lenny Henry8:01

Uh

Lenny Henry8:02

Check this out. Sue Lawler was just hooting because I said, check this out. That's DJ Parlins for have a listen to this listener.

Presenter8:08

We're on radio four now.

Lenny Henry8:08

See

Lenny Henry8:09

I know. I know. What should I have said? Does the Archbishop of Canterbury say that when he was on here? Check this out, listener. This is Frank Zappa.

Presenter8:17

Was Rykuda thirteen question method in Grazina wanted to know?

Lenny Henry8:20

Great guitar playing.

Presenter8:22

Um now you may have thought, Lenworth Henry, that the choice was easy, confronted with whether you wanted to get off into show business and glamorous girls and all the rest of it, or a three day release in engineering.

Lenny Henry8:25

Yeah.

Speaker 18:25

Because they

Lenny Henry8:33

Whoa.

Presenter8:34

Your parents didn't think it was so easy that

Lenny Henry8:36

Well, they didn't know. They didn't know that that this is what I was doing, you know. When I came back from the audition, my mum said, Where have you been? I said, I've been to an audition, and I hadn't told her, I bunked off school and everything, you know, which is a

Lenny Henry8:47

One of many times. And then I, you know, I'd done well. I couldn't believe it. I came home and I was quite excited. And she said, where have you been? It's like 6:30. And I said, I've been in Birmingham. I went to an audition for new faces. And she said, What? What? Doing what? Because she just didn't know. And I said, Well, doing impressions. And she said, Well, what did you do? And she made me, before I got a chance to eat, before I got changed or anything, she made me in the hall give this performance of what I'd done that day. So I was in the middle of the hall in her house, going, Well, there's a wonderful in the morning. And good evening, my name is Deve Allen. Thank you very much. You know, and they laughed. They really thought it was funny. And it made me wish that I'd done it before. Made me wish that I'd said, you know, oh, I'm thinking of doing this, because maybe I would have got encouragement earlier on.

Presenter9:29

So off you went, um, having one new faces, and then you you got a television sitcom.

Lenny Henry9:34

Michael Grade invited me to go to his office at LWT with a guy called Stuart Allen. We watched an episode of this sitcom called Good Times from America. And what it what they actually offered me was to play the play the eldest son in a British version of this sitcom, and it was going to be called The Fosters. And um I did twenty seven episodes of that.

Presenter9:52

But then the television offers fell away and you kind of went up.

Lenny Henry9:57

I had to do some gigs because I did I mean I did the Fosters for two years and that was alright but then I was currently as well as doing that I was also doing the black and white minstrels for in summer season and I was doing pantomime as well so I was on a treadmill I was doing summer season pantomime summer season pantomime and it was it was hard but I did it for like five or six years and in the end I just said I can't do this anymore

Presenter10:19

Tell me about working with the black and white minstrels,'cause uh

Lenny Henry10:22

Ah.

Presenter10:22

It's not a pleasant experience.

Lenny Henry10:22

Interesting.

Lenny Henry10:24

Then what makes machine?

Presenter10:24

Yeah.

Lenny Henry10:25

It actually was but because uh

Lenny Henry10:27

The o the thing about it is the thing the only offensive point is that they black up.

Lenny Henry10:33

They're actually quite nice they're very nice people and I and I

Lenny Henry10:37

Yeah, I learnt a great deal. There were lots of jokes, unkind jokes in the press about, you know, oh, the makeup comes off and all that stuff. And I sort of dealt with that because I was only like sixteen or whatever, which is which in Shelby's terms is like being four. But as I got on, I really did take offence to the blacking up and those stupid Stephen Foster songs, you know, all the doodader, Jesus. And, you know, having to give black consciousness awareness meetings to all the minstrels, you know, Lenny, we're not trying to cope with being black, but it's so difficult for us because really it is a facade. And so I would give them, you know, I would raise their consciousness about blackness. And they would, you know, I'd teach them to dance and stuff, teach them to have rhythm, stuff like that. So it was pretty cool.

