Lenny Henry - genuinely. Genuinely Lenny Henry though

[madhair60]

Has anyone

EVER

laughed at a joke he's done?  I'm sorry but Lenny Henry

[gilbertharding]

The Shakespearean actor Leonard Henry?

He's alright. He never was that kind of comedian anyway. It was always about his knockabout, frivolous personality rather than 'jokes'.

Back when I was young with under-developed critical faculties I used to love Three of a Kind.

[DrGreggles]

He's at the Corn Exchange soon!
No idea why.

[kittens]

when i was a child teenager my mother bought tickets for me, her and chris burger to go and see lenny henry live. no idea why. the tour was called 'so much things to say' and he played several characters and it ended with him going like 'well i guess we've all just got so much things to say'. very clever. the only other part i remember is him pretending to be a lady and pretending that he finds what willies look like all weird. he was like haha they're just a funny floppy little bit of skin. great show.

edit: for the avoidance of doubt, i thought the show was awful and i do not find lenny henry funny. cheers.

[BeardFaceMan]

There's a bit on his live stand up video where he does a little bit about catflaps that fucking slays me, not the material, just his delivery.

[Delete Delete Delete]

Thid is my all time favourite Lenny Henry segment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYW8KA02HTE

This is him at the peak of funny, these dyas he lost a lot of the energy he used to have and just goes through the motions.

[Shit Good Nose]

Always liked him on Tiswas ("gwapple me gwapenuts", "well hello daddy", etc), and I always liked his stories about his elderly Jamaican relatives who all called him "Lenward" even though his full name was Lenworth.

I also loved the Lenny Henry Show (including the change to full-blown Delbert Wilkins sit-com) and the first couple of series of Chef, BUT haven't seen any of them since they were first aired.

I also also have very fond memories at my dad absolutely killing himself at Henry's old man who takes absolutely ages to say stuff, and his old American blues artist with suits that are way too big.

But then his obligatory 18-rated naughty live video was 99% gash, and almost everything (comedy wise, at least) I've seen him do in latter years has been dogshit.

I think he's fine as a person, but have no strong feelings either way.

[Glebe]

"Jane, it's a jungle out there!"

[Cuellar]

The live action Wallace and Gromit is good

[Benjaminos]

There's a bit on his live stand up video where he does a little bit about catflaps that fucking slays me, not the material, just his delivery.

came in here just to post this. catflaps?!

edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXkxXDT1-F8

[St_Eddie]

"Ummm..."

The live action Wallace and Gromit is good

Aye, that's a CRACKING sketch.

[gilbertharding]

That Rock 'n' Roll Years skit is terrible.

1. It's all pre-edited (obviously) - so HOW did they flub the joke in the title sequence where it cuts just before the animated dog cocks its leg on the guitar? You know it's going to happen, and yet... the film cuts a nanosecond after the leg starts to raise.
2. The audience squealing with delight at... what? It sounds revolting, and none of its frequent crescendos synch with anything we're seeing on the screen... neither the lame visual jokes, or the weak captions. Although the bit where America is accused of acting as an imperial power in Vietnam gets a burst of applause, as if it's an important and incisive satirical point being made.
3. It's supposed to be the 1970s, but the last clip is Michael Jackson in the 1980s. So why did they spend the previous 5 minutes persuading us this was an episode of series 2 or 3 of The Rock 'n' Roll Years?

Sloppy. 4/10

[Replies From View]

He basically saved all of Africa in one swell foop so I hope he isn't ever cancelled, ok cheers

[Dusty Substance]

When I was a youngster I found him very funny, as he was a big silly man, pulling faces and wearing big baggy trousers. I remember quite liking his Live And Unleashed Show, most notably for his Richard Pryor/Steve Martin impressions (which I've not seen for 25 years so they're probably no good in retrospect), True Identity came along and very quickly disappeared, then in 1994 he released the Live And Loud video. Between Unleashed and Loud, I'd started getting more critical of comedy and had gravitated to the likes of Bill Hicks, Steven Wright, Emo Phillips etc. and Live And Loud was bloody awful.

As mentioned, he seems like a decent guy (a cab driver told me that LH was the rudest customer he ever had, but we all have bad days, right?), has done a lot for charity, was actually really good in Alive And Kicking (early 90's BBC drama) and I liked it when Trevor McDonald surprised him on Tiswas. But, no, I don't think I've ever actually laughed at his jokes, certainly not in the last quarter of a 25+ years.

Incidentally, as a kid we had a Who's Who In Entertainment Book (IMDB, but in book form, millennials) and for years and years I thought his real name was Dudley Worcs, because his entry started "Lenny Henry (born Dudley, Worcs.)".

