Lenny Henry dot com - Blog : Archive...

Welcome to my blog : Archive

Here is an archive of all my past blogs, just incase you missed any! To view my latest blog please click here

Len's Handy Dandy Interview Primer

Posted Thursday, June 26, 2008

Hey my peeps,

Just for fun ,I thought i'd do an INTERVIEW PRIMER for yours truly. It occurs to me that I'm going to be doing more press in the next few days than John Lennon after 'Bigger than Christ' debacle. (Although to be fair , I heard recently that he had actually said, 'I never said we were bigger than Christ, just taller..'. My Parents emigrated to Britain in the Mid 50's. Mom went first to set up home. Dad followed after with my big sister Kay. Dad was a foundry working at Beans industries Mom worked in Light Engineering doing piece work - she was also a seamstress , made wedding cakes and was a great cook. She was the main disciplinarian in the family .. I've got 3 brothers and 3 sisters.

Hylton -was a factory worker -became a counsellor Seymour-was in the RAF , then fixed TV's , Now a bus driver.
Bev - was a housewife- then went to college , became a Social worker.
Kay - worked for the police, then in advertising , now in Corporate Mortgaging me - Paul - was a comedian and writer -now a Chef.
Sharon - is a theatrical agent.

I was brought up in Dudley in the West Midlands - hundred miles from London - about the same from Liverpool.
It was called the Black Country -because of all the soot from all the Chimneys of all the factories that were there. (Car factories , Light engineering, Nail makers, etc)

I was one of three black kids in my primary school.

At secondary school , I was one of 30 black and Asian kids in the whole school.

I started doing impressions with the onset of puberty. I was not a sportsman or overly academic , but I could mimic people from TV. Girls seemed to like that . THANK YOU JESUS!

I did impressions of Elvis , Marc Bolan , Noddy Holder, Muhammed Ali , Windsor Davies , the Hooded Claw and Penelope Pitstop , Flinstones, Max Byegraves, Dave Allen, Tommy Cooper, Cliff Richard, Scooby Doo,Columbo, Kojak,Kermit , Miss Piggy? and loads of others.

I used to crib everything from a genius Impressionist called Mike Yarwood. Whatever he did , I could sort of do too.

I won a talent show called New Faces in 1975. My first ever spot on TV was seen by 16 million people.

I did the first ever all black situation comedy on British Television -The Fosters. It ran for 2 years - 27 episodes.

I was in the Black and White Minstrels show. For five years - no I did not black up ( look up redundant in the dictionary and it's right there next to a picture of a chocolate fireguard) I was a second spot comic. I did 12 minutes at the beginning of the first half. By the time we got to the finale they'd forgotten how crap I was.

I was in a kids show called TISWAS. it gained a cult following amongst students - It featured Chris Tarrant and Sally James as? hosts and a whole bunch of cartoons, comedians , glove puppets and LOTS OF CUSTARD PIES and buckets of water!

Three of a kind was my first proper tv series. It was a sketch show that featured myself , Tracey Ullman and David Copperfield -Not the Magician (walk through the Chinese Wall /Set myself on Fire/Date Claudia Schiffer)David Copperfield ,but one from Doncaster. He was funny. We won the Silver Rose of Montruex ,The international press prize, variety club of Great Britain awards and were nominated for Bafta.

I got my own TV series , The Lenny Henry Show in 1984, It was nominated for a Bafta award. We did a parody of Michael Jackson's Thriller in Episode one.

I did a series every year til the end of the eighties.

?I MARRIED DAWN FRENCH IN 1984, WE HAVE AN ADOPTED DAUGHTER, BILLIE.
WHO IS NOW 16 YEARS OLD!

There were keynote characters: Delbert Wilkins the Brixton Wideboy, Joshua Yarlog -the Zimbabwean impressionist , Deakus -the guiness supping old Jamaican dude, and Theophilus P.Wildebeeste -Soul Singer and Sex God.

I did Britains first stand up comedy film at the end of the eighties , it was called LIVE AND UNLEASHED. It featured me doing Stand up and also the above characters. It opened with a cab ride with Robbie (Cracker , Hagrid)Coltrane playing a dodgy cab driver , and then me being surprised and advised by various American comedians such as Steve Martin, Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy. The film got shown at Cannes and was responsible for me going to America to make True Identity.

At the beginning of the 90's I returned from America (the words ,'Go back? I'd rather have hot forks jabbed into my scrotum' repeatedly flying from my lips) and formed a production company called Crucial Films.
We made Chef, Neverwhere, Crucial tales, Funky black shorts and more Lenny Henry shows.

