I watched this live on Youtube the day after Children in Need here in the UK. The UK has a 6th of the population of the US and yet, this annual event consistently raises £50 million every year, our version of Comic Relief, which was started before the US version, but, I noted they tried to make out otherwise raises £70 million plus annually, more than all the American versions did in total. Why is this? Well, it's simple, these two events are much better organised and, quite frankly, the NOTMS was a shambles full of egos with only one or two acts worth watching. Will Forte was a hoot, James Marsden was the standout, but, Chris Rock was racist (as usual) Olivia Munn probably gave the director hell afterwards and what was that all about with the Iron Throne? It was awkward at best and downright embarrassing at worst, to see Chris Rock us the term 'motherf****r' repeatedly while a shot of the audience included the little boy Josiah was horrifying. All it was was comedians turning up doing a few jokes and patting themselves on the back about how much THEY are doing to help whereas we had Eddie Izzard running 48 marathons in 49 days and David Walliams swimming the English Channel one year and the length of the Thames another for our third and biannual fundraiser Sport Relief and James Corden originating Carpool Karaoke withe late, great George Michael for Comic Relief. The films about the children and their families who are affected and the gentleman teaching cops how to react to people with Autism were the high spots, compassionate and educational. However, that was as far as it went. I love Jon Stewart to bits, but, he and the organisers of this event need to get on a plane to the UK and talk to the organisers of our annual TV charity events and Sir Lenny Henry, who is a legend. Or simply watch how we do it. America consistently proclaims itself the greatest country in the world, but, when it comes to charity it couldn't organise the proverbial p*** up in a brewery.
