10 Feature
Feature 11
Seeing Red with Comic Relief
Like it or loathe it, most people can’t help but get swept up in the fundraising festivities of Red Nose Day. The next eagerly anticipated evening of honourable frivolity is coming up on March 11th. In honour of this ancient tradition, Stephen Sharrock and Kate Bryant take a look at comical fund-raising through the ages, in all its odd yet applaudable glory.
F
irst things first, here are a few facts about the show: Red Nose Day is a UK wide fundraising event organised by an organisation called Comic Relief every two years, culminating in a night of frivolity (irreverant though it may sometimes be) on BBC1. Numerous celebrities have taken part in the show in the past, with this year being no exception: Matt Lucas, David Walliams, Peter Kay, Dawn French, Ricky Gervais, Chris Evans and Steve Coogan are all lined up to tweak our rouged noses. Along with Children in Need, and ITV’s attempt at some ‘charidy’ in the 1980s, these nights have and continue to be unashamedly national TV events; aiming for the same mass audience as Royal Weddings, cup finals, soap killings and the like. Everyone ends up tuning in for the evening’s entertainment or at very least buying a Red
Nose; it’s a show that is big on audience participation, with people doing extremely silly and courageous things for charity, and has more than proved it’s financial worth: some £289 million has been raised so far. Reliant as Red Nose Day is on audience participation, some exploits of the public have proved to make innovative and interesting entertainment. BBC camera crews have, in the days supposedly before ‘reality’ TV existed, captured at least one person per year sitting in a bath tub full of baked beans for the day, a whole family who spent the day hanging upside down, and a schoolgirl who spent the best part of a month drinking nothing but vinegar. Doctors who were on hand advised her to keep drinking reduced levels of the stuff for six months afterwards, in order to let her stomach acids slowly readjust. Sometimes though, as with any prolonged live event on TV, there have been numerous mistakes and gaffes
Lenny Henry in Ethiopia
over the years: often just as memorable, but sadly hardly repeated. One famous instance involved the intrepid TV journalist and streetwise investigator Roger Cook (personal motto: “my camera is my gun”). Cook, at the time, was best known for his series on ITV, The Cook Report, in which he visited and literally doorstepped known criminals, confronting them with evidence of their crimes. Usually, this involved a real live punch up, often with Cook – a 6ft 5in New Zealander – coming out on top. The circumstance of his Comic Relief appearance was quite different: he had been retired for a few years, and the Beeb enlisted him to go out on the evening, and doorstep unknowing members of the public, congratulating them for doing excellent things for Comic Relief that year. Only some household guests didn’t realise this, and told him (not too quietly, and well before the 9pm watershed) to “eff off”, whilst others broke down and apologised profusely, listing all the crimes they had committed that they would now attempt to put right. Not only was this great TV, it was a good example of the power of the TV image prevailing over words: despite his own protestations, to these unknowing members of the public, Cook’s face and the associations it evoked (namely, fights) spoke a thousand words. Aside from this spontaneous and extremely unplanned aspect of Comic Relief, the show also has a very strong tradition of planned sketches. Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson have been a recent feature of the sketch elements of the show with their Fast Show characters, and prior to that, writing sketches for the likes of Harry Enfield. What normally happens in these is all
What happens to Comic Relief the charity, beyond the one night’s entertainment, when we’ve all turned off, gone to sleep, or gone out to celebrate? Here are a few facts to ease your conscience before you take part in and watch the day’s entertainment:
Facts...
Whilst Red Nose Day is organised only every two years, Comic Relief is a registered charity with over 500 fulltime staff working in the UK alone.
Other notable celebrities that have taken part in the past include: Woody Allen, Hugh Grant, John Cleese, Jerry Springer, Ali G, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Connolly and the entire cast of the League of Gentlemen.
Frock horror - “I’m a laydee!” the characters and plotlines we are familiar with get reworked around the theme of the day: so we have had Ted and Ralph driving along on a motorbike, wearing Red Noses (“Ted, I wondered whether you might like to wear this nose, the workers were talking about it down in the lower field, it looks rather fetching…”). The DJs Smashey and Nicey originated in a Comic Relief sketch about “charidy”, Enfield’s Loadsamoney was forced to give some of his dosh away to help the poor, whilst the Suit You, Sir characters have been shown modelling up customers with suits and special requisite Red Noses. The sketch format will continue this year, and is dominated by the recent award-winners from Little Britain: guest celebs Elton John, George Michael and
Robbie Williams will all be taking part in their sketches, and there is even a special edition Comic Relief Little Britain DVD being released (£4.99) –whilst it’s only 45 minutes, it does feature one of the best ever Vicky Pollard sketches, in which she takes part in an episode of Trisha, and gets to meet and confront her dad.
