Lenny Henry has said racism is “still at large” as he undertakes his first standup tour in more than 15 years. The comedian, best known for The Lenny Henry Show, which ran from 1984 to 2005, said many of the issues he addressed in the 1980s remain relevant today.
“The reason the show is called Still At Large isn’t only because I’m still at large, but because things I used to talk about in the 80s are still at large now – like racism, the rise of the far right, the tumult we’re in as a world at the moment,” he told the Sunday Times. “These are things we have to deal with, and I think it’s all right to talk about these things because I’m 67, so I’m allowed.”
Henry, who was born and raised in Dudley, was six when Conservative MP Peter Griffiths won the neighbouring Smethwick seat with a campaign slogan widely condemned as racist. Four years later, Enoch Powell gave his “rivers of blood” speech in Birmingham. Henry has frequently spoken about the racist abuse he faced in his youth.
His career began when he won the television talent show New Faces in 1975. He later played Othello in a 2009 West Yorkshire Playhouse production that toured the UK before transferring to the West End. He said he stopped touring 16 years ago because he “needed a break” and found it “exhausting”.
Henry, a co-founder of Comic Relief, said the idea to return came after realising audiences wanted more off-script interaction during his one-person shows. “When I did a one-person show I wrote called August In England, and then Every Brilliant Thing, written by Jonny Donahoe, I found that when I was interacting with the audience, they were egging me on to do more outside the script,” he said.
The tour, which began in May and runs until 3 November, received a four-star review from the Guardian. Henry also cited Billy Connolly, Richard Pryor and Chris Rock as influences, noting that “as they grew older they became better, because their authenticity came through stronger”.
