Comic Relief

This article is about the British charity. For the current American charity, see Comic Relief, Inc. For the generic character designation, see Comic relief. For the former American charity, see Comic Relief USA. For other uses, see Comic Relief (disambiguation).

Comic Relief
GenreCharity telethon
Created byRichard Curtis
Lenny Henry
Presented byLenny Henry
Emma Willis
Paddy McGuinness
Zoe Ball
David Tennant
Alesha Dixon
Romesh Ranganathan
Clara Amfo
Rob Beckett
Joe Sugg
(See full list)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
Production locationsBBC Television Centre (1988–2013)
The London Palladium (2015)
The O2 (2017)
BBC Elstree Centre (2019–21)[1]
Dock10 (2022–)[2]
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running timeVarious
Production companyBBC Studios Entertainment Productions
Original release
NetworkBBC One
BBC Two
Release5 February 1988 (1988-02-05) –
present
Related
Children in Need (1980–present)
Sport Relief (2002–2020)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

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.[3][4] A new CEO, Samir Patel, was announced in January 2021.[5]

The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, an annual (previously biennial) telethon held in March. 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.[6]

A prominent annual event on British television, Comic Relief is one of two high-profile telethon events held in the UK, the other being Children in Need, held annually in November. At the end of the Red Nose Day telethon on 14 March 2015, it was announced that in the 30-year history of Comic Relief, the Red Nose Day and Sport Relief appeals had raised in excess of £1.4 billion.[7]

  1. ^ "BBC Studioworks to provide full studio and post production services to Comic Relief Appeal Night". BBC Studioworks. 15 March 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  2. ^ "BBC's Children in Need and Comic Relief's Red Nose Day set to broadcast live from dock10 studios". Dock10. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Our History". Comic Relief. Archived from the original on 14 March 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  4. ^ "Mission | Comic Relief". www.comicrelief.com.
  5. ^ Laurence, R. "New CEO". Comic Relief. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  6. ^ Roberts, Jem (2018). Soupy Twists!: The Full Official Story of the Sophisticated Silliness of Fry and Laurie. Unbound Publishing.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference billion was invoked but never defined (see the help page).