I did Tommy Cooper, Muhammad Ali, Elvis... the DJ said I should be on TV
Sir Lenny first fell in love with comedy watching Marx brothers movies in his summer holidays when he was about 12.
He also loved Bruce Forsyth, The Two Ronnies and Eric and Ernie and would try out impressions of them all. “I used to do jokes for my mates and they really appreciated it. Even if it was rubbish they’d say keep going,” says Lenny.
His pals urged him to perform at a local disco. Lenny recalls: “In front of all my peers at Dudley’s Queen Mary Ballroom, I did Elvis, Tommy Cooper, Muhammad Ali... it brought the house down.” The DJ said he should be on telly. He says: “One day I bunked off school, put on my Sunday school clothes and went to the New Faces audition in this Birmingham club. I thought, these are my people.” The judges were so wowed by Lenny that they let his audition run and run until he bowed and they all stood up. But when he got home he had to face his mother. “My mum was silhouetted in the window,” he says. “I had to convince her so I did the whole audition again in the hallway She gave a half smile... The full smile came when I bought her a house and a big TV.”