Comedy Gives Back's Laugh Aid Livestream a Huge Success; 2.5 Million Viewers, Raises over $350K

LOS ANGELES, April 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Comedy Gives Back's "LAUGH AID" livestream event held April 4, attracted a phenomenal 2.5 million unique viewers, streamed over eight hours of much needed laughter, and raised over $350,000 in donations for its Covid-19 Emergency Relief Fund.

Laugh Aid was produced in partnership with Laugh Lounge, Starburns Audio, All Things Comedy, Earwolf and Comedy Central. Over 90 comedians generously participated, including Whitney Cummings, Jimmy Fallon, Ron Funches, Bert Kreischer, Jo Koy, Patton Oswalt, Tom Papa, Iliza Shlesinger, and Roy Wood Jr. