1991 was the year for beloved British comedy performers to try and make their names stateside. We already heard about Rik Mayall’s experience with Drop Dead Fred, but the same year, Lenny Henry, riding high off the success of Live & Unleashed, was able to take advantage of a spot on a high-concept comedy caper vacated by Eddie Murphy (and others) called True Identity.
Were the Americans ready for Lenny? Well, as it turned out, no, they weren’t. But that wasn’t necessarily down to him, as we’ll find out in this episode. It was a troubled production with rather large amounts of meddling from Disney execs, throwing Henry and his director, the highly sought-after Charles Lane, under a bus. (One of those big American school buses, no doubt.)
For an American take on this British hope gone wrong, we invited the incomparable Tessa and Nicole from Doom Generation, themselves huge fans of British comedy, to join us and discuss not just this film, but Lenny Henry’s career leading up to it. New territory for the Doom Dames, who had never heard of our Lenny before.
there’s also the closest ending to a quiz series we’ve had, with the scores locked at 23-23, so join the four of us as we dive headlong into True Identity.
Lenny Henry Show - Thriller
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jfXzx1SHsY
Lenny Henry Show - Prince
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zmSn8tnJtA
Lenny Henry Show - Sitcom ep1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWcBsaWpQQY
EMF Unbelievable Andrew Dice Clay Samples
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QQCDE1Uy__c
Lenny Henry - Live & Unleashed Intro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3W17Z7ZTVM
True Identity - Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyHLV90D8pY
True Identity - Transformation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heP9g22t_m
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