In 1986, Zmuda founded the American version of Comic Relief, an annual event that raises money to help the homeless in the United States.
The event was televised on HBO, and was hosted by comedians Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg.
[5] On November 16, 2014, a post on the Tony Clifton Facebook page claimed that Zmuda had died at the Moonlite BunnyRanch, sourcing the information to a UPI article.
The same day, the BunnyRanch tweeted that they had been asked by Zmuda's management not to comment,[6] with a link to the hoax Facebook story.
Two days later, comedy news website The Interrobang posted a story with photos, verifying that Zmuda was not dead.