Lenny Henry dot com

Q1 : are you going to do any more Chef!?

A1 : Not any time soon -there was a recent willingness from both myself and Peter Tilbury and we even went as far as working on a story line for moving Gareth and co onwards ,but I don't think it's going to happen now. Shame.

Q2 : can I buy chef! On DVD?

A2 : Hey guess what ? I had to approve cover photographs and copy for the brand new DVD of series one which is coming out in the Autumn. Chef series one is coming out on DVD soon -more details as they happen.

Q3 : what's the deal with coast to coast?

A3 : I loved Coast To Coast . It was written by Stan Hey and directed by Sandy Johnson. It starred John Shea, Lenny Henry ,Cherie Lunghi , Peter Vaughn ,George Baker and Peter Postlethwaite as Kecks Mcguiness. I loved it because it was a road movie in Britain (tiny island , so we had to zig zag) there was classic Motown music throughout ,and I made friends with some lovely people in Liverpool . There was no Coast to Coast 2 because we couldn't get the script right (sometimes , some things should just be left alone ) and it isn't out on DVD because Motown's licensing costs were too prohibitive for the BBC-they couldn't afford to 'clear' the copyrights of all the tunes. Shame... I keep asking the BBC to repeat it ,and then we can all set our video's and Tivo's and Sky+'s ...

Q4 : I want to become a comedian, where can I start

A4 : READ MY GREAT BOOK COMING SOON- its called , I wanna be a comedian but I don't know how . First segment coming soon!

Q5 : whos the I dont fink so girl?

A5 : Her name is Gina Yashere ,and she is a very fine stand up comedian. I've never seen her act, I used to see her a lot on those Top 100 video clip shows and she was always very comfortable on camera ,and ALWAYS funny. She did 'Tanya 'I don't Fink So' on the last series ,and we invited her back this year and made more of a feature of her. She was brilliant. I think 'Tanya's driving test' is one of the funniest things I've ever seen on TV.

Q6 : where can I get tickets to your show?

A6 : When 'The Lenny Henry Show' or any variant thereof is about to happen , The BBC ticket unit issues tickets for wannabe audiences. In fact you can get tickets for all sorts of shows , but you have to ring the BBC Audience unit ,and they'll sort you out for anything from 'Deadringers' to my show , to 'French and Saunders' etc.

Q7 : where do you get your suits from?

A7 : There's a variety of people , for this series I went to Paul Smith for nearly everything. Very good tailoring . I also had some stuff done by Chris and Eddie Kerr on Berwick street , and there's a black tailor in north London called Charlie Allen who makes a nice suit too. Ozwald Boateng is, of course,a God.

Q8 : who did the music to the Lenny Henry show?

A8 : The music for my show is composed by a brilliant man called Simon Brint . If you used to Watch Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders' show , Simon used to play Ken Bishop the middle aged looking guy on keyboards ;it's him singing 'French and Saunders bop ba doobie doo'. Simon used to do all the music for the Comic strip films and I started working with him in the eighties. He did all the music for my parody of Rock and Roll years , including the parody of Micheal Jackson's Bad. He's my good friend and I sang at his wedding! HIs wife's name is Amanda and they have an absolutely bonkers dog!

Q9 : when are you coming to ?

A9 : CHECK THE NEWS

Q10 : where did you live in Dudley?

A10 : I used to live on Douglas road near Buffery park. Before that we lived on Victoria terrace, just up from Wellington road -its not there any more.

Q11 : where do you get your ideas from?

A11 : to paraphrase Douglas Adams - we all go into a room and stare at the computer screen until our foreheads bleed. The real answer is that we talk, I've either seen a geezer/situation/ play/tv show / newspaper article that's inspired me in some way and I talk about it ...I'm also inspired by music, comics and voices ..documentaries are a good source of ideas ...(its hard to hang out and listen like I used to back in the day -people shout at me -"hey Lenny Henry , you lookin' ideas ? Bugger off !"

Q12 : are you going to do any more sketch shows?

A12 : I'd like to do more entertainment shows, If you've followed the evolution of In Pieces to the most recent show , you'll have seen a growth towards me performing mostly in the studio and including more stand up in the show. I can see myself doing more stand up and less character work in future -and I miss having musical guests. I don't know -we'll see.

Q13 : are you married to Dawn French?