[Howj Begg]

As others have mentioned, he was great in the mid 80s. Still have fond memories of his comedy book. I think he was definitely a pioneer of genuinely unapologetic black comedy from his own show onwards, Delbert Wilkins, Theophilus Wilderbeest etc, and thus very influential on upcoming comics which eventually led to The Real McCoy. He was damn funny to this white kid in 1987. His live show which was on BBC1 around 1991 or something was the funniest thing I'd ever seen, taped it and wore it out. It's the one where does Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor at the start. Yeah many of his jokes were probably a bit lame and puerile, but he sold them well, and he took from both British black culture and American black standup, and he was on mainstream tv. Important, I think.

[MrTalmann]

Remember the time he and Richard Curtis thought a bit of ableism was the perfect way to open Comic Relief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zF6HWiPXMM

[Gulftastic]

He was damn funny to this white kid in 1987. His live show which was on BBC1 around 1991 or something was the funniest thing I'd ever seen, taped it and wore it out. It's the one where does Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor at the start.

That's 'Lenny: Live And Unleashed', a cinema release. Indeed, I saw both his big screen outings in an actual cinema.

The concert film is by far the more memorable.

I thought he was great for pretty much all of the 80'. His two sets at the first Comic Relief night were both excellent.

Ricky Gervais can fuck off.

[Replies From View]

Incidentally, as a kid we had a Who's Who In Entertainment Book (IMDB, but in book form, millennials) and for years and years I thought his real name was Dudley Worcs, because his entry started "Lenny Henry (born Dudley, Worcs.)".

That would have made him Worcs Dudley, I think.

[Dusty Substance]

That would have made him Worcs Dudley, I think.

I was a bigger idiot than I realised.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

As others have said, Lenny was great in the '80s. That's not nostalgia, it's just a fact. He was a brilliant character comic, really funny and inventive. I don't know what happened to him in the '90s and beyond, he just ran out of steam I guess.

Anyway, here he is as sexy soul singer Theophilus P. Wildebeeste at the first Comic Relief live show. This is really funny, and you're wrong to disagree.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVPvqkMHk3o

PS: And no, before anyone says, even as a joke, this wouldn't get him #cancelled in this day and age as he's satirising toxic, sexist masculinity. So there.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

As others have mentioned, he was great in the mid 80s. Still have fond memories of his comedy book. I think he was definitely a pioneer of genuinely unapologetic black comedy from his own show onwards, Delbert Wilkins, Theophilus Wilderbeest etc, and thus very influential on upcoming comics which eventually led to The Real McCoy. He was damn funny to this white kid in 1987. His live show which was on BBC1 around 1991 or something was the funniest thing I'd ever seen, taped it and wore it out. It's the one where does Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor at the start. Yeah many of his jokes were probably a bit lame and puerile, but he sold them well, and he took from both British black culture and American black standup, and he was on mainstream tv. Important, I think.

Agreed. He was a pioneer, that's inarguable. A very funny pioneer too. Yes, he's been rubbish and irrelevant - as a comedian anyway - for nearly 30 years, but so what? That doesn't devalue his early work. 

[kalowski]

I saw him live in Blackpool in the mid 80s. Three of a Kind time, as David Copperfield was also there.
Lenny was fucking hilarious to this teenager (or maybe pre-teen). He did that routine about his mum slapping him on every word and crying with a snot bubble etc. I'd never laughed like it before. (I'd never seen anyone live in concert before).

[Jockice]

a cab driver told me that LH was the rudest customer he ever had, but we all have bad days, right?)

I remember reading an interview with him in the 80s (may have been in Smash Hits) where he was bemoaning taxi drivers etc expecting him to be funny. Don't think he has to worry about that anymore.

[Bennett Brauer]

Remind me again what he's just done to deserve this weird pile on.

[Hey, Punk!]

Remind me again what he's just done to deserve this weird pile on.

madhair is a massive racist and will take any opportunity to have a seemingly legitimate reason to denigrate a black person. Don't listen to his claims to the contrary, you wouldn't trust a racist, would you?

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Remind me again what he's just done to deserve this weird pile on.

Never been funny. Fairly smug, too.

[Bennett Brauer]

Just wondered if he'd just done something recently to provoke the hate.

Last I saw he was getting great reviews for his stage acting https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/theatre/king-hedley-ii-review-theatre-royal-stratford-east-a4150631.html

[The Culture Bunker]

was actually really good in Alive And Kicking (early 90's BBC drama)

Was that the one where he played a lad who'd been a promising footballer but got into drugs/other mischief instead, with Robbie Coltrane as some kind of social worker trying to help him get off the gear? You're right that Henry was great in it - remember the scene of him going cold turkey being convincing.

[kalowski]

He was also great in Coast to Coast.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

...and as Ollie in 'The Thick Of It'.