Charities and Non-Profits

Comic Relief was set up in 1985.

It was started by comedians who wanted to use comedy and laughter to let people know about poverty in the UK and Africa.

It was launched in 1985, from a refugee camp in Sudan. The launch was broadcast live on Christmas Day on BBC 1.

Since then, more than £650 million has been raised for some of the poorest and most vulnerable people across the UK and Africa.
Red Nose Day is the main way in which Comic Relief raises money. The first Red Nose Day (RND) was held on the 5 February 1988 and since then they have been on the second or third Friday in March. RND 2011 was on 18 March.

Red Nose Day is often treated as a semi-holiday[citation needed]; for example, many schools have non-uniform days. The day culminates in a live telethon event on BBC One, starting in the evening and going through into the early hours of the morning, but other money-raising events take place. As the name suggests, the day involves the wearing of plastic/foam red noses which are available, in exchange for a donation, from Sainsbury's and Oxfam shops.

On televisionThe television programming begins in the afternoon, with CBBC having various related reports, money-raising events and celebrity gunging. This is all in-between the regular programmes, but after the six o'clock news, the normal BBC One schedule is suspended at 7pm in favour of a live show, with a break at 10pm for the regular news programme. Whilst the BBC News at Ten is aired on BBC One, Comic Relief continues on BBC Two, and then resumes on BBC One at 10:35pm, with each hour overseen by a different celebrity team. These celebrities do the work for free, as do the crew, with studio space and production facilities donated by the BBC.

Regular themes throughout the shows include parodies of recent popular shows, films and events, and specially-filmed versions of comedy shows. Smith and Jones, and a parody sketch starring Rowan Atkinson are both regularly featured - the first being Blackadder: The Cavalier Years (1988).

1997 event

The 1997 "Red Nose Day" event, held on 14 March, raised over £27m for charitable causes.[5] The Spice Girls song "Who Do You Think You Are" became the official Comic Relief single of this event and sold 672,577 copies.[6]

1999 event

The 1999 "Red Nose Day" was held on 12 March and raised over £35m.[7] A parody of the Doctor Who series, Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death, starring Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor, was featured during the show, as was Wetty Hainthropp Investigates, a Victoria Wood parody of Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. On Radio 1 Simon Mayo held the record of 37 hours of consecutive broadcasting before broken by Chris Moyles on the same station for 52 hours, breaking the world record for the longest show in radio history.

2001 event

The 2001 "Red Nose Day" was held on 16 March. The total raised was £61,000,140.[citation needed] 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. 5.8 million red noses were sold,[citation needed] approximately one tenth of the UK population. The final of Celebrity Big Brother 2001 aired as well.

2003 event

The 2003 "Red Nose Day" was held on 14 March. The fund raising activities included Lenny Henry providing the voice of the speaking clock between 10 March and 23 March 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.[citation needed] A total of £61,477,539 was raised that year, setting a new record.[citation needed]

Jack Dee stood outside at the top of a pole for the duration of the show, parodying the acts of David Blaine. Celebrity Driving School led up to the event, with the test results announced during the telethon: they all failed.

The hosts of "Red Nose Day" 2003 were:

• Jonathan Ross
• Lenny Henry
• Anthony McPartlin
• Declan Donnelly
• Vic Reeves
• Bob Mortimer
• Graham Norton
• Adam Buxton
• Joe Cornish

Shows included

As usual a variety of specially-filmed versions of television shows were made. Popular BBC talent show Fame Academyreturned as Comic Relief does Fame Academy. Other shows included:

• EastEnders
• Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
• University Challenge
• Celebrity Driving School

Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan, a parody of Harry Potter, starring Dawn French as Harry Potter, Jennifer Saunders as Ron Weasley and Miranda Richardson as Hermione Granger.

2005 event

The 2005 Red Nose Day was held on 11 March, and was hosted by a collection of television stars:

• Chris Evans
• Lenny Henry
• Davina McCall
• Graham Norton
• Dermot O'Leary
• Jonathan Ross

The 2005 event was also noteworthy for supporting the Make Poverty History campaign - many of the videos recorded for the MPH campaign (including videos by Bono and Nelson Mandela) were shown throughout the evening. Over £63m was raised as of November 2005.[citation needed]

Shows included

As usual a variety of specially-filmed versions of television shows were made. Popular BBC talent show Comic Relief does Fame Academy was attended by celebrities singing cover versions of songs. Viewers voted for their favourite, with the proceeds going to the cause and the celebrity. Other shows included:

• Absolutely Fabulous
• Little Britain I Want That One
• The Vicar of Dibley
• Green Wing
• Spider-Plant Man, a parody of Spider-Man starring Rowan Atkinson.

