{"id":47178,"date":"2024-03-05T12:33:29","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T11:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=2003175"},"modified":"2024-03-05T14:08:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T13:08:34","slug":"comic-reliefs-lenny-henry-is-on-the-cover-of-this-weeks-radio-times","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/comic-reliefs-lenny-henry-is-on-the-cover-of-this-weeks-radio-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Comic Relief\u2019s Lenny Henry is on the cover of this week\u2019s Radio Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The star discusses rude comedy, the politics of charity and saying goodbye to Red Nose Day. <\/p>

By Tom Loxley\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 05 March 2024 at 11:33 AM<\/p>

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For those too young to remember, it\u2019s hard to explain the extraordinary impact of the first Red Nose Day in 1986. Children in Need had introduced us to the idea of the telethon in 1980, Live Aid had been the music industry\u2019s response to the famine in Ethiopia in 1985. Then came the comedians doing their bit for charity.<\/p>\n

Lenny Henry was there at the beginning, inspired, like Bob Geldof, by the television pictures coming out of Ethiopia to use his skills and contacts to raise money for famine relief. Now, 39 years on from founding the charity alongside film-maker Richard Curtis, he\u2019s preparing to hand over the baton of Red Nose Day host to a new generation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe, Billy Connolly, Victoria Wood, French and Saunders, the Young Ones, we were like a little gang,\u201d he tells our writer Jimi Famurewa in this week\u2019s Radio Times magazine<\/strong>, recalling the first few years of the raucous telethon, when he once staged a seduction of Delia Smith as Theophilus P Wildebeeste in a \u201ctwo-tonne codpiece\u201d.<\/p>\n

Much has changed since then and not just in what we consider good-humoured comedy. The politics of charity has changed, too. In 2017, Comic Relief ran into hot water when it was accused of perpetuating unhelpful stereotypes, summed up by some as \u201cwhite saviour syndrome\u201d. Again, times have changed since.<\/p>\n

Sir Lenny addresses all this, plus where his instincts to offer a helping hand come from and why \u201cit\u2019s time for a new gang now\u201d, in our revealing interview in this issue.<\/p>\n

\"Lenny\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>\n

Also in this week\u2019s Radio Times:<\/strong><\/h2>\n