During this period , Comic Relief began-this is a loose affiliation of performers , led by Richard (Four Weddings and a funeral, Notting HIll , Blackadder , Mr Bean) Curtis. Richard pushed? for the BBC to broadcast a show that would raise money for 21 of the poorest countries in the world -all in Africa -and Charities in the UK - To date we have raised just under half a billion pounds. I'm proud to

be associated with Comic Relief. I have travelled to many places in Africa and all over the UK looking at grants we have given or are about to give. I am always moved by the generosity of the British public , who never seem to suffer from 'Compassion fatigue' long may it continue.

I've done a fair bit of drama - Coast to Coast -a tv film about two dj's on the run.
White Goods , a Tv film about a teacher and a scally who enter a snooker /general knowledge quiz on the telly -and win a whole bunch of stuff and then fall out over a scandal.
Hope and Glory - a Tv series about a charismatic Headteacher , taking over the reins at a failing school.
Berry's Way - a TV film about an aspirational father and? divorcee who decides to go back to college.

I've just graduated BA Hons in English Literature from the Open University.

Right now I'm doing an MA in screenwriting for film and TV with Royal Holloway College.

I just gave a speech on Diversity in the media for the Royal Television Society , pointing out the lack of ethnicity on British television both in front of the cameras and behind. It seemed to hit home.

I'm planning loads of stuff for the future , a new sit com ,and drama vehicles.

I'm writing screenplays and TV for my course.

I'm doing loads of stuff on the Radio : What's so Great About -this year , I'm looking at Bob Dylan (don't get the voice), Lee Strasberg's 'Method Acting' (Don't get the grunting and slightly voodoo mystique that surrounds it all) and Life Coaching (I gotta pay some nob to tell me 'I can do it if I try? Piss off.) *MY FAVOURITE COMICS ARE :
RICHARD PRYOR
STEVE MARTIN
ROBIN WILLIAMS
GEORGE CARLIN
WOODY ALLEN
TOMMY COOPER
ERIC MORECAMBE
THE MIGHTY BOOSH
GINA YASHERE
FRENCH AND SAUNDERS
ALEXEI SAYLE
DANIEL KITSON
STEPHEN K AMOS
CHARLIE FLEISCHER
ELLEN DEGENERES

* I think this is my fifth trip to Oz
* I try to write a new show every other year
* I collaborate when I write- Loud was written with Jon Canter Large was written with Bob Frasier Steel and Lenny Barker Have you seen this man? was written with Kim Fuller , Lenny Barker and Bob Frasier Steele-with Simon Mcburney consulting...
So Much Things To Say was written with Kim Fuller and directed by Simon Mcburney? and Where You From was written with Kim Fuller and Jon Canter with Hamish McColl consulting.

* I'm trying to do shows that have some kind of arc overall - I like to build to a big finish.
* Although I don't do the old characters any more , I still do characters -but you don't need to have seen them on TV to 'get'them.
* The characters in this new show , are from 'So Much Things To Say'
*They are :Mr Lister -a grumpy Jamaican shopkeeper, a real 'Hang em, Flog em type'-very up on the news. /His wife , Rachel Lister - a frustrated social worker, with a hankering for her first lover and freedom/ His step son -Daniel who is a soldier in Iraq - wryly discussing the war, equipment ,the Yanks , and home/Reverend Carmichael -Rachel's new Vicar...he's a real college educated wimp/ Elliot Blackwell AKA the Wolfman -Rachel's first lover - Daniel's birth father. He's stuck in a nursing home now with Parkinson's disease and a bad attitude

* I like to fool around and mess around and improvise / I like joining in with whatever it is your doing / I like to hang out and soak up the atmosphere/ I love music.

Prince
Parliament /Funkadelic
Old school? Hip hop: Public enemy , Run DMC , Sugar hill gang , LLCoolJ, Beastie Boys Chic Cheryl Lynn Gwen Guthrie George Macrea Donald Byrd The BlackByrds Cameo (Don't be so cool, It's serious) The Brother's Johnson Michael Jackson and the Jackson five Anita Baker Beyonce OutKast Digable Planet's first album Donny Hathaway Lauryn Hill's first album

Loads of Old school Reggae like the Trojan stuff Ska Bob Marley Toots and the Maytals Damian Marley? Welcome to Jamrock

Strangely enough I'm a huge fan of :
Bowie
T.Rex
Slade
Tom Waits
Kate Bush
Joni Mitchell
Rickie Lee Jones
Brian Eno
Roxy Music
Franz Ferdinand
Arctic Monkeys
Ting Tings
Estelle
Adele
Amy Winehouse....

* I read books to relax
* I secretly read comics like Spider man /Fantastic Four/ Kick Ass/ Sandman/Watchmen/Dark Knight/etc
* I train as much as I can down the gym -I'm a big bloke though and love to eat , so it's a strange 'pushing water up hill' type task to stay in shape.

*I'm in a band called Poor White Trash and the little big horns. We play soul and R and B - Hugh Laurie's on keyboards when we can drag his ass back from the States....

Hey , that's about it from me-If you ask me anything from this list -you won't go far wrong....

Peace

Len