2005's telethon, more than any other, severely overran[citation needed] and many pre-filmed segments were cut short, including Harry Hill's TV Burp, Smith and Jones, and Lenny Henry as Condoleezza Rice. The uncut versions have never been screened.

McFly released the official single, a double A-side of "All About You/You've Got a Friend" which reached Number 1 in the UK singles chart, and also Number 1 in the Irish singles chart. The cover is predominantly red and features the members of McFly dressed in red, wearing red noses, in honour of Red Nose Day.

Donation progress

Times approximate and amounts rounded to the nearest million where not stated exactly:[citation needed]

• 7:30 pm - £2 million
• 8:30 pm - £7 million
• 9:30 pm - £18 million
• 10 pm - £22 million
• 11:30 pm - £31 million
• 12:45 am - £35 million
• 02:00 am - £38 million

Raised by March 2006: £65 m.[citation needed]

2007 eventMain article: Red Nose Day 2007

2007's Red Nose Day was held on 16 March. Its tagline is "The Big One" which is also representative of the novelty nose. Walkers, Kleenex and Andrex also promoted the charity, as well as Sainsbury's.

Some of the sketches shown were: The Vicar of Dibley.[8] Also intended to be shown was A Question of Comedy, a comedy quiz utilising the format (and set) of A Question of Sport, and hosted by Jack Dee, with team captains Frank Skinner, Dara Ó Briain,[9] and Mr. Bean and guests including Jade Goody. However, in light of the Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy involving Goody, the pre-recorded segment was scrapped by BBC producers.[10][11]

In the lead up to Red Nose Day many different fund raising events occurred:

• Beginning Friday 9 March 2007, the BBC Radio 1 breakfast team staged a tour around the UK entitled The Chris Moyles Rallyoke. The tour involved seven Karaoke nights held in a well known UK location featuring members of the public and well known celebrities and music artists. Most Radio 1 shows report on their progress, and hold competitions to win tickets to be at the final on Red Nose Day, and also to win the contents of a truck donated by various celebrities. As well as raising money at each event, the profit of the phone-in competitions go to Comic Relief making a total of £600,000[12]

• Televised events included a third series of Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, and a celebrity version of The Apprenticeentitled Comic Relief Does The Apprentice has also been screened. Also a special hybrid of Top of the Pops and Top Geartitled Top Gear of the Pops was made for Red Nose Day. It featured its presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May singing with Justin Hawkins, as well as Top Gear segments such as The Cool Wall.

• Fund raising merchandise sold during the 2007 campaign included the Big One (Red Nose) itself, 'Walkears', an Andrex Puppy with a red nose, a special Little Britain Live DVD and the official single, which was a cover of Aerosmith's 'Walk This Way' sung by Girls Aloud and Sugababes.

• The last episode of the Vicar of Dibley was aired as part of the show, starring the usual cast. It featured Sting taking part with a celebrity and non-entity television show, swapping wives with the vicar's husband Harry.

• The special Little Britain Live featured famous people such as: Dennis Waterman, Chris Moyles, Jonathan Ross, Kate Moss and Russell Brand. Kate Moss played a chav, Russell Brand played a transvestite, and both Chris Moyles and Jonathan Ross were brought on as either small parts, or people who came up to the audience to be embarrassed.

• There were several sketches from Catherine Tate: in which David Tennant became a school teacher; Daniel Craig fell in love with Tate; mouthy teenager Lauren was given work experience at 10 Downing Street, leading to Tony Blair using her catchphrase "Am I bovvered?"; and foul-mouthed "Nan" appeared with Noel Edmonds on Deal or No Deal.

• To gain additional money, Peter Kay and Matt Lucas released a cover of The Proclaimers hit, I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles), and released it as a single 'I Would Roll (500 Miles)' (both were playing wheelchair bound characters from Little Britain and Phoenix Nights). It also featured numerous celebrity guests.

• There was also a live show from The Mighty Boosh.

Donation progress

Times approximate:[citation needed]

• 7.25 pm - £2,256,037
• 8.19 pm - £7,430,542 (£2,000,136 raised by TK Maxx selling Red Nose Day t-shirts in store)
• 9.09 pm - £15,139,826 (£1,001,219 raised by Walkers WalkEars)
• 9.48 pm - £22,148,068 (£7,008,242 raised by Sainsbury's)
• 9.54 pm - £26,820,554
• 11.30 pm - £27,420,554 (£600,000 raised by BBC Radio 1)
• 11.31 pm - £27,771,803 (£351,249 raised by Müller)
• 11.52 pm - £34,269,843
• 12.39 am - £34,346,177 (£76,334 from Andrex)
• 03.03 am - £40,236,142
• By 16 November 2007, a record-breaking £67,250,099.[citation needed]

2009 eventMain article: Red Nose Day 2009

The 2009 event took place on Friday 13 March 2009. Fundraisers had three different nose designs to choose from: "this one", "that one" and "the other one" - all with different facial expressions. The Saturdays provided the official single, a cover of 'Just Can't Get Enough'.