A13 : Yes, I am. Since 1984 -we got married at St Paul's in Covent garden. A pigeon flew into the church and landed on my head during the service. Thanks a lot God.

Q14 : what's your favourite meal?

A14 : There are many ,(note size of tum) but my mom's sunday lunches are pretty unbeatable. Dawn makes a magnificent breakfast , and the food at Mr Jerk's in Soho made me cry one day because it was so good. (how sad is that) , I love curries and chinese food too.

Q15 : if you were an animal, what would you be?

A15 : Probably a 57 varieties ,mutt.

Q16 : favourite moment in a film?

A16 : There are too many, but :
Trinity's first appearance in The Matrix,
Peter Parker explains to Mary Jane why they can't be together and then a VAN FLIES THROUGH THE CAFE WINDOW AND OVER THEIR HEADS!!!!!
Sidney Poitier : 'The Call me Mr Tibbs!'
A Night at the Opera : Groucho on that boat , outside a packed stateroom ,ordering food for Harpo and chico ,'and two hard boiled eggs'
Steve Martin in the Jerk ,explaining to the naughty Carnival lady about his special purpose
Richard Pryor Live : talking about the monkeys 'Ha Ha HA ! thought you had me didn't ya?
Pacino in Godfather two -kissing Fredo and whispering that he knows it was his own brother who betrayed him.
James Caan in Godfather one : The death of Sonny Corleone
The Hair dressers husband -Any scene where Jean Rocheforte is dancing :Sublime
Blazing Saddles - 'I'm tired' ' I get no kick from Champagne' and of course ' Count Basie in the middle of the Fordian Landscape ,slappin' five with the new black sheriff...very cool indeed' (and co written by Richard Pryor)
Samuel L.Jackson : in Pulp Fiction -talking about giving a foot massage , asking to taste the burger before laying down 'the vengeance' speech
Elvis' dancing in the Jailhouse Rock segment of that Movie -Wow.

Q17 : can we expect to see the polar bears sketch again?

A17 : I loved doing the Polar bears , the Mom was Alison Steadman and Uncle Ian was Trevor Peacock from the Vicar of Dibley 'no no no no ,yes' ...I don't know how it would happen because we've all moved on from the In pieces vibe now ,but I'd love to do more ...

Q18 : would it be possible to get a signed photo?

A18 : Yes ,you just have to include your name and address on your e mail and tell me who you want it for and we'll send one back to you.

Q19 : is it true youre in a band?

A19 : yeah ,I'm in a band , we're called Poor White Trash and we usually do wrap parties for movies or TV shows or friend's (or Colleagues)birthday parties. Most High profile gig -was our first one , it was the Sense and Sensibility wrap party - the sight of Kate Winslett and Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson shaking their booties was a sight to behold. Alan Rickman cuts a mean rug too. We also did the Neverwhere wrap party (My Goodness London Below got down that night) and one of the most enjoyable official gigs we've ever done was at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in Edinburgh during the Festival with Ruby Turner and Hamish Stewart of the Average White Band as guest vocalists. We've also played on Comic Relief and on the Late Late show in Dublin. We are : Hugh Laurie on Keyboards, Sophie Elton on the Bass , Andy Gangadeen on the drums , Phil Smith -Sax , John Thirkell Trumpet ,Ken Bowley on Guitar ,and me on Vocals with Shade Adejumo and Kate Mckenzie on Backing vocals. We've also had Kwame Kweih Armah and the mighty Lemar do vox duties with us -why , got a gig?

Q20 : is that you as the shrunken head in Harry Potter III?

A20 : yes ,that was me ,and I'm proud , you hear me ? Proud...I just wanted to work with Alphonse Curaon who directed 'And your Mama too' one of the most beautiful ,sensual films ever made. I got to improvise in a room with him for two hours and I loved it.

Q21 : If your house was on fire, what would you go back in to save?

A21 : you mean after my wife and my daugther ,right? I think I'd have to go in and get the dog , but generally , if everyone was all right , it'd be cool. Life is generally more important than things -although , I've got Daredevil 1 to 20 in my office,and some cool early Spider man's , and some old Batman and Superman annuals ,and that weird Jimmy Olson annual where he dresses up as a girl - and I've got that Steve Martin video that my mate sent me from L.A....hang on ...no , you're right , humanity is the most important th- but what about the computer? Shit , this is proving very difficult..
get back to me on this ..how serious is this fire anyway?

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