Line #37 Creator/LennyHenry


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a793d0658b8e5f1b4031569df648438d.jpg]]
2	->''"When I started, I was surrounded by a predominantly white workforce. Thirty-two years later, not a lot has changed."''
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4	[[UsefulNotes/KnightFever Sir]] Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry CBE (born 29 August 1958 in Dudley, England) is an English actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter, but to non-British audiences, he's best known as the voice of ShrunkenHead from ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban''.
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6	He was the first host of UsefulNotes/ComicRelief, and is still heavily involved with the event. These efforts eventually led to his knighthood for services to charity. His best known sitcom is ''[[Series/Chef1993 Chef!]]''. Branched out into theatre acting in the 2000s with roles in Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' and ''Theatre/TheComedyOfErrors''.
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8	He was married to fellow comic Creator/DawnFrench from 1984 to 2010. In recent years, Henry has heavily criticised the British entertainment industry for its lack of minority representation in both on and off camera roles.
9	----
10	!!'''Filmography'''
11	* ''Series/{{Tiswas}}'' (1978-81)
12	* ''The Lenny Henry Show'' (1984-85, 1987-88, 1995, 2004-05)
13	* ''Film/WorkExperience'' (1989)
14	* ''Film/BernardAndTheGenie'' (1991): Josephus (the Genie)
15	* ''[[Series/Chef1993 Chef!]]'' (1993-96): Gareth Blackstock
16	* ''Film/TrueIdentity''
17	* ''WesternAnimation/FamousFred'' (1996): Voice of Fred
18	* ''Series/HopeAndGlory'' (1999-2000): Ian George (one of his rare non-comedy roles)
19	* ''Lenny Henry in Pieces'' (2000-03)
20	* ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'' (2004): The ShrunkenHead (voice)
21	* ''Film/{{Mirrormask}}'' (2005): Cops 1-4.
22	* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': Voice of Iggy in the episode "Where's Perry?"
23	* ''Series/TheSyndicate'', appearing in the third season as a gardener with Asperger's Syndrome.
24	* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Sadoc Burrows
25	* ''Series/TheWitcherBloodOrigin'': Chief Druid Balor
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27	!! His work provides examples of:
28	* BenevolentGenie: In ''Film/BernardAndTheGenie'' Henry plays one of these to Creator/AlanCumming's Bernard.
29	* CelebritiesHangOutInHeaven: He imagined the 'House Band in Heaven' on his show - Music/ElvisPresley, Music/OtisRedding, [[Music/{{Carpenters}} Karen Carpenter]], Music/JimiHendrix, Music/KurtCobain... and Music/GeorgeFormby on ukelele; "'[[OopNorth Ey up]] Mr Hendrix can I 'ave a go? (sings) 'Ey Joe... where you goin' with that gun in yer 'and?'
30	* EverythingIsRacist: In ''Lenny Henry in Pieces'', he portrayed a character who was a large black man who applied for jobs that were unsuitable for him (such as the lead role in ''Theatre/{{Annie}}'') and would get the job after accusing the interviewers of racism whenever they told him he wasn't what they were looking for.
31	* ItsAllJunk: ''White Goods'' is a virtually unknown Creator/{{ITV}} drama (with a surprisingly awesome cast including Creator/IanMcShane, Creator/RachelWeisz, Creator/ChrisBarrie) about a severe falling-out between two families after they win a bunch of stuff in a game show and can't agree on how to divide up the loot. His character eventually decides to [[KillItWithFire burn]] [[TakeAThirdOption the lot]].
32	* LiteralGenie: The Christmas programme ''Series/BernardAndTheGenie'' starring Creator/AlanCumming and Creator/RowanAtkinson.
33	-->'''Bernard:''' I have to be very careful, haven't I?\
34	'''Genie:''' Yes, say the words "I wish" with the caution you would normally reserve for "Please castrate me."
35	* MichaelJacksonsThrillerParody: He spoofed the music video as "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jfXzx1SHsY Thinner]]" in 1984, parodying allegations about Jackson's anorexia. It also inverted the opening scene (the girl's dating a werewolf, and is horrified when he turns into Michael Jackson), and featured "Michael" accidentally knocking the head off a zombie in the dance routine, his mother giving him a telling-off ([[spoiler:and having the zombie eyes at the end]]), and a cameo by Henry's David Bellamy impression.
36	-->'''Creator/VincentPrice soundalike:''' This film will shock, your flesh will creep,\
37	It's nasty, but it sure ain't cheap,\
38	And Michael will scream harder still,\
39	Just wait until he gets ... ''the bill!''
40	* OnePhoneCall: He did a routine about being arrested by the police and told he was allowed one phone call. "So I phoned my Uncle in Jamaica 'cos I haven't spoken to him in years."
41	* PaddleballShot: Parodied in a sketch on ''The Lenny Henry Show'' in which one of two doomed men in the opening scene of a spoof horror film keeps waving his fishing pole around. The other guy asks him what he's doing, and the first says he's making the most of the 3D effects (the sketch is not shot in 3D, although the pole behaves like a [[StylisticSuck bad 3D effect]]).
42	* PaintingTheMedium: He hosted a show about dreams, in which he met an ancient philosopher who didn't speak English, so they agreed to talk in Subtitle. Further parodied when Lenny Henry is talking about dreaming of having tea with the queen and whether that meant it was important to really have tea with the queen. His subtitle replaced "tea with the queen" with "sex with Creator/MichellePfeiffer".
43	* TheParody: He is very fond of parodies. The most notable are his spoofs of pop stars (Music/MichaelJackson, Music/{{Prince}}, Creator/BeyonceKnowles) and their music videos.
44	* PlayingAgainstType: When he eventually appeared in the real ''Series/DoctorWho'', in the two-parter "Spyfall", it was as a cold and serious villain.
45	* TakeThat: A 1985 sketch on ''The Lenny Henry Show'' parodying ''Series/DoctorWho'' had Lenny as the Doctor [[note]](the opening sequence and first few lines of dialogue indicate this was an alternate Seventh incarnation, and that his female companion was Peri, then the Sixth Doctor's companion. Interestingly, this makes Lenny one of only two knighted actors to play the Doctor, official or otherwise (Creator/JohnHurt being the other.)[[/note]] confronting the Cyberman dictator [[UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher Thatchos]] (and her ineffectual underling Denos).
46	* TechnoBabble: In the ''Doctor Who'' skit.
47	-->'''The Doctor:''' Now, it looks like the proto-anodysing discorporators have short-circuited the molecular quark overload.\
48	'''Peri:''' Is that difficult to fix?\
49	'''Doctor:''' No, but it's very difficult to say!
50	* TokenBlack: In the British comedy scene he is the only really well-known black comedian; only Reginald D. Hunter comes close to his level of prominence[[note]]and even then, this tends to reflect Reginald D. Hunter's Trans-Atlantic background and audience more[[/note]].
51	* TrafficWardens: The ''Doctor Who'' skit has the Doctor escaping the Cybermen only to find the TARDIS has been wheel-clamped. Fortunately, Peri has a DisintegratorRay.
52	* UncleTomfoolery: Lenny has been accused of this, but he's also pointed out that as a kid he grew up seeing people like Charlie Williams on TV and feeling uneasy at seeing a black comic playing on all the stereotypes and expectations to please a white audience.
53	* WhiteLikeMe: Played a character like this in ''Film/TrueIdentity''. Whenever he played Music/MichaelJackson from 1987 on, he also had to perform in white face.

Context Creator / LennyHenry