A variety of events and promotions took place in the run up to the big day. Comic Relief's Chief Executive announced that the UK's landmarks were going red before the big day. Claudia Winkleman and Steve Jones presented a new Comic Relief show called Let's Dance for Comic Relief. A special limited edition Mr. Men book, Mr. Funny's Red Nose Day,[13] went on sale with £2 from the sale of each book going to Comic Relief. Between 3 February and 23 March 2009, Kimberley Walsh, Cheryl Cole, Gary Barlow, Chris Moyles, and Fearne Cotton raised money by lending their voices to the BT Speaking Clock. Dialling 123 was one of the ways BT hopes to raise more than £300,000, as the company donated 10p for each call received from a BT landline.[14] The Red Nose Climb saw nine celebrities successfully scale the peak of Kilimanjaro at 19,330 feet (5,890 m) to reach the summit of Africa's highest mountain to raise money for Comic Relief.[15] On 27 February 2009, Gary Barlow, Ronan Keating, Chris Moyles, Ben Shephard, Cheryl Cole, Kimberley Walsh, Denise Van Outen, Fearne Cotton, and Alesha Dixon set off to Tanzania to tackle Mount Kilimanjaro with project manager and guide Jeremy Gane of Charity Challenge. The Climb has already raised in excess of £3.3 million with over £1.8 million coming from the audience of Radio 1 (a record for the station). All nine celebrities reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro on Saturday 7 March 2009. Cheryl Cole, Fearne Cotton, Denise Van Outen and Ben Shephard reached the summit first at sunrise.

The following took place during the live broadcast on the night:

• David Tennant and Davina McCall presented the first hour of the main live Comic Relief show.
• There was a special compilation edition of Harry Hill's TV Burp.
• There was a special edition of The Royle Family.
• French and Saunders came out of retirement to make a parody of the movie Mamma Mia! (film) - the sketch itself was referred by Richard Curtis to be his favourite part of the 2009 event
• The cast of Outnumbered recorded something for the night.
• David Tennant and Davina McCall went head to head in a Mastermind special.
• There were special episodes of The Catherine Tate Showand Little Britain USA (with Robbie Williams) for the evening.
• Fearne Cotton, Reggie Yates, and Noel Fielding presented a special Top of The Pops for RND 09.
• Comic Relief Does The Apprentice, featuring celebrities like Carol Voderman, Gok Wan, Patsy Palmer, and Jonathan Ross attempting to make a non-electrical toy for Sir Alan Sugar.
• A special episode of Gavin and Stacey: Nessa (Ruth Jones) and Bryn (Rob Brydon), having won a local karaoke competition, make their way to Las Vegas for a championship, where they meet Tom Jones and sing the Bee Gees-written "Islands in the Stream". The track was released by Universal Music and reached Number 1 in the Official UK Top 40.
• A special episode of Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, crossing over with Grownups and Coming of Age, was scheduled and aired on BBC3.
• A special edition of The Sarah Jane Adventures featuring Ronnie Corbett.
• A number of sketches based on Dragons' Den set in Victorian times, with Victorian inventions, exaggerated Victorian attitudes towards investing, and all five Dragons playing the part of the Victorian entrepreneurs. Harry Enfield plays the parts of the Victorian Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones, while Paul Whitehouse plays the parts of the Victorian Theo Paphitis, Duncan Bannatyne and Evan Davis the presenter.
• Little Britain met Catherine Tate.
• Armstrong and Miller teamed up for a few sketches with Mitchell and Webb.

This was the first Comic Relief show to feature no input from Rowan Atkinson and no comedic material from Lenny Henry.

Donation progress

Times approximate:[citation needed]

• 7:50 pm - £3,017,772
• 8:29 pm - £13,667,550 (£3,500,889 Raised in T.K. Maxx stores through Red Nose Day T-shirt sales, and fundraising from T.K. Maxx staff)
• 9:34 pm - £29,748,187 (£9m raised by Sainsbury's, the largest single donation in Comic Relief history)
• 9:57 pm - £32,802,411 (£5m of this will be used to pay for one million mosquito nets)
• 11:25 pm - £41,799,343 (£750,000 raised through Wine Relief, and £6m from an anonymous donor. This is also the first of the highest ever totals announced live on the night in the history of Red Nose Day)
• 12:52 am - £54,690,437
• 2:08 am - £57,809,938 (total raised announced during telethon event beats the 2007 record by £17.5 million, and may well go on to beat its overall record total.)

By 2 April 2009 - £65,699,850[citation needed]