‘Better with age’ Lenny Henry, 63, leaves Comic Relief viewers taken aback with appearance

Gilbert Gottfried was laid to rest in Westchester, New York, on Thursday morning and his loved ones are celebrating his life. Comedian Jeffery Ross, 56, delivered the eulogy and shared details of the intimate gathering to People. "The shiva tonight will be a star-studded event, and the funeral was just absolutely perfect," he said.

ALESHA Dixon and Paddy McGuinness were stunned into silence after Comic Relief was hit by a technical blunder - just 20 minutes into the show. The hosts welcomed the Mind Mangler - played by Henry Lewis - to the stage shortly after Fantastic Beasts stars Eddie Redmayne and Jude Law surprised some school kids.

Lenny Henry fans claimed he looked very different while presenting Comic Relief on Friday evening, as he appeared on the BBC show following his three stone weight loss.The 63 year old hosted the BBC charity show when viewers on social media commented on the star’s health transformation. Lenny previously revealed that he had lost "between two and a half and three stone" thanks to eating a healthier diet and adding in more exercise to his routine.The change was noticeable to many viewers, with one writing on Twitter: “Blimey.

Tom Daley has admitted open water ‘freaks him out’ after completing a challenge for Comic Relief.The Olympic diver, 27, successfully completed an incredible challenge for Comic Relief where he was seen swimming, running, cycling and rowing across four days and raised over a million pounds in donations for the charity. However, the athlete made a surprising confession when quizzed by host Alesha Dixon and Paddy McGuinness about his time completing the challenge.

Strictly Come Dancing winners Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice reunite for an emotional dance.The fan-favourite pair took to the dancefloor for the first time since being crowned the victors on the beloved BBC dancing show in December.Rose and Giovanni wowed the nation with an emotional waltz to Ellie Goulding's How Long Will I Love You during Friday night's Comic Relief on BBC One (March 18).The duo were all smiles as they dazzled the BBC's Salford studio - which is hosting the annual fundraising event for the first time.It's fair to say the fans at home loved seeing the duo reunite on the dancefloor, and many flocked to Twitter to talk about the moment.One wrote: "It’s so good to see Rose and Giovanni dance again. The best couple Strictly have ever had! #ComicRelief2022 #comicrelief.A second said: "Such elegant dancers and beautiful song #RedNoseDay #comicrelief #ComicRelief2022." ShakyWoon added: "Rose and Giovanni beautiful and graceful dancing! #RedNoseDay #ComicRelief #RedNoseDay2022."A third gushed: "It’s so good to see Rose and Giovanni dance again.

BBC viewers were confused when Comic Relief appeared to suffer a technical blunder at the start of the show.However, the apparent technical issue came during a segment called Magic Goes Wrong, which left some viewers wondering if the so-called blunder was actually intended.The mysterious moment came just 20 minutes after Comic Relief kicked off on BBC One (March 18).The BBC's annual fundraising show was hosted by Alesha Dixon, Paddy McGuinness, Lenny Henry and David Tennant.When Alesha and Paddy introduced the Mind Mangler, an act played by Henry Lewis, fans could still hear the previous segment, which saw Fantastic Beasts stars Eddie Redmayne and Jude Law surprise school kids with a trip to the Wizarding World.It meant the Mind Mangler's segment was interrupted by Eddie and Jude's voices at first before a long silence filled the studio.Cutting off the segment, Alesha said: "Give it up for the Mind Mangler!", before correcting herself, saying that there had been a "technical fault" in the studio.Some viewers on social media questioned whether the 'error' was staged.One fan wrote: "Is it wrong that I genuinely can't tell if that Mind Mangler bit was genuinely supposed to happen, or if it was an actual technical fault?"A second replied: "A fourth added: "Exactly. We have a storm going on in Spain and I thought the signal had gone.

