Tuesday Titter 19- Let's Dance for Sport Relief III

When I started this series of posts, I intended the third entry to be Noel Fielding's performance of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights... and then I discovered I'd previously blogged it here. Soooo... after much research and deliberation, here's one I missed last year: Ade Edmondson as the Dying Swan... If you're not familiar with his ouevre, the end may not make sense - if you feel in need of a primer, click here.

As ever, enjoy and again, as ever, remember that the show is in aid of a really good cause.

Andrew

Tuesday Titter 18- Let's Dance for Sport Relief II

The second of my selection of three performances from the various series of Let's Dance... is Rufus Hound as Cheryl Cole performing "Fight for this Love":

Enjoy... and, as before, please visit the Comic Relief site to see the great work that the money they raise does.

Andrew

Tuesday Titter 17 - Let's Dance for Sport Relief I

Let's Dance for Sport Relief is back on the tellybox, although I must confess I missed it on Saturday. For those unaquainted with the show, the format is simple: various comedians, actors, singers and personalities recreate classic dances - often for comic effect - in a televised contest raising funds for Comic Relief (the charity which Sport Relief is in aid of. (I may have mentioned it once or twice in the past...)

I was discussing this with a friend the other day and we fell to reminiscing about various favourite performances from previous series. I've decided to share three of these with you over each of the next three weeks. First, here's a performance from the first series of the programme, back in 2009. Although runners up, this was one of my favourites - Paddy McGuinness and Keith Lemon with some Dirty Dancing:

Enjoy... and please consider donating. You can do so here.

Andrew

Tuesday Titter 14 - Am I Bovvered?

I wasn't a particular fan of The Catherine Tate show but, rather like Little Britain, thought it worked really well when the characters interacted with celebrity guests. Both shows have done this for Comic Relief in the past, I particularly remember Little Britain did this with Elton John delivering the "only gay in the village" punchline.

In 2007, Catherine Tate took her character Lauren to Downing Street where Tony Blair questioned whether he was "bovvered", Nan became possibly the most crude and rude contestant on Deal or No Deal and Elaine Figgis became romantically involved with a certain Daniel Craig. 

In this sketch, Lauren's English class has a supply teacher...

Enjoy, 


Andrew

Some Good News in the Economic Gloom

This is the post I was busy working on when my computer's last hard drive forced me into an unanticipated interregnum. Here it is in a completed form, with a post-script which relates to news which was reported during that break. 


We are constantly being told that these are hard economic times. To see that you only need to open a utility bill, fill up your car with petrol or look at these BBC News pages (here and here; Notice I've not had to archive the pages - I'm pretty sure the same general negative feeling will be evident whenever you happen to click the links).


Inflation is running at 5% (and for many will be higher), unemployment is at 8.3% of the workforce, youth unemployment has topped 1m (and is at 19.6% for those age 18-24*), growth forecasts have been lowered and the Eurozone remains in crisis.


Of course, there is a danger of too much negative reporting and of talking ourselves back into recession. Indeed, the "R" word is often banded around as if we were. That's another, but important, issue which is a particular bugbear of mine. It's not, however, the point of this post.


There is no doubt, though, that one way or other people are feeling the pinch. According, for example, to the ASDA Income Tracker which measures discretionary income, average disposable income fell by 8.4% in September compared to the previous year.


In addition to the above figures, here are two more:

£26,332,334

£102,166,598

On Friday [the 18th November], the BBC's annual Children In Need appeal raised an on-the-night record of £26m - £8m more than the total last year. Comic Relief raised £102m this year which even allowing for the £15m that the government contributed was still some £4m higher than the figure raised in 2009.

It is heartening that in these times of austerity we can still, as a nation, think of those in even more dire straits. Perhaps it's because we are more conscious of the cost of things that makes us want to help those in even greater need. Whatever, it makes me proud to be British - not in a jingotistical way (I don't believe in "pride" based on something you have no control over) but proud of my fellow subjects and proud of what can be achieved collectively.

Andrew

Since I conceived this piece, this research hit the news. In essence, more people are giving to charity but the average gift has reduced. Although this seems at odds with the record figures above, I still think this is encouraging news, in it's way. 1.1m more people have been moved to give notwithstanding the current economic climate - people may not be able to give as much but they are giving.

It may be that Comic Relief and Children in Need, as the highest profile fundraising events, have benefited disproportionately from new gifters but I think it would be churlish and somewhat cynical to let this colour our view of their achievements this year.

Whilst many charities are feeling a squeeze as donations and other sources of funding are reduced, the sector should take comfort from the willingness of people to give - and work on ways to encourage increased giving from these new donors when circumstances improve. Some imagination will be required to achieve that - simply asking people to increase their direct debits is not, I think, the way forward - but with the right approach this could be the start of a new culture of giving.


*Source: Office for National Statistics Labour Market Data Tables Nov 11

East African Drought: DEC Appeal

On Red Nose Day, I posted this blog which featured footage of the tragedy which was the genesis of Comic Relief. This week, the news of the growing problems caused by the drought in the Horn of Africa has led to a Disasters Emergency Committee appeal. The footage may not be as dramatic as that from 1984, and the camps may seem to be better run and better prepared and supplied, but 10 million people are believed to be at risk of famine.