Presenter11:15

But it was quite painful too, wasn't it? I mean, did you not end up in tears sometimes?

Lenny Henry11:17

Did you notice that?

Lenny Henry11:20

Not t I didn't cry or anything anything like that. I just felt that it was I just got tired of having these stupid jokes made, you know, d you know, uh I bet when you sweat you get little white lines running down your face and all that kind of stuff.

Presenter11:32

Another record, please.

Lenny Henry11:33

This is King Bob, Bob Marley and the Whalers. And I actually just I d had a holiday in uh Jamaica recently and it was absolutely wonderful. And this will remind me of uh my holiday in Jamaica. And actually we'll see to Desert Island very well. Bob Marley and the Whalers is this love?

Speaker 111:49

For my sake and the baby, we share the same room, yeah.

Speaker 111:56

Or chop from by the bread

Speaker 112:00

This love is this love, is this love, is this love that I'm feeling?

Speaker 112:08

Is this now, is this not, is this not, is this not that I'm feeling?

Presenter12:15

Bob Marley and the Whalers

Lenny Henry12:16

Is it also blow?

Presenter12:16

Uh

Presenter12:18

Is this

Lenny Henry12:23

Broadcast again.

Presenter12:24

Are you at all practical, Lenny? I mean, are you gonna cope on this I

Lenny Henry12:27

You know, I have to change a light bulb and I look at it and and just shrug my shoulders. And I do gardening with a flamethrower. If it was me, I'd concrete it all over and everything.

Presenter12:37

Listen, going back to the career of let's get you out of the black and white minstrels, you went back into television, into Tizwas.

Speaker 112:43

Yeah, this is the stuff I can.

Speaker 112:48

Yeah.

Lenny Henry12:48

Sorry, I just had a flashback for a second.

Presenter12:51

That's all right. Um we'll cope with that this is radio.

Lenny Henry12:52

One radio.

Presenter12:55

Um this was nineteen eighty and and you started at that stage doing your own characters, didn't you? I mean you you stopped so many impressions and started creating your own.

Lenny Henry13:04

I was doing Trevor MacDonald and David Bellamy.

Lenny Henry13:07

And um

Lenny Henry13:09

I came up with Algernon, Algernon, Winston, Spencer, Churchill, Gladstone, Disraeli, Palmerston, Pitt the Younger, Pitt the Elder, Heath, Wilson, Thatcher, ten bloody years, oh my goodness, Razamataz.

Lenny Henry13:21

Okay.

Lenny Henry13:24

And I thought, this is alright, you know. And we had the old the cond the DCM club. Um, we had the condensed milk sandwich club, and everybody at condensed milk sandwiches, like Cliff Richard at a condensed milk sandwich. It's like it's like the Pope, you know. And I met Trevor McDonald. Trevor McDonald actually walked on while I was in the middle of doing some kind of news flash, you know, reports coming in that the children's programmes, Cracker Jack, Wacky Races, and Jackinori are being amalgamated into one programme. The new programme will now be called Cracker, Wacky Jack, and Akinori. And I used to do things like that and get covered in, deservedly covered in buckets of water and custard pies.

Presenter13:58

When did you invent Delbert Wilkins, the Brixton DJ?

Lenny Henry14:01

Dalbert Wilkins first saw the light on Ott as the Brixton Milkman.

Lenny Henry14:08

I was working with this guy called Kelvin, and I had this one car journey with Kelvin, and he said, you know, and you know what I mean, about 4,000 times all the way. And you know what I mean? Actually, it suffices for any situation. Like you say, look at my car, man. They've clamped it. You know what I mean? Oh, it's raining again. You know, I mean. Wow, look at this suit. You know, I mean, it actually fits any situation, you know. And I just thought, what a good character. And I did it as the Brixton Milkman, who not only delivered milk but had like British oil shares, you know, seat airline tickets, wicked suits, televisions, everything. And we did the definitive delbut after that on Three of a Kind, where he came on in an anti-de-price suit and talked about how the clubs have changed and you know, you know, and how everywhere is a club, they use any venue, you know.

