Question time  Tokenism on British TV drove Gina Yashere to LA -
it was either that, or wait for Lenny Henry to die before
getting her own show  Listen to an excerpt from this interview
Gina Yashere 'They look at us all the same' ... Yashere.
Photograph: Sarah Lee  Your new show is called Skinny Bitch.
Why?  I've lost four stone in the past 10 months and I look very
different to how British audiences will remember me from when I
was last here doing shows.  Why are you now based in LA?
Britain is still 15 or 20 years behind America as far as black
performers are concerned; there is still a very tokenistic
attitude. You get new white comedians coming through all the
time - Russell Brand, Alan Carr, Jimmy Carr - and we've had
Lenny Henry for 35 years. It's like a nightclub policy: one
black comedian comes in as one goes out. I'm mid-30s.  I can't
wait for Lenny Henry to die just so I can get a TV show.  Why
aren't you more mainstream?  I am mainstream. Come to my live
gigs and my audiences are 50% white, 50% bl