That Comic Relief was the biggest pile of crap

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I have just watched 2 hours of absolute rubbish. And I need to know if I'm going mad and my expectations are too high. A previous avid watcher, never again, not even for charity.

1. Aside from the Oasis Sketch (mildly amusing) nothing remotely funny
2. Years old sketches seemingly on loop. I know it's the anniversary but come on..it's like we are too safe to be funny anymore so have to rely on past sketches
3. No Lenny Henry. It just ain't the same.
4. A depressing long Eastenders Segment half way through, full of woe and doom
5. Pete Wicks and Vicky Pattison visiting 'random' people's houses to give Amazon parcels, and 'just happen' to knock on a BBC often used Trans activist's door. Typical BBC.
6. Presenters' cringeworthy auto cues - forced and uncomfortable
7. Most of the money goes in Director's pockets anyway - I'd bet hardly any goes 'on the ground'

You are being unreasonable: Stop being a miserable menopausal old git, plus it's raised loads for charity.

You are not being unreasonable: It's a pile of cringeworthy crap.

Did they actually shoehorn in a TRA?? BBC stop promoting creeps challenge.

I only caught the last hour which just seemed to be videos of how we used to be funny. It doesn't seem big any more. No atmosphere. Do kids even talk about it any more?

Oh I love Bob, he’s special. He’s also part of the older generation of funny people, of course.

I think it is all a waste of money. Hardly any of the money actually goes to the people in need. Most of it goes into the greedy pockets of the people running and working for the charity.

I haven’t watched it since I was ambushed by Billy Connolly’s jiggling nob.

Still traumatised.

£34m + apparently

@OonaStubbs can you prove that?

It was 3 hours of recycled shit, dressed up as being a 40th anniversary special.
Proper cheapo show compared to previous years, with the naff presenters vying for attention.

I don't for a moment believe that the directors keep most of the money for themselves - although I'm sure they're on decent charities - but I think a large question is WHICH charities and 'good causes' benefit, and what the choosing criteria are.

There are loads of genuine, bona fide charities out there - but many of them push beliefs and do work that I would personally 100% not support.

It's always a risk when you give trustingly to a grant-giving 'broker'-style charity, whose preferences and ideologies may wildly differ from your own, rather than directly to one that raises funds itself for its own clearly-stated cause.

I thought Davina wasn’t in the right space for it last night. She’s been so unwell and through so much; it was just too early for her.

Apart from that I found it miserable and switched off.

I am not. Believe it or not, outside of your echo chamber there are actually a lot of women who think trans people deserve to be treated with respect and humanity too.

yeah, we all think that,
what we don't want is men in our spaces and the biologically impossible bullshit that the BBC is touting about men becoming women and we should all be kind whilst they're in our changng rooms.
Anyway, not watched CR in many many years and was quite surprised it's still on.
I;m not surprised it wasn't funny, I find it hard to watch most BBC programmes as they are just shit

God, does every thread have to be about this?

On the point of the thread, I saw the advert, didn't laugh once, didn't bother watching.

I have absolutely no problem donation money to Comic Relief and CIN..
However the tv segment was very weak.
On the other hand if you listen to radio1 and are on Instagram then look up Jamie Lang running 5 ultra marathons last week. I was in awe of him and his achievement.
My whole family donated.

Love the cause, not the show, did not watch it and feel I made the correct decision.

No, but that is my suspicion, having known been around some charity people. Hardly any of the money actually gets to the needy.

It'd be far more effective if people wanting to donate just gave their money to someone they see on the street that looks poor. At least you know then that 100% of the money is actually going to them.

I didn’t think comedy was allowed any more. No one can laugh at themselves and if you poke fun at anyone else you’re arrested

Absolutely. It was massive through the nineties and was still quite big when my 19 yr old ds was in Primary, he loved the noses. It just seems very tired now especially with LH retiring. It was one of the first 'telethons" of it's kind and you could watch the phone operators taking the calls for donations and it was exciting. It used to go on until about 3am and was genuinely funny. I think it's time for it to somehow be totally revamped or put out to pasture. Admittedly, it still does raise a lot of money for good causes.

I think a large question is WHICH charities and 'good causes' benefit, and what the choosing criteria are

I agree, @BeholdOurButterStinketh, and would add a further question as to who's doing the choosing and where their interests lie

Long experiience has taught that it's pretty uncommon to find a genuine philanthropist who isn't interested in bringing personal soapboxes into it, but in many ways they make the best drivers for this kind of thing

@Bbq1 I remember there was always a massive buzz about the official Comic Relief single too, particularly Who Do You Think You Are for the Spice Girls and even in the early 00s with Peter Kay and Tony Christie doing Amarillo. I have absolutely no idea if they even still do an accompanying single these days.

Just noticed my brain-fart - that was meant to say 'decent salaries' and not 'decent charities'!

I'm not downplaying what Jamie did in the least... but isn't he absolutely loaded - heir to an enormous fortune? Or am I thinking of somebody else?

He and his family could probably have quietly given 10 times what he raised without even noticing it gone.

The money raised is significant
it simply wouldn’t be acquired without cause and effect

it is multigenerational

yes some celebs are rolled out, Ofcourse they are they’re entertainers- some of them have also literally pushed themselves to physical extremes to raise money

I have seen first hand some of the work CR has done. And the statements on their website explains where the money goes. It’s publicly available information

unless you have personally raised millions and it’s gone exactly where you want it to … you let specialist organisations (or charities) manage that.
You might not like all the work they do- so opt out- but don’t be so utterly dismissive of an event which literally helps put food on the table in some of our most vulnerable families both at home and further away.

your privilidge reeks.

It's been running for 40 years and yet there are more poor people than ever before. The only people it has helped are the celebrities who are richer than ever before. It's a scam and it should not be allowed to continue.

@OonaStubbs you are joking aren’t you. What about projects that need infrastructure, how does giving a few pennies to someone on the street help?

@OonaStubbs you really should provide some evidence before you spout stuff like it’s a scam