T
hese large doses of comedy will certainly make for an entertaining evening, but this is not all the show provides. Celebrities, especially in recent years, have been just as keen to present the more serious elements of the show, detailing what is happening to the money, and where it is being spent. These sequences are often
thought of as an excuse to leave the room, make a cup of tea, or else grimace at the attempts at comedy provided by a familiar celebrity - often Lenny Henry- in what seems like very inappropriate settings for comedy. Truth be told, these sections are in fact interesting and well-made pieces, that prove to be informing and remind us of the wider purpose behind all the laughter. For fans of the surreal comedy of Harry Hill, the last Red Nose Day TV extravaganza featured a sequence with him visiting a banana plantation. Ostensibly about the issue of ‘fair trade’, the sequence turned into an extremely funny and lengthy food fight with the locals (According to a fansite, the outtakes included Harry taking cover behind some trees, and being
ambushed by three elderly men, hurling a large amount of rotten bananas at him). This year the BBC have changed the format of these sequences, and turned them into another oppurtunity for audience participation. Davina McCall will be showing three bus drivers from Coventry some of Comic Relief’s work in Kenya, whilst Lenny Henry will show a family from Bristol around some small villages in Ethiopia: hopefully this will add to the ‘serious but lighthearted’ short documentary style of these pieces. After all, though the comedy sketches are the main draw, these sections are what the whole event is ultimately for – “charidy”, mate.
1999
1988
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
‘The Plain Nose’
‘My Nose’
‘The Nose with Arms’
‘The Tomato Nose’
‘The Heat Sensitive Nose’
‘The Fury Nose’
Ahh, nostalgia! The original and perhaps still the best Red Nose, this baby was made out of a plastic that had a very addictive aroma (a bit like petrol). It has given birth to several variations, and is undeniably a classic.
Just a year after the first Red Nose Day, the craze began again and with it came a new nose. Adding a bit of flair to the nose-wear, 1989’s nose had “MY NOSE” written on it. Pehaps this was to prevent pinching.
The third stage in the metamorphosis of the Red Nose, this year’s nose had arms and a cheeky face on it to boot. Already three years old, and already developing into so much more than just a nose, things could only get bigger and better.
The classic comedy accesory teamed up with the classic comedy fruit in 1993 with the Red Nose sprouting a green stalk and turning into a tomato. The face went down so well two years before that this Red Nose sports one too.
Things got all space-age in 1995 with the heat sensitive nose that changed colour when it was warmed up. Easily confused with 1989’s MY NOSE until it spontaneously turned purple, 1995’s nose proved the most surprising yet.
This year the Red Nose package got even more appealing, with a bonus Chupa Chup tongue painter and a handy-dandy cash bag thrown into the bargain, nobody could resist getting caught up in the action.
Event
Out of the £289 million raised by Comic Relief, one third has actually gone to projects in the UK and twothirds to Africa, with every county – yes, even including Norfolk – receiving money from Comic Relief at some point in its history: proof, if any was needed, that the whole event, TV show included, does actually make a difference locally as well.
‘The Hooter’ With a set of temporary tattoos and a money box to collect your pennies in, this was the last nose of the millenium. It became impossible not to make a noise about Red Nose Day with this squeaky nose.
Red noses and fundraising kits are available from www.rednoseday.com, 0845 605 8000, or from Sainsbury’s and Oxfam.
This year the focus will be on supporting Fair Trade and world Poverty campaigns, HIV campaigns in Africa, as well as various local community and international projects based in the UK.
An average of 5.5 million noses are sold each year
2001
2003
2005
‘The Nose with a Tongue’
‘The Nose with Bulging Eyes’
‘The Hairy Nose’
Designed by Aardman, this year’s Red Nose also came with lots of goodies to help you collect your donations in style. With squeezable cheeks, this nose could blow rasberries with its whoopie cushion tongue.
Also designed by Aardman, 2003’s nose had a chic little tuft of hair and squishy eyes. Things got stylish with some Wella hair gel encouraging everyone to get dressed up for their favourite time of the year.
This year you can glam up your nose with a set of stickers and collect your cash in the complimentary money box. The one thing uniting this year’s noses is their rather swish multi-coloured ‘do’. You’re just not dressed without one.
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