It’s Red Nose Day, and you can catch the live 3-hour special wrapping it all up tonight at 8/7c on NBC!
Photo: Lloyd Bishop/NBC
“What’s Red Nose Day?” you ask … If you’re anything like me (and wow, I really hope you aren’t), every time you drive past Walgreens (or Duane Reade) and see the sign encouraging you to “get your red nose here!” you think,
1) Is this a Christmas thing? It sounds Rudolph-y. But wait, it’s May.
2) I should look this up and see what it’s all about.
And then you promptly forget to look it up, because you’re a busy mom or dad or student or whatever. Lucky for you, I eventually looked it up. Here’s the lowdown on Red Nose Day (in bullet point format, because you’re a busy person), and a few reasons you’ll want to catch this special tonight.
- Started in Britain, in the ’80s, to raise funds for impoverished children in the UK and Africa. It’s finally made its way to the U.S. – this is our first Red Nose Day!
- Run by Comic Relief, Inc. to help lift kids in the U.S. and across the world out of poverty. Benefits 12 charity organizations (listed here), including The Boys and Girls Clubs of America, charity: water, and Feeding America.
- Red Nose Day special airs on NBC tonight at 8/7c and lasts 3 hours. (Looks like it’s tape-delayed for the Pacific time zone, so West coasters can catch it at 8pm.)
- The special is hosted by Seth Meyers, David Duchovny and Jane Krakowski.
- There’s a star-studded lineup, with over 100 Hollywood stars, including Will Ferrell, Martin Short, John Krasinski, John Legend, One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Keith Urban, Helen Mirren, Jimmy Fallon, Ed Sheeran, Kermit the Frog, the hosts from The Voice, and Nick Offerman. NICK OFFERMAN! (You had me at Offerman, NBC.)
- It’ll feature live and pre-taped comedy and entertainment. (Word on the street is that Coldplay wrote a skit that the Game of Thrones cast will perform.) Check out NBC’s Red Nose Day page here – it has some pretty good clips to get you primed for tonight.
- It will also contain short appeals films that shed light on those in need. Jack Black visited children living on the streets in Uganda; Michelle Rodriguez met children having to work to survive in Peru; Blake Shelton visited a mobile health clinic in Los Angeles.
- Right now, there’s a 24-hour Nick Cannon danceathon going on (it’s been on since yesterday). You can stream it right here until tonight’s special begins. (I’m going to have this on in the background at work until tonight’s special starts. I’ll probably dance a bit, myself. #sorrynotsorry, coworkers.) After the danceathon, Cannon will make an appearance on tonight’s special.
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