Comic Relief

The Comic Relief charity organization was founded in the United Kingdom in 1985 in response to famine in Ethiopia. It now raises money for Africa and disadvantaged people in the United Kingdom.

The organization was launched live on television on Noel Edmonds[?]' Late, Late Breakfast Show[?] on BBC1, on Christmas Day 1985 from a refugee camp[?] in Sudan. Initially funds were raised from live events the most notable being a comedy revue at the Shaftsbury Theatre[?], in London, which was subsequently broadcast on television on April 25, 1986.

Table of contents 1 Red Nose Day 2 Comic Relief charity singles 3 Types of nose and amounts raised by Comic Relief 3.1 Criticism 4 Comic Relief in United States 4.1 External links

Red Nose Day Red Nose Day is the main way in which Comic Relief raises money. It is held in the spring every other year and is often treated as a semi-holiday, with, for example, schools having non-uniform days. The crux of the whole thing is a live television event on BBC1 all evening, but other money-raising events take place, some official, others just people getting their friends to donate money if they sit in a bathtub full of baked beans all day.

As the name suggests, the day involves the wearing of plastic red noses, which are available, in exchange for a donation, from many shops. There are also larger noses designed to be attached to the fronts of cars or even buildings. The design of the nose has been changed each year, beginning with a fairly plain one, which later grew arms and legs, changed colour and even turned into a tomato. See the table below.

The TV programming begins in the afternoon, with Children's BBC[?] having various related reports, money-raising events and a celebrity gungeing. This is all in-between the regular programmes, but come the evening show, after the six o'clock news, the normal schedule is dumped in favour of a live show, with each hour overseen by a different celebrity team. These celebrities do the work for free, as do the crew, with studio space donated by the BBC.

The first "Red Nose Day" was on February 5, 1988. The TV show was hosted by Lenny Henry, Griff Rhys Jones and Jonathan Ross. In April 1986 the first Comic Relief charity single was released. it featured Cliff Richard and the cast of The Young Ones in a rendition of Living Doll.

In 2001 the total raised on Red Nose Day was in excess of £55million. As well as donations on the night of the TV show money is raised from countrywide sponsored events and from merchandising, particularly of the red noses themselves. In 2001 5.8 million red noses were sold, approximately one each for 10% of the UK population. The most recent "Red Nose Day" was held on March 14, 2003. The fund raising activities for included Lenny Henry providing the voice of the speaking clock[?] between March 10 and March 23 with the cost of the call going to Comic Relief. On the night of the live show itself, £35m was raised, an on-the-night record. Organisers expect the final total to exceed the 2001 total.

More than £210 million has so far been distributed to projects by Comic Relief. Administrative costs are covered by corporate sponsors to ensure all public donations are passed on to the supported projects.

Comic Relief charity singles

Some of the money raised from the sale of each of the following was donated to Comic Relief. Normally a song is released to just before a Red Nose Day. There have been exceptions, such as (I want to be) Elected which was released to coincide with the 1992 UK general election. Before 1995's song, they were all more-or-less comedy records, mostly involving an actual band or singer and a comedy group. From then on they were generally more serious.

Release Date	Title	Artists	Highest chart position reached
April 1986	Living Doll	Cliff Richard and the cast of The Young Ones	No. 1
December 1987	Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree	Mel & Kim(Mel Smith and Kim Wilde[?])	No. 4
February 1989	Help!	Bananarama & La Na Nee Nee Noo Noo (French and Saunders with Kathy Burke[?])	No. 4
March 1991	The Stonk	Hale and Pace[?]	No. 1
April 1992	(I want to be) Elected	Smear Campaign (Bruce Dickinson, Rowan Atkinson, Angus Deayton)	No. 9
February 1993	Stick It Out	Right Said Fred[?] and friends	No. 4
March 1995	Love Can Build A Bridge	Cher[?], Chrissie Hynde[?], Neneh Cherry[?] and Eric Clapton	No. 1
March 1997	Mama / Who Do You Think You Are	the Spice Girls	No. 1
March 1999	When The Going Gets Tough	Boyzone[?]	No. 1
March 2001	Uptown Girl	Westlife[?]	No. 1
March 2003	Spirit in the Sky	Gareth Gates[?] and the Kumars[?]	No. 1

Types of nose and amounts raised by Comic Relief

Source notes. The 'amount raised' figures from 1988 to 1999 are taken from[1] (http://www.comicrelief.org.uk/comicrelief/story.shtml). Note that that site has not been updated since before 2001 for which it lists an estimated figure. The 2001 and 2003 figures are from various sources. The nose type description have been compiled by looking at pictures of the event found on the web for 1993-2003 and from memory for 1988-1991.

Year	Amount raised : on the night (£mn)	Amount raised : total (£mn)	Type of red nose
1988	Unknown	15.8	Plain red nose.
1989	Unknown	26.9	Smiley face with spiky hair embossed onto otherwise normal red nose.
1991	Unknown	20.3	The nose had arms.
1993	Unknown	18.0	The nose became a tomato. The larger noses for cars and buildings looked like tomatoes thrown against the wall and were called splats.
1995	Unknown	22.0+	The nose changed colour (from red to pinky-purple or yellow) when heated - holding in a closed hand was enough.
1997	Unknown	27.1+	The nose was furry.
1999	Unknown	35.0+	The nose made a squeaky noise when squeezed.
2001	22.0+	55.0+	The nose had a tongue - a small rolled-up tube of latex that would unfurl and make a raspy noise when the nose was squeezed.
2003	35.0+	Unknown	The nose had styable hair.

Criticism

There has been some criticism of Comic Relief, in particular red nose day.

• Some have suggested that the money the BBC puts towards the event would be better off given straight to charity. However, the money raised is far greater than the cost of the event, and without the telecast it is unlikely anywhere near the same amount would be given to charity.
• It has also been said that the show is boring. The main accusation is that the segments of the show are all retreads of ideas done time and again and celebrities who appear are mainly D-list[?] comedians and would not be on such a prime-time slot if it weren't for charity. It is certainly true that the hosts have generally been around for a while and perhaps past the peak of their careers, but enjoyment of the night is really down to personal taste.

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Comic Relief in United States

Inspired by the British charity, a United States Comic Relief charity was founded in 1986 by Bob Zmuda.

Comic Relief is an annual event, televised on HBO, that has raised and distributed nearly $50 million toward providing health care services to homeless men, women, and children throughout the United States. Comedians Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, and Whoopi Goldberg are hosts of the event.

External links

• Red Nose Day Page (Donation Page (http://www.rednoseday.com)
• Official page (http://www.comicrelief.com)
• Comic Relief (USA) Official page (http://www.comicrelief.org)