Fun at One – Lenny Henry

It’s time for Lenny Henry’s biennial Comic Relief appearance in a loud suit this coming Friday. But years before his Red Nose antics Lenny was a Radio 1 DJ.

A guest performance on a 1981 Roadshow and a My Top Twelve appearance convinced network controller Johnny Beerling that Lenny was suitable for radio work. The following year he was given an Easter tryout and then summer cover work for Noel Edmond’s Sunday morning show – the Sunday Hoot was born.

Mixing music and comedy, written by Lenny’s TV scriptwriters such as Kim Fuller and Bob Sinfield, the shows would introduce his audience to characters such as Joshua Yarlog (“Katanga”) and Delbert Wilkins (“Y’know what I mean?”) that would feature in later TV shows.

Much of Lenny’s Radio 1 work was broadcast live and he learnt how to drive the desk. For a short spell in the early 80s (1982-85) he was seen as part of the regular DJ line-up complete with his own JAM-produced ident. Here he is having fun with those jingles in a trailer for his Sunday show.

This is a complete one hour (recorded) Christmas special broadcast on 24 December 1983.

Read more about Lenny’s Radio 1 career in Fun at One by Tim Worthington.