Alesha Dixon put on a glamorous display when she stepped out to host BBC's Comic Relief.BBC's annual Red Nose Day fundraising event which aired on Friday night (March 18), saw Britain's Got Talent beauty Alesha join co-hosts Doctor Who legend David Tennant, comedian Lenny Henry and Take Me Out star Paddy McGuinness.Alesha stole the show in a collared red blazer matching Red Nose Day's trademark red colour theme, which she paired up with a black bra and stylish black trousers.The star-studded charity show was filmed at the BBC's studios in Salford for the first time ever, but it didn't come without its dramas.That's because Radio presenter Zoe Ball, as well as Kylie Minogue and Joel Dommett, all had to pull out of the show after testing positive for Covid.Kicking off the show, Alesha and her co-stars sent their well-wishes to Ball.David said: "We will miss you tonight Zoe, we are sending you loads of love."Zoe was meant to be one of the presenters, but she said she would be "watching and supporting from bed".Taking to Twitter, she wrote: "Pook ! fell at last hurdle and have had positive lat flows this am – noooooooo – gorgeous @AleshaOfficial is going to work the double shift tonight on @ComicRelief, i owe you lady love...She added: "good luck to A, Lenny, David, Paddy, AJ, Vernon, & the @comicrelief gang."Joel revealed he was "super annoyed" to catch the virus, as it meant he couldn't host the show.He wrote: "Super annoyed to report that I have the vid. This unfortunately means I have to pull out of hosting @comicrelief.

As schools, shops and businesses across the UK raise funds for Red Nose Day 2022, here’s what you need to know about Comic Relief – and when Red Nose Day beganEvery mid-March, people all over the UK don iconic red noses and take part in fundraising activities to raise money to help to end child poverty and hunger. The UK’s funny fundraising campaign, spearheaded by Comic Relief, sees Red Nose Day held every two years – with schools, businesses and celebrities raising money to help aid Comic Relief’s mission of tackling poverty in the UK and across the world.

Red Nose Day, the telethon fundraising event which makes millions for the Comic Relief charity. This night of celebration raises money to help end child poverty in the UK and around the world. Read on to find out more about this year’s festivities, and the origins of the event.

BBC fundraiser Comic Relief is back on our TV screens on this weekend.The long running programme was founded in 1986 by stars including Lenny Henry, and has since featured some of the biggest names of stage, screen and film including Alan Carr, Tess Daley, Chris Evans and Graham Norton.Its 2022 show will also feature huge celebrities including David Tennant, Davina McCall, Alesha Dixon, Zoe Ball and of course, Sir Lenny Henry, to name a few.Ahead of the highly anticipated event, Daily Star has taken a look at where some of the hosts, past and present, are now.Lenny Henry was one of the stars to co-found Comic Relief back in 1986 and has regularly hosted the charity fundraising programme throughout the years.Having risen to fame as a comedian, he made his way into television through the talent competition New Faces in 1976, at the age of just 16 years old.From there it was onwards and upwards, as he also appeared on Tiswas, The Fosters and starring as multiple characters in 1986's Lenny Henry Tonite and The Lenny Henry Show.He has most recently appeared in Doctor Who as Daniel Barton, Broadchurch as Ed Bennett and The Syndicate as Godfrey Watson, as well as being listed as appearing in the new Lord of the Rings TV series.His career also led him to his future wife and fellow comedian Dawn French, who he was married to from 1984-2010, and with who he has one daughter Billie Henry.The couple divorced in 2010, but Dawn French told The Mirror that she and Lenny are still very close friends, saying: "Remarkably, we seem to have shifted with relative ease from a 25-year marriage to a lasting friendship.“I am amazed by us – there is no war, we’ve turned out to be the best of friends."Zoe Ball is no stranger to presenting roles,

Dawn French, 64, revealed their “bizarre” relationship meant they could no longer live under the same roof.The Vicar of Dibley actress admitted her daughter, now 30, had moved out of the family home at the age of 24.Dawn French and her ex-husband Sir Lenny Henry adopted Billie Henry when she was just two weeks old.She said their relationship causes “frequent wars”.While they love each other, they do not always get along, she told the Daily Mail in 2015.She joked that there “would be murder” if they had continued to live under the same roof.However, her daughter’s new house, at the time, was only 12 minutes away, so they still both lived in Cornwall.Shooting to fame as part of the French and Saunders duo in the eighties and nineties, Dawn also admitted that motherhood had been a challenge for her.“I expected that if you nurture [a child], like a tomato plant, it grows towards the light, and surely if your mum is someone who wants to have fun with you and have adventures and read with you and spend time with you, how could you ever have a war?,” she said.“But I haven’t got a kid who wants to read with me and have adventures with me, I’ve got a different kind of kid who’s a different set of challenges and that’s been my lesson.“Nothing is ever what you think it’s going to be at all.”Dawn said the love between them is what keeps her going through the challenges of motherhood.“If the love wasn’t there I don’t know how we’d survive all this other stuff."Despite the ups and downs, Dawn has described her daughter as ‘the greatest achievement’ in her life.She explained: “Our relationship exists in a bizarre kind of process of peacetime, small battles, war.“The peacetime is much more than the other two energies, but we have our