Lenny Henry15:00

I was in this like butcher shop the other day, right? And I was buying some pork chops. Suddenly all these flashing lights come on, right? A Bee Gee's record comes on and the geezer asks me to dance, you know what I mean? I mean it's ridiculous trying to look cool with a panda mint in your hands. And that was like the first definitive Delbert monologue. That's where the exaggeration started to come in.

Presenter15:18

But they're all all these characters are black stereotypes. And you've been accused a bit, haven't you, in the past? Early on.

Lenny Henry15:25

Early on, early on, and I must contest that actually, because whatever your race is or whatever you are as a person, wherever you come from, whether you're from a middle class background, I think you're allowed to make jokes about the community where you come from. You know, it's like Jackie Mason, the Jewish comedian, you know, he does jokes about the differences, the cultural differences between Jews and Gentiles. I think that's allowed. Dave Allen talks about being Irish and Catholicism and stuff like that.

Presenter15:51

Another record, please.

Lenny Henry15:52

This is brilliant. I used to put this on and get incredibly I used to get sad just because she's got such a brilliant voice, very plaintive voice. And um it's still my favorite album actually, the first album, Rickily Jones, This Is Company.

Speaker 316:07

Uh

Speaker 316:12

Free when my dreams But when I took rises

Speaker 316:23

Calixie.

Speaker 316:30

I will miss your company

Lenny Henry16:35

Oh god.

Lenny Henry16:37

Just scoop me out of that bucket, Sue.

Presenter16:39

Vicky Lee Jones

Lenny Henry16:41

I'm on a desert island. I'm chilly now, so I've got a bit of a rum punch on the go.

Lenny Henry16:45

Somebody's made it for me, I can't do that.

Lenny Henry16:47

And uh I just had a really nice time, really. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Presenter16:50

I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Presenter16:53

Come on now. Was there a point, Lenny?

Presenter16:56

at which you decided.

Presenter16:58

that you were going to throw out all the old material of the the impressions of all these people and actually concentrate entirely on your own characters, your own creations, be original.

Lenny Henry17:08

It was a a gradual thing. It w didn't all happen at once. Nineteen eighty one, this I mean, this alternative comedy thing had been going for a couple of years and it was starting to come to a head. Alexi Sal, Rick Mal, Peter Richardson, Nigel Planer, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders were working at the the comic strip uh where people paid to come and see a show uh and it was just

Lenny Henry17:28

I can't tell you. I suppose it.

Lenny Henry17:30

It to put it into its per perspective, it was like punk.

Lenny Henry17:33

In me it was it gave comedy a big kick up the bum because for the first time

Lenny Henry17:37

People in London had an alternative. That's the only reason why the alternative was used. It's a bit of a millstone now, it doesn't really mean anything.

Presenter17:43

An alternative to what? The man in the dinner jacket.

Lenny Henry17:44

To the man in the dinner jacket. Exactly. An alternative to, you know, the guy leaning on the microphone telling jokes about how fat people are.

Presenter17:51

And his mother-in-law.

Lenny Henry17:51

And his mother-in-law. And his mother-in-law, and you know, darkies, packies, wogs. For the first time, there were people with a political conscience who were doing ideologically sound material, who were being non-sexist and non-racist, and pulling on other sources for their material. And I saw these people, and I was blown away, especially by people like Dorn and Jennifer and Alexis Ale, because they were doing material that just didn't depend on any kind of subjugation or oppression. It was just funny. And I thought, well, actually, this is the kind of stuff I want to do this. I can find my niche in this. I know that this is the sort of material that I should be doing. How do I change my image? Because at that time, my image was cheeky Lenny, cheeky, lanky, loony, lovable Lenny, you know, and he just a bit of a laugh, you know. He's a black lad, he doesn't mind having a bit of a laugh on himself, you know. And that's who I was at that time.

Presenter18:43

At the comic strip or the comedy store you were so blown away, as you said, by Dawn French that you married her.