Please watch this video and, if you are able to, please consider donating. DEC appeal funds are channelled through major UK charities, many of whom are already working in the affected area. You can donate online here and if you're a UK taxpayer please complete the Gift Aid declaration so that tax relief can be claimed on your contribution - boosting your donation by 25%. You can also text "CRISUS" to 70000 to donate £5 through your UK mobile network.

If you're not able to donate but did contribute towards this years record breaking Comic Relief total (£102 million at last count), you may find this of interest, taken from an e-mail I received today:

Andrew

Let's Dance with Noel Fielding

Aside from Red Nose Day, Comic Relief is supported by programmes all across the BBC in the weeks leading up to the big day itself. In 2009 (and again in 2010 for Sport Relief)  Let's Dance for Comic Relief gave comedians, soap stars and celebrities the chance to showcase their dancing skills. While some of the acts were relatively "straight" performances - for example, this years winners performed tap in the style of Fred Astaire, - many were comedic re-intepretations.

This year, Noel Fielding chose to perform to "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush - sheer brilliance:

If you want to give to Comic Relief, you can do so here.

Andrew

Iconic Images 14

It's always a temptation on Red Nose Day to focus on the Comic rather than the Relief but doing so does an injustice to those whose vision was to use comedy to raise funds to help those who need it both here and in Africa.

To that end, I've decided to post this video of Michael Buerk reporting on the Ethiopian famine of 1984. This is the news report that inspired first Band Aid, then Live Aid and, ultimately, Comic Relief.

While the challenges have changed, the need is still there. Please consider giving to Comic Relief - you can do so here.

Andrew

Going. Going. Gone.

I remember when selling your underwear online was restricted to, how shall we put this, the more exotic corners of the interweb. And largely anonymous.

Not, it seems, any more. The lovely Russell Tovey, star of Being Human, is taking part in the Twit Relief auction and is offering a pair of his pants, socks and ta our of the set. Should you want to bid, you can do so here. At time of writing, though, the going price was £1,060 so you'll have to dig deep!

A whole host of celebrities are taking part by offering "Superfollows" on Twitter as well as more conventional charity auction prizes to winning bidders - whether that be a "Meet and Greet" with Davina McCall, tickets to the premiere of the last Harry Potter film courtesy of Edith Bowman, or the Inbetweener's Car.

You can see all the offerings on the Twit Relief eBay pages and you can donate here. In the meantime, here's Mr Tovey (almost) touting his wares:

Andrew

Comic Relief

Last month I posted this on The Inbetweeners' Rude Road Trip. As you may have gathered, I've long been a supporter of Comic Relief, the UK charity founded by (amongst others) Richard Curtis in 1985 and which has been organising Red Nose Day and the accompanying TV charity telethon since 1988.

One of the founding principle of Comic Relief was that every penny raised should go direct to the people whom it aims to support (the split is historically 2/3rds to Africa and 1/3rd to the UK, although support was given to Haiti in the wake of the 2010 earthquake.) To this end, they have a number of partners who either give support in kind or cover the various admin costs associated with large-scale fundraising.

This transparency also extends to those products that are sold to support Red Nose Day, where the amount actually going to Comic Relief is publicised at the point of sale.

Another great reason to support Comic Relief is the way that they use celebrities in fundraising. It is not enough for a celebrity to appear on the show or record a video in support; they'll visit projects that the charity is funding both here and abroad and see the challenges first hand. It is also interesting to note how many stars remain supporters year in year out, even while fame and trends wax and wane,.

A more recent development, kicked off by David Walliam's English Channel swim for Sport Relief, are the sponsored events where groups of celebrities take on gruelling challenges. Last year a group of 8 or so cycled from John O'Groats to Lands End non-stop while the year before a similar number climbed Kilimanjaro. These cleverly cover a number of fan-bases and widen the scope for donations as well as lengthening the period over which funds are raised.

This year Lorraine Kelly, Scott Mills, Kara Tointon, Olly Murs, Ronni Ancona, Dermot O'Leary, Peter White, Nadia Sawalha and Craig David are crossing 100km's of the Kaisut desert in Northern Kenya. You can find out more here and donate here.

In the UK you can also text 'Desert' to 70011 to donate a pound. Or text twice to donate £2... Texts cost £1 plus the cost of one text at your standard network rate.

Anyway, all that was a roundabout way of getting to today's post of one of Dermot O'Leary's latest video diaries from the trek:

Andrew

Cock! Balls! Tits! Text RUDE to 70011 to Donate.

No, I've not developed Tourettes. 

Instead, this is a post about The Rude Road Trip undertaken by the guys from The Inbetweeners in aid of Comic Relief. Like the show, the premise glories in puerile and infantile humour - the guys set out to visit 50 places with rude place names over the course of 50 hours. 

You can read more on their challenge here and see a map of their adventure here as well as links to more photos. Here's a flavour of their escapades:

To donate to Comic Relief, follow this link or, in the UK, you can donate £1 in support of the boys by texting RUDE to 70011. Texts cost £1 plus standard network rates.

Andrew