Comic relief 2022

[Col87]

I know this is a bit early but it appears that sport relief has been axed and comic relief Red Nose Day has gone to a yearly event as I seen an advert for fundraising pack for a March 18th 2022. A shame then if it is the end of sport relief as in recent years it’s been the best of the three televisions but hopefully they will keep parts of it in comic relief. I think Red Nose Day going yearly is a mistake as it takes away what was special about it and recent shows have not exactly done to well.

[Whataday]

It was announced a few weeks ago that Comic Relief is going annual and Sport Relief has been scrapped.

[Col87]

It was announced a few weeks ago that Comic Relief is going annual and Sport Relief has been scrapped.

must have missed that then or just forgot but I do think they have made a mistake here comic relief fundraising shows have not been that good in recent years where as sport relief has done a lot better. Hopefully some elements of sport relief will be kept then either on the Red Nose Day telethon or as separate programs like the celebrity boxing and clash of the channels style events. However Red Nose Day worked because it was every 2 years and sport relief did bring something different on the other years. Hopefully they put more effort into the shows now.

[all new Phil]

It was announced a few weeks ago that Comic Relief is going annual and Sport Relief has been scrapped.

must have missed that then or just forgot but I do think they have made a mistake here comic relief fundraising shows have not been that good in recent years where as sport relief has done a lot better. Hopefully some elements of sport relief will be kept then either on the Red Nose Day telethon or as separate programs like the celebrity boxing and clash of the channels style events. However Red Nose Day worked because it was every 2 years and sport relief did bring something different on the other years. Hopefully they put more effort into the shows now.

I’m not sure it’s fair to say that “Red Nose Day worked because it was every 2 years”. Ask your man on the street and I reckon the vast majority would say it’s a yearly thing already.

Have to say though I agree it’s a bad decision to drop Sport Relief, arguably the much better of the two in terms of encouraging activity and promoting mental health. Even if it raises less money (I’m not sure if it does) it is a much more valuable campaign.

[Ash101]

I think Sport Relief seemed to work as they had a bit of a point of difference. The content could focus on Sports vs the more generic stuff that Comic Relief seems to have moved towards (and like Children in Need does). But in recent years it all seems to have mashed together anyway, less focus on sports - didn't they ditch the Sport Relief Mile years ago now?

It would be interesting to know the internal decision behind this, as you can hardly say that the every other year thing has been a disaster for the brands involved.

[soupie]

Children in Need and Comic Relief seem rather indistinguishable these days. CiN has struggled to regain its mojo since El Tel passed, and Comic Relief had that terrible year which included Richard Osman’s misjudged World Cup of Biscuits in-between famine VTs.

[Col87]

I think Sport Relief seemed to work as they had a bit of a point of difference. The content could focus on Sports vs the more generic stuff that Comic Relief seems to have moved towards (and like Children in Need does). But in recent years it all seems to have mashed together anyway, less focus on sports - didn't they ditch the Sport Relief Mile years ago now?

It would be interesting to know the internal decision behind this, as you can hardly say that the every other year thing has been a disaster for the brands involved.

exactly my point. While Sport Relief did have some stuff that was probably better for comic relief and some years it did not have as much sport content it’s always had some differences. The last two sport reliefs had the clash of the channel boat race and and the two before that had the clash of the titans with various sport stars celebrities doing various sports. 2018 was probably the best it had been in years with the boat race the return of the celebrity boxing the 24 hour 5 a side football and other stuff so unless some of the sport relief content like celebrity boxing and the clash of the channels boat race is going to become part of Comic relief Red Nose Day then that content will be lost which would be a shame. Compared to the last couple of red nose days all have been truly awful with no bits that really stand out at all. I know they can use the covid excuse for this year but they have no excuse for how bad 2017 and 2019 where. I just hope hope they keep the best of sport relief and go back to good years of comic relief when it was unscripted and anything could happen. If not perhaps Children in need could take over some of the better sport relief stuff and use it for their telethon. The problem why all three seem similar is probably to do by the fact all three made by the same production team at BBC Studios even some of the presenters have gone from one to the other hopefully if one good thing comes from this they will all have their own presenters sticking to just the one telethon.

[Steddenm]

It would be easier if we had a programme al à The Big Night In where the charities all worked together and only ran it once a year.

[Col87]

It would be easier if we had a programme al à The Big Night In where the charities all worked together and only ran it once a year.

that could possibly work. Think Channel 4 way of just having special programs probably works as well.

[smeg_head]

If they're going to make RND an annual event it seriously needs to rediscover its mojo.

RND of the 80s and 90s was edgy, dangerous and unpredictable. Most importantly it had comics, you know off of Comic Relief.

Who has hosted the last few years? David Tennant, Davina McCall and the one what raps off of Misteeq. All undeniably talented but not comedians which kinda goes against Comic Relief's USP.

RND should be a few hours of the best comic talent doing their thing scattered with a healthy dose of the charity bits. Sadly, it seems the modern crop of comics are notabley absent. Sara Pascoe, Kathryn Ryan, Nish Kumar, Joe Lycett - Heck anyone that's done taskmaster in the last few years pretty much qualifies. Have some guest spots from The Last Leg boys and special RND editions of Ghosts and The Cleaner.

Lenny Henry & Rowan Atkinson and Dawn French can still be trotted out but it's time to pass it on to the next generation.

The last few years have been stale and irrelevant.

[Col87]

If they're going to make RND an annual event it seriously needs to rediscover its mojo.

RND of the 80s and 90s was edgy, dangerous and unpredictable. Most importantly it had comics, you know off of Comic Relief.

Who has hosted the last few years? David Tennant, Davina McCall and the one what raps off of Misteeq. All undeniably talented but not comedians which kinda goes against Comic Relief's USP.

RND should be a few hours of the best comic talent doing their thing scattered with a healthy dose of the charity bits. Sadly, it seems the modern crop of comics are notabley absent. Sara Pascoe, Kathryn Ryan, Nish Kumar, Joe Lycett - Heck anyone that's done taskmaster in the last few years pretty much qualifies. Have some guest spots from The Last Leg boys and special RND editions of Ghosts and The Cleaner.

Lenny Henry & Rowan Atkinson and Dawn French can still be trotted out but it's time to pass it on to the next generation.

The last few years have been stale and irrelevant.

I would agree they did obviously try that in 2017 with it been a load of comedians like Gregg Davies, Miranda Hart, Sally Philips, in fact anyone who was a comedian seemed to be involved.
As I put in my other if it going to merge both comic/sport relief they could keep some of the better bits of sport relief ( such as clash of the channels boat race, the celebrity boxing, 24 hour or whatever 5 a side matches ) but then also keep the sketch’s live music, and add more studio comedy as well. I would hope that is what is happening because that would actually and give a very interesting telethon with something there for most people to enjoy. However if it just going to be a bog standard comic relief night again after the last two years they might as well not bother as both where no where near as good as even the worse ones of the 00s. I don’t mind having proper presenters or likes of Tennant present but look at this year only Lenny Henry and Jason Manford where proper comedians ( I don’t count McGuinness as he is more of a TV presenter these days ). Children in need last year and in recent years have had more comics presenting that then comic relief has. It should really be the other way round.