Lenny Henry18:49

Oh, well that was later. I mean, I was blown away by Dunfridge, but it was

Lenny Henry18:52

That took a while to to happen.

Lenny Henry18:55

I mean, the the reason I was at the comic the comic ship the first time was because we were looking for writers for OTT.

Lenny Henry19:00

And um

Presenter19:01

And she turned you dumb.

Lenny Henry19:02

Yes, she bl she sort of said she said, uh well, it takes us six months to write a sketch, so I think you'd be I think you'd have a problem with deadlines, Lynn.

Presenter19:09

But she came, didn't she, to see your act?

Lenny Henry19:13

I was doing an RAF club in somewhere in Wiltshire and she saw my act and I went down very, very well and I thought, hey, pretty good set, huh? And she just said, How can he do that material? It's awful, you know. And we talked about all the material and I'd started making noises about wanting to change my act a bit. And I was still in the growth process and she sort of said, Well, you've got to just you've got to just get rid of all of that stuff about you know because I was still doing some material, you know, that was a bit dubious because it got a laugh. The problem with being a comedian is, if something gets a laugh, you'll cut your leg off before you'll kick it out of the act. So I had to be very brave and lose a lot of material that actually got huge woofers, as they're known in the trade.

Presenter19:54

Your fifth record, please.

Lenny Henry19:56

Yes, now this is you might want to plug your ears for this, but I love it. It's um Bootsy Collins, who's this bass player who has created himself as this cartoon. He had many incarnations. He had The Land Shark, he had Casper the Friendly Ghost and Bootzilla.

Lenny Henry20:11

And he's like this cartoon who plays this bass and he puts all his he puts his bass through this weird machine and it makes all these weird noises. You're not gonna like this, Sue. This is I'd rather be with you from stretching out, bootsy.

Speaker 120:22

I can't have you to myself

Lenny Henry20:25

Yeah.

Speaker 120:25

And life's no fun.

Speaker 120:29

I'd rather be with you

Speaker 120:31

Yeah.

Speaker 120:35

Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 120:41

I'd rather be with you.

Speaker 120:43

Yeah.

Speaker 120:45

Uh

Speaker 120:47

Yeah, I'd rather

Speaker 120:51

Sound of Busic Carl is there and I'm not moving you for stretching out.

Presenter20:55

This is Desert Island Discs Radio for Do you ever run out of oomph, Lenny?

Lenny Henry20:59

Oomph. Sometimes I get tired sometimes, but um when I'm on, um I I sort of get this an adrenaline from somewhere. Got a lot of energy.

Lenny Henry21:07

I think if you stop if you say, Hey, you know, I've had my own series, you know, I'm making a film, I'm doing this, I'm doing that, you know, why should I work anymore? You know, I think you just head him downwards.

Presenter21:17

So you got your own show. In fact, you got your own show back in 84. You also, though, in that year, 84, took two O levels.

Lenny Henry21:24

Yes, I was in um in Blackpool with on my own. It was it was my first um summer season Top of the Build with David Copperfield at the North Pier Blackpool and uh it was something like twenty weeks. And it it was I enjoyed the show, but after a while your brain just you get that kind of feeling of I'm turning into mush, what can I do? And I met this great guy called David Emery.

Lenny Henry21:48

And David Emery said that he could put me through O-levels in 12 weeks.

Lenny Henry21:52

And I said, What?'Cause I never I'd I left school with more than an impression of Elvis Presley, actually, Lawley. I left school with um seven CSEs. But I I sort of I'd always felt that it wasn't enough, you know, I'd always thought, Well, it's like

Presenter21:58

Seven CEOs.

Lenny Henry22:04

Toy qualifications, you know, they were they were always a bit laughed at when, you know, you did CSCs and um I sort of wanted our level, especially English,'cause I I'm you know, I'm um I like literature, I read a lot and stuff.

Lenny Henry22:16

So he put so I started to take our levels and everybody's laughing at me and everything and I but I did it, you know, I used to I'd come in from um you know, from the theater and I'd do I'd write my essays and then deliver them the next morning and stuff. And I enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the process and everything. And I

Presenter22:29

And what did you get? Come on, you're just.

