Dudley-born comic legend Lenny Henry was close to tears as he received a thunderous standing ovation on his long-awaited debut at the town’s concert hall last night.

A sell-out crowd turned out for the return of one of the town’s favourite sons as he started a three-night stint to make history as the only man to play three nights in a row at the historic venue.

The gig was part of Lenny’s nationwide Where You From? tour, and an eager crowd were obviously keen to hear his thoughts on his hometown.

And interspersed between his characters were plenty of references to a town still clearly close to his heart.

The 48-year old mulled over the artwork on Dudley’s roundabouts, arguing the council must have spent all of its money on the winged pegasus on Scotts Green island and just thrown together the bell and girdle on Castle Gate island from scrap.

He spoke fondly of nights clubbing in the Queen Mary ballroom at Dudley Zoo and Lafayettes in Wolverhampton, of how he still pops into the Lamp Tavern pub in Queens Cross for a quiet pint and of when he brought comedienne wife Dawn French to Dudley to meet his mum for the first time.

Lenny also spoke about his time at the Bluecoat school, telling the crowd how he used to fill exercise books with jokes from his idols Dave Allen and Tommy Cooper and then use them to impress the girls.

He also told of how he was targeted by racists – and of a crossroads when he nearly hit back with a bottle filled with Dandelion & Burdock.

“The Lord Angel looked down and said to me, you can choose a life of crime, like most people on The Priory, you can spend your life behind bars, like most people on The Priory. Or you can join Tiswas,” Lenny said.

Speaking after the show, Dudley Concert Hall manager Tim Jones said it showed the St James’s Road venue could handle the big shows.

He said he hoped it would lead to further big draws after Lenny followed on from the success of TV comic Jimmy Carr a fortnight ago.

“It was a fantastic evening, I am really pleased that he went down well with a local audience,” he said.

“Lenny has big promoters behind him and I think tonight we proved to them, and to others out there, we can put on a top show here in Dudley. “Hopefully Lenny will be the start in a series of big names to play Dudley Concert Hall.”

Tickets are £22 for shows tonight and tomorrow at the hall, as well as for the end-of-tour showstopper on November 27.

By Wayne Beese