In 1976, at the age of sixteen, Lenny Henry won the British television talent show New Faces, as a comic and impressionist, and he became one of Britain's best-known personalities. The transitions in his career are indicative both of his personal development and of the changing cultural climate in Britain since his emergence. Henry began with stand-up comedy which often included racist jokes and impressions. Managed by Robert Luff, he entered the British variety circuit, touring with The Black and White Minstrel Show and the comedy duo Cannon and Ball. Although this was good show-business experience, the press tended to focus more on the "novelty value" of Henry's blackness rather than on his actual stage performances.

     In 1976, Henry was offered a part in The Fosters (LWT 1976-77), British television's first black television situation comedy. Working alongside established black actors such as Norman Beaton, Carmen Munroe, and Isabelle Lucas, Henry learned more about acting and the dynamics of television. When Henry began to make regular appearances on the Saturday morning children's program Tiswas and its adult equivalent OTT (Over the Top), his anarchic, irreverent style of comedy gained popularity. Henry was recruited by BBC producer Paul Jackson for a prime-time sketch show Three of a Kind (1981-83), in which he appeared with Tracey Ullman and David Copperfield.

     By the 1980s, Henry's gift for creating comic characters and witty vignettes of West Indian life in Britain was firmly established. The nuances of his comedy were gradually changing from straight jokes and blatant impressions to more farcical and chaotic comedy. This was partly influenced by other young rising comics of the time such as Alexei Sayle, Adrian Ed­mondson, Rik Mayall, and Dawn French. At this time, however, Henry was best known for his caricatures such as the African television host Josh Arlog, the cartoonish Rastafarian Algernon, and black politician Fred Dread, all with widely-imitated catch phrases. Many of Henry's character creations caused controversy and raised the question of whether Henry, as a black comedian, was actually reinforcing already­ existing stereotypes of black people. Henry admits that some of the material he was doing at the time "was very self-deprecating, very self-detrimental."

     Henry created a myriad of familiar caricatures but the most popular one earned him his own series, The Lenny Henry Show (BBCTV 1984-88). Set in a pirate radio station, the series featured Delbert Wilkins, a Brixton wide-boy, a character created at the same time as the real-life Brixton riots. Henry was influenced by comedians from the United States such as Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, and Bill Cosby, and became the first British comedian to make a live stand-up comic film, Lenny Henry Live and Unleashed (1989), in the tradition of U.S. comics such as Robin Williams and Eddie Murphy. His live tours are renowned for being chaotic, noisy, and daring, but also for relying on the same collective of characters such as the extravagant soul singer Theophilus P. Wildebeeste and the old West Indian man Grandpa Deakus.

     By the late 1980s, Lenny Henry began to broaden his repertoire even further. He became increasingly interested in "serious" acting roles and starred in the BBC's Screen Two production Coast to Coast. In 1990, he was signed by Disney on a three-film deal, the first of which was True Identity (1991), a comic­ drama about mistaken identity. Later that year, Henry starred in Alive and Kicking, a BBC drama in which he played a drug dealer alongside Robbie Coltrane as a drug counselor. The film was awarded the Monaco Red Cross and the Golden Nymph Award at the Monte Carlo Television Festival in February 1992.

     Henry has extended his ambition to other areas, including his own production company, Crucial Films. The company was established to launch film and comedy projects, but particularly to encourage black performers and film practitioners. He initiated "Step Forward" comedy-writing workshops in conjunction with the BBC, which led to the comedy series The Real McCoy, consisting of selections of sketches and songs and stand-up comedy from a black perspective. Crucial Films also led to a series of ten-minute dramas entitled Funky Black Shons.

     In the 1990s, Henry created and starred in Chef! (BBC, 1993-1996), an exceptional series in which he played the erratic Head Chef Gareth Blackstock. The series has been highly critically acclaimed for its production values, its comic-drama scripts and its lead performances. Henry plays a character that also just "happens to be black" and is married to a black woman; the fact of their blackness does not limit either the narrative or the audience the series reached. A similar level of success and critical acclaim was gained through Henry's next television venture, Hope and Glory (BBC, 1999) in which he played headteacher Ian George, in an inner-city comprehensive school. After this relatively "straight" role, Henry returned to his comedy roots with his sketch show, Lenny Henry in Pieces (BBC, 2000-2002), in which he presented a range of comic characters. The comedy series won the Golden Rose of Montreux Award at the 2000 Montreux Television Festival.

     Since the mid- l970s, Lenny Henry has risen from being a talent-show hopeful to being the most popular black British light entertainer. He has won numerous awards including the Radio and Television Industry Club Award for BBC Personality of the Year in 1993, and the Edric Connor Inspiration to Black People Award in 2002. Although Henry does not see himself as a specifically black comedian, he does believe that being black enriches his work. The development in his work and the breadth of his appeal signifies the differ­ ent contexts within which he has managed to sustain his popularity and credibility as one of the key players in British entertainment.