Lenny Henry22:30

I got um two B's.

Lenny Henry22:33

So I'm like the new English literate bluesinger B B Henry. Right, that was my joke after that.

Lenny Henry22:39

But I got two L levels while I was there and I also got married in nineteen eighty four. And it was a real it was a real drag because I because we were getting remarried in October, I was in Blackpool, so we had to spend a lot of time away from each other, which is a which is a pain in the bum in showbiz. You know, if if both of you are in the in the business, it's it's worse. And so consequently we had to spend a lot of time on the phone and it was it was a a huge period of understanding and uh it was g it cemented our relationship in a way because you know if you can if you can stand that you can stand anything.

Presenter23:05

But what's it like in your house? I mean, two huge comic personalities under one roof.

Lenny Henry23:10

It's normal, you know, we we try and live as normal a life as possible and if if I got up every morning and uh did impressions of Tommy Cooper and did characters, it'd be very dull after the second day. And I don't think people understand that. I think they're because they're taking you at that moment in time when they're talking to you they think, Oh, it was great, it was really funny, you know. But actually it's just, you know, you're trying to work out how the fridge works and stuff, you know. It's very very normal. It's a normal life, Sue.

Presenter23:34

Shall we have some more music?

Lenny Henry23:35

Yeah, this is um, this is the, and it's a very soppy listener. So, I mean, if you don't want to listen to this, please. But when we were in Blackpool, we used to ring each other up all the time. And I used to sing this to Dawn on the phone because we were away from each other. And it's very soppy. Steve Wonder, I just called to say I love you. No New Year's Day! Go on, Steve.

Presenter23:57

No New Year's Day.

Speaker 124:01

Yeah.

Presenter24:01

Yeah.

Speaker 124:01

To celebrate

Speaker 124:05

Don't shot, let go of candy hearts to give away

Speaker 124:14

I just

Speaker 124:16

To say

Speaker 124:19

I love you.

Speaker 124:22

And I mean it from the bottom of my heart.

Lenny Henry24:30

That's one of my favorite records. That's for Dawn. And also, because he sang it on Mandela Day, which is one of a a brilliant day for me, and seeing Stevie sing that live was just wonderful.

Lenny Henry24:41

Great.

Presenter24:41

I was saying earlier on that you were um a a moving spirit behind comic relief.

Lenny Henry24:46

One of them. I wasn't a I wasn't the instigator of by any means, but um I was I was sort of in at the the initial meeting for it when we were planning the first show.

Presenter24:55

It's an odd business at first glance, though, isn't it? The comedians talking about death and disaster and suffering.

Lenny Henry25:01

I don't know whether it's a non-business. I I think um if it stems from caring, if it stems from the heart, then it's all right, and whatever helps really. You know, my job is is as a comedian, and if by comeding I can help people in Ethiopia or Burkina Faso or Mozambique or or in Britain, then I'll comede.

Presenter25:17

To commed is a nice verb, yeah.

Lenny Henry25:17

Yeah.

Lenny Henry25:19

But I know and and w what the when it started uh Rowan Atkinson was putting on this show at this Shaftesbury Theatre, I think, and uh he wanted a lot of comics to to do something and I and I was invited to appear.

Lenny Henry25:30

And it was great having all the comedians together. There was some ki there was a really good feeling around. There was no ego egotism. There was there was just people saying, Oh, good set, you know, and and uh people admiring people from the side of the stage. It was really nice. And we wanted to do it again.

Lenny Henry25:47

And we wanted to sort of see if we could raise more money. I mean, we made a million and we just thought it was well, if we could make three million next year, it'd be wonderful.

Presenter25:55

It's an incredible power, isn't it?

Lenny Henry25:56

Well we just thought we just thought it'd be great. So the next year we said why don't we do a T V show and have show lots of brilliant clips and do specially written sketches and stuff like that. And consequently the next year we had this television red nose day and people just went bombing and we raised £60 million. It was beyond our wildest expectations and it was just a shock. I went into shock and I was so proud to have been involved with it.

