Lenny Henry named a 'legend of comedy'

At Leicester Comedy Festival awards

He’s already got a knighthood - now Sir Lenny Henry has been named a Legend of Comedy by the Leicester Comedy Festival.

The Comic Relief co-founder was given the title, previously won by the likes of Victoria Wood, Barry Cryer and Rik Mayall last night, although he was unable to appear at the online awards ceremony.

Festival director Geoff Rowe said: ’I’ve been a huge fan of Lenny since the early 1980s and it was amazing to honour the contribution he has made to British comedy.’

Other winners included Esther Manito, who scooped best show; Ahir Shah, who won the best festival appearance category; Pappy’s Flatshare Slamdown, which was named best podcast; and Jonny Awsum who had the best kids’ show.

Patrick Monahan was award with the lifetime contribution award.

Rowe added: Last year was a very strange year for all of us, but I am so incredibly proud that with the support of so many people, we managed to produce both Leicester Comedy Festival and The UK Kids’ Comedy Festiva.

‘Although things were a bit different, the festivals included over 350 performances, featuring more than 150 comedians and over 27,000 people watched the online events from around the world.’

Other winners at the ceremony, hosted by Zoe Lyons, were:

Liberty Award/Spirit of the Festival: No More Jockeys Live/Triple-CeePee
Best Promoter: TripleCeePee
Tracey Miller Community Award: A Place To Grow – Blaby District
Contribution to LCF21: NextUp Comedy
Business of the year: Octopus Energy
Student of the Year: Abby Li & Josh Sinnassamy

• Sir Lenny Henry has written an open letter urging black Britons to take the Covid-19 jab, as vaccination rates in the community lag significantly behind white Britons. The comic said people should ‘trust the facts’, not misinformation.