ZOE Ball has been forced to pull out of Comic Relief and is replaced by Alesha Dixon after testing positive for Covid. The 51-year-old presenter told fans that she had "fallen at the last hurdle" and was unable to appear on the BBC One fundraising show, which airs tonight.

TV presenter Zoe Ball has revealed she’s been forced to pull out of tonight’s Comic Relief after testing positive for Covid-19.The 51 year old radio DJ took to Instagram to announce the sad news, as she shared that Alesha Dixon would be standing in for her on the big night. Alongside a snap of a positive test, former Strictly It Takes Two host Zoe wrote: “pook ! fell at last hurdle and have had positive lat flows this am- noooooooo.” She continued to her 600,000 followers: “Gorgeous @aleshaofficial is going to work the double shift tonight on @ComicRelief, i owe you lady love.” Get exclusive celebrity stories and fabulous photoshoots straight to your inbox with OK!'s daily newsletter The mum of two then gave a special shout out to the rest of the Comic Relief team who will be entertaining viewers.

Red Nose Day is back. Comic Relief’s flagship fundraising event returns today with the aim of generating millions of pounds to help people live free of poverty, violence and discrimination.

Kylie Minogue will not appear during Comic Relief after testing positive for coronavirus.

One of the biggest charity entertainment nights of the year is almost upon us, with many huge names uniting to raise money for BBC Comic Relief 2022, Red Nose Day tomorrow (Friday, March 18). This year’s programme will be hosted by Comic Relief legend Sir Lenny Henry, alongside Zoe Ball, Paddy McGuinness, Alesha Dixon, and David Tennant, all live from the studio.

Red Nose Day, the telethon fundraising event which makes millions for the Comic Relief charity. This night of celebration raises money to help end child poverty in the UK and around the world. Read on to find out more about this year’s festivities, and the origins of the event.

Comic Relief. The Masked Singer host revealed has has caught Covid.

Masked Singer presenter Joel had been looking forward to hosting this year's Comic Relief event, alongside fellow stars Alesha Dixon, Lenny Henry, Paddy McGuinness, David Tennant and Zoe Ball.However, there was bitter disappointment in store for him after he contracted Covid.Vernon scrawled over a photo of the dream team, and after obliterating Joel's face, urged fans to "scroll for replacement".He then produced a new version, doctored to show his face inserted into the picture instead.A post shared by Vernon (@vernonkay)"Covid has caught Captain Fantastic @joeldommett so I’m gonna be trying to fill his size 11.5 shoes," Vernon crowed."Get the Vits in Joel kick its ass and join in the fun from the sofa?" he teased.

Comic Relief as Red Nose Day 2022 is just around the corner. Red Nose Day is an event designed to help put an end to child poverty around the world through fundraising events and TV specials, raising money to keep children safe, healthy, and educated. Celebs such as Jamie Laing, Hugh Bonneville, Joanna Lumley – and even Mr Blobby – have already come together to bring laughter and encourage the public to raise some funds, while Tom Daley recently completed an epic endurance test all in the name of Comic Relief.

Joel Dommett has had to pull out of his presenting position for 2022’s Comic Relief after testing positive for coronavirus.The 36-year-old star was due to present the fundraising event on 18 March but has had to pass the gig on to one of his presenter friends.He shared the news with his 837,000 followers on his Instagram profile.The Masked Singer UK host shared a hilarious picture in which he had scribbled out his own face from the line-up of Comic Relief presenters. Among them some very familiar faces, including Alesha Dixon, Paddy McGuinness and David Tenant.