Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983-1985 famine in Ethiopia.
[3] The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make the public laugh, while raising money to help people around the world and in the United Kingdom.
The first live fundraising evening, held on 4 April 1986, featured comedians and pop stars, including Rowan Atkinson, Billy Connolly, Stephen Fry, Kate Bush and co-founder Lenny Henry.
The BBC is responsible for the live television extravaganza on Red Nose Day; BT provides the telephony, and TK Maxx sells merchandise on behalf of the charity.
Perennial hosts Jonathan Ross and Lenny Henry were joined by Davina McCall, Chris Evans, Ben Elton, Jack Dee and Julian Clary, with Peter Snow providing regular updates on donations.
Celebrity Big Brother 1 was produced in honour of Comic Relief, with the finale airing as part of the Red Nose Day festivities.
The fund raising activities included Lenny Henry providing the voice of the speaking clock between 10 and 23 March with the cost of the call going to Comic Relief.
[26] The hosts of Red Nose Day 2003 were: Jonathan Ross, Lenny Henry, Anthony McPartlin, Declan Donnelly, Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer, Graham Norton, Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish.
The 2005 Red Nose Day was held on 11 March, and was hosted by a collection of television stars: these were Chris Evans, Lenny Henry, Davina McCall, Graham Norton, Dermot O'Leary and Jonathan Ross.
Popular BBC talent show Comic Relief does Fame Academy was attended by celebrities singing cover versions of songs.
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, and My Family.
The event raised £52 million and was once again hosted by Sir Lenny Henry alongside Davina McCall, Paddy McGuinness, David Tennant and Alesha Dixon.
Sheen and Tennant also starred in a special edition of their TV show Staged while McGuinness and his Top Gear co-stars, Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris were asked questions by children in a segment hosted by Radio 1's Jordan North.
The Vicar of Dibley's Geraldine Granger (played by Dawn French) appeared alongside the Reverend Kate Bottley to open the show.
[36] Footage of the latter challenge, which took place between the Aquatics Centre in London and Plymouth, was featured in a BBC One documentary called Tom Daley's Hell of a Homecoming which was broadcast on 14 March 2022.
[38] The 2022 Comic Relief show featured parodies of The Repair Shop (with Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Dame Judi Dench) as well as various popstars in David Walliams and Matt Lucas' Rock Profile sketches, whilst Tim Vine and Kiri Pritchard-McLean took part in a One Man and His Dog competition.
The late-night programme The Great Comic Relief Prizeathon was presented by Vernon Kay and AJ Odudu, with an hour-long Best Bits compilation being transmitted a couple of days after the event.
Conceived, plotted and edited by Neil Gaiman, Richard Curtis, Grant Morrison and Peter K. Hogan, it featured contributions from a vast array of British comics talent, including Jamie Delano, Garth Ennis, Dave Gibbons, Mark Millar, Simon Bisley, Mark Buckingham, Steve Dillon, D'Israeli, Jamie Hewlett and Bryan Talbot.
These were all linked by the twin framing narratives of the Comic Relief night itself, and the tale of "Britain's meanest man" Sir Edmund Blackadder being persuaded to donate money to the event.
The game featured voice overs from Lenny Henry and Harry Enfield, and several other references to Comic Relief and tomatoes; the theme for the 1993 campaign.
In 2001 J. K. Rowling wrote two books for Comic Relief based on her famous Harry Potter series, entitled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages.
The children in the video wear Stella McCartney's special edition Comic Relief T-shirts, and was filmed in black and white so that only the red stood out.
Writing in The Spectator, Ross Clark raised the question, 'Why do all these women's charities...feel the need to disguise their fundraising in the prat-fest that is Comic Relief, rather than appealing directly to the public?'
[72] In December 2013, an edition of the BBC One series Panorama pointed out that between 2007 and 2009, millions of pounds donated to Comic Relief had been invested in funds which appeared 'to contradict several of its core aims', with shares in tobacco, alcohol and arms firms.
[74][75] In total 338 complaints were made to Ofcom, however the regulator chose not to investigate because the comedy sketches "were inexplicit and consistent with the live, unpredictable format of this established charity programme", whilst recognising that some "were not to everyone's taste".
[77][78] Writing in The Guardian in 2017, Labour MP David Lammy argued that Comic Relief perpetuated problematic stereotypes of Africa, and that they had a responsibility to use its powerful position to move the debate on in a more constructive way by establishing an image of African people as equals.
[79] In 2018, in response to Lammy's comments and the backlash to Sheeran's video, Comic Relief announced they would take steps towards change by halting their use of celebrities for appeals.
[80] However, in February 2019, Lammy also criticised Stacey Dooley for posting on social media about her trip to Uganda for Comic Relief, saying that 'the world does not need any more white saviours', and that she was perpetuating 'tired and unhelpful stereotypes' about Africa.
[81][82] The pressure group 'No White Saviours' argued that Comic Relief had pledged to make changes to their celebrity campaigns in the past, and now needed to put them into practice.
[83] The remarks by Lammy were believed to have damaged coverage of Red Nose Day; viewership dropped and the donations received for the broadcast in March 2019 fell by £8 million and the money raised that year was the lowest since 2007.