Lenny Henry26:25

Richard had been Richard Curtis had been to Ethiopia and he'd been immensely affected by it. It changed his life. And I said to him, Well, you know, I'd really like to see what it's like as well. So we arranged for me to go. And I went the first year and

Lenny Henry26:38

It made me feel very lucky. It made me think, Christ, we don't know how lucky we are in Britain. You know, we've got, you know, water comes out of a tank, we've got the National Health Service, we've got stuff, we're well looked after, we've got the dole, we've got all kinds of stuff, we can survive. Whereas in Ethiopia and in Burkina Faso, it's a gamble. You might not be able to eat tomorrow, you might not be able to eat the day after. If there's a famine, you might not eat for a month, you might die. And that just affected me. And it affected me the way we waste stuff in this country, the way we throw stuff away. Whereas in Ethiopia and Burkina, they use everything. They use the pots and pans, they use cans, they use tins. It really made me think, you know, in Burkina Faso, we had this big plastic jug. It was like a container, a disposable container for orange squash or something. And we threw it away. And somebody, no! No! Somebody ran to the truck and said, no, please let us have this. And they used it away, and they're going to use it for something, you know, and it just made me think.

Presenter27:33

So in that sense, being involved in in comic relief and going to Ethiopia and Burkina Faso, it's it's changed your life.

Lenny Henry27:38

When I first came back, I said, Oh, I want to give everything away. But you after I sobered up.

Lenny Henry27:46

I realize that by being who I am, by doing what I do, it actually helps more than if I just became a field worker or something, you know.

Presenter27:53

Your seventh record, please.

Lenny Henry27:54

This is an Elvis Costello song and it's by Robert Wyatt. This is Shipbuilding.

Presenter27:59

I'll be back by Christmas It's just a rumour that was spread around town

Presenter28:08

Somebody said that someone got filled in for saying that people get killed in And uh We sound of the Ship building

Presenter28:25

Robert Wyatt, Shipbuilding.

Presenter28:27

There are I know you know an awful lot of clichés spouted about comedians, um that that that inside they're anxious or hunted or taking revenge on a miserable childhood or they're laughing'cause it stops them crying or whatever. I just don't get the impression you fall into any of those categories.

Lenny Henry28:44

No, it was um showing off for my friends and then when I got into show business it was oh god I better I better get a modicum of you know proficiency into this otherwise I'll never survive and then it became a kind of pride in in what I was doing. So it's never been a defence mechanism'cause I'm too big. I never had to crack gags because I'm I'm I'm like a wimp or anything. I am a wimp because I I don't like I hate violence of any form or shape or size. But people never bothered me anyway'cause I'm always so big.

Presenter29:12

But perhaps then the other thing is true, that that inside the comic there's a serious character waiting to get out.

Lenny Henry29:18

I I think I am serious a a lot of the time. I mean I

Lenny Henry29:22

People are surprised when they meet me because they always say, Well, go on then, you know, like I'm shopping, you know.

Presenter29:25

Be funny.

Lenny Henry29:27

Go on then.

Lenny Henry29:29

Be funny. Go on, Led.

Presenter29:30

But is there a serious actor there? I mean, would you like to play a, I suppose, Othello, once you say?

Lenny Henry29:35

I was talking to um my friend um

Lenny Henry29:37

David Throwfull about this the other night, and uh he thinks we should do Othello. And I will do it one day, but not not now.

Lenny Henry29:44

I want to do it when I've had a bit more experience acting.

Lenny Henry29:48

And consequently, I mean we're working on various film scripts at the moment and I want to do more film acting and T V acting. I've done a couple of films and I've enjoyed it and I've enjoyed the experience of developing a character over a longer length of time.

Presenter30:00

So we might we might yet see Lenny Henry's Othello at the National, might we?

Lenny Henry30:04

I don't know about that. We might be able to put it on in a town hall somewhere. We're going to do a fellow now, so shut up.

