Red Nose Day 2015 - 13th March

It wasn't taking the piss out of stammerers, it was taking the piss out of the film. And bullies don't usually need inspiration to target their victims.

From the BBC Media Centre.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2015/comic-relief-face-the-funny

Simple but effective staging, always nice on the graphics front - Comic Relief looks the part coming from the Palladium. The big audience is also making for a decent atmosphere too. Good call.

NBC in Conjunction with RED NOSE DAY UK is launching Red Nose Day in the USA May 21. (Could it get simulcast up Canada properly or will it blocked by simsub on the border markets?)
I havent seen much hype on NBC. They claim a promo aired during the SuperBowl...didnt see it. Havent seen anything personally since. Surprised the affiliates are mega hyping this. But maybe this promo will start kicking now as the launched was announced yesterday. Seems kinda late.
http://www.nbc.com/red-nose-day

Apparently there is no connection to the previous effort in the 90s helmed by Whoopi,Robin Williams, Billy Crystal which isnt aired on HBO anymore for the years and is now known under a new name. Details are sketchy at this point what NBC will do, but its going to be 3 hours long. No host has been named. But the UK connection is there with most of the exec producers the same as the UK version. Well done for properly launching in the US. Hope its a success.

Let's see how tight the Americans are then. Think the last thing they were involved with in the USA was Idol Gives Back.

I heard Richard Curtis mention on an inteerview on Saturday that he was heading out to the US for American Red Nose Day. I wondered what that was all about

http://www.eastoncourier.com/19968/save-the-children-benefits-from-live-nbc-television-fund-raiser/

That table shows that the US have a lower "donating money score" than the UK.

Not the best way to prove your point.

US drug store behemoth Chicago- based Walgreens will exclusively sell the Red Noses for $1 in the run up to Red Nose Day. Walgreens bought UK-based Alliance Boots last year.

According to Chicagos BizJournals mag

"Executives from Alliance Boots, which Walgreens acquired last year, are now an influential part of Walgreens management at Deerfield headquarters.

Alliance Boots also is the parent of the hugely popular chain of Boots health and beauty stores that have long been a major presence in the United Kingdom, where "Red Nose Day" originated."

So this could be the reason why Walgreens got involved with Red Nose Day. Also M&M is a major sponsor.

http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2015/04/02/walgreens-steps-up-to-sponsor-a-big-event-sure-to.html?ana=twt&page=2

Odd - they've mixed up $ and £. UK Red Nose Day has raised over GBP £1bn since it started, rather more than the US $1bn quoted in the article.

At current exchange rates the total is very close to US $1.5bn.

Great that the US is going for it. Interesting that they are going for the Red Nose Day brand rather than Comic Relief? Presumably this is because it won't initially have the Comic Relief / Sport Relief split that the UK does. (They alternate years)

I think its because most Americans might confuse it with the Comic Relief telethon programme that was hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams and Billy Crystal that started back in the 1986 (basically to combat homelessness). I think they decided to stay well away from that name it so as not to cause confusion with the brands. Even though they use Comic Relief as the operating company name. Smart move.

That's still technically correct, which is the best kind of correct.