Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to the famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make the public laugh, while raising money to help people around the world and in the United Kingdom. The highlight of Comic Relief’s appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with its sister project Sport Relief. The first live fundraising evening, held on 4 April 1986, featured comedians and pop stars, including Rowan Atkinson, Billy Connolly, Stephen Fry, Kate Bush and co-founder Lenny Henry.
In April 1986, the first Comic Relief charity record was released. It featured Cliff Richard and the cast of The Young Ones in a rendition of Richard’s late 50s hit “Living Doll”. Some of the money raised from the sale of each single is donated to Comic Relief. Normally, a song is released just before the official Red Nose Day.
There have been exceptions, such as “(I Want To Be) Elected” which was released to coincide with the 1992 UK General Election. Before the single released in 1995, Comic Relief records were all more-or-less comedy releases, mostly involving an actual band or singer teamed up with a comedy group. From 1995 on, they have been generally more serious, although the promo videos still feature comical moments.
2003 saw a return to the format of old. From 2005 to 2011, two Comic Relief singles were released each Red Nose Day, a song by a mainstream artist and also a comedy song. In 1991, a music video was created called “Helping Hands”, which included numerous children’s television puppet personalities, including characters from The House of Gristle, Fraggle Rock, Rainbow, Roland Rat, Thunderbirds, Round the Bend, Bill & Ben, The Gophers, Spitting Image, Jim Henson’s Tale of the Bunny Picnic and more. In 1993 a follow up single happened, this time feature the biggest stars of children televisions at the time called “You can be a hero”. Neither song was ever released.
The biggest-selling Comic Relief single is Tony Christie and Peter Kay’s “Is This The Way to Amarillo”, with 1.28 million copies sold. Westlife’s 2001 cover of Uptown Girl” is the second biggest-seller, followed by 1986’s “Living Doll” and the Spice Girls’ 1997 double-A side single “Mama”/”Who Do You Think You Are”.
We are raising money for Read Nose Day this year by holding an online quiz.