Lenny Henry30:09

Can we come out to the bar, please? Yagos about to come on.

Lenny Henry30:13

So one day. I'd like I really would like to do it though.

Presenter30:17

And so we come to your last record.

Lenny Henry30:19

My last record is a very serious piece of musical work. It's by a man who has been a great influence on me, proving that you can combine funk with comedy. Here is one of my heroes.

Lenny Henry30:30

George Clinton, with his band Funkadelic, and One Nation, Under a Groove.

Speaker 130:37

Ready or tonight, yeah we come Getting down on the one which we've defeated

Speaker 130:48

Can I

Speaker 130:50

Here the dog gets to hit the tummy

Lenny Henry31:04

Well, there you are, Radio Four, rocking and rolling, reeling and rocking, getting down on the funky good foot. This is the Archbishop of Canterbury's choice of tunes.

Lenny Henry31:13

On his castaway island this week. Go on, Sue.

Presenter31:15

One Nation Under a Groove by Funko Delic.

Presenter31:20

Now you have to choose one of those, Lenny. Um you know, one that you prefer to all the others that you would have to have.

Lenny Henry31:27

I think Dawn will come here if I don't say this. I think I'd have to take the Stevie Wonder tune, I Just Called to Say I Love You.

Lenny Henry31:33

Because it's so nice and it would would it would I can't take my girlie, can I?

Presenter31:36

No you can't.

Lenny Henry31:37

Okay, so I'd have to it would remind me of my girlie and um it would be very nice and I'd get all soppy and cry'cause she wasn't there.

Presenter31:44

Yeah.

Lenny Henry31:44

Contact back.

Presenter31:44

Then you have to choose a book, and you've got the complete works of Shakespeare, so you can swat up on the Othello.

Lenny Henry31:49

Oh wow, that's

Presenter31:50

You got the Bible?

Lenny Henry31:51

Uh-huh.

Presenter31:52

Um, what else would you like to have?

Lenny Henry31:54

I think I'd have to take Catch 22 because I've read it four times and I still don't know what it's about. So I think it's a book that bears repeated reading. It's such a good hoot and funny and it's got great characters like Yasarian. I see everything twice and Major Major and Milo Minderbender. It's the great classic, it's a classic book. And every time you start it, you sort of think.

Lenny Henry32:16

What's

Lenny Henry32:17

What's going on? You know, I I do like him.

Presenter32:20

Right. And a luxury.

Lenny Henry32:22

A luxury. I'd have to take some graphic novels with me. Now graphic novels are things like The Watchman by Alan Moore, Cerebus by Dave Sim and Dark Knight by Frank Miller.

Presenter32:34

What kind have you not allowed?

Lenny Henry32:36

Why not? I'll make comics. No, you can't. Why? Because it's it's a luxury.

Lenny Henry32:41

I'm a comics collector, Sue. So, what? I can take a book, but I can't take comics. A comic is a luxury. I'll rest my case, Your Honour. Thank you.

Presenter32:48

I'm feeling very bullied.

Lenny Henry32:49

I take all of them.

Presenter32:50

Finish telling us what it is.

Lenny Henry32:51

And what they are is they are comics with an X, but they're more grown-up. They're written with adults in mind. So it's like reading a book, but you've got pictures to look at as well, which I think all books should do anyway. You know, Dickens would be much better if Oliver Twist was a superhero. You know, give me some more or I'll blast you with a photon ray. You know, I mean, that now that is my kind of Dickens, you know. Bleak house, it'll be bleak when I've used my heat vision on it, pal. The old curiosity shop, take my super breath. Yes.

Presenter33:20

You got a B for your English literature exam.

Lenny Henry33:22

Yes I did, that's why.

Lenny Henry33:24

When I was supposed to be studying my poems, I was reading Frank Miller.

Presenter33:28

Lynworth George Henry, from Dudley. Thank you very much indeed for letting us hear your desert island.

Lenny Henry33:33

It's been an absolute groove, Sue, thank you.

Speaker 333:43

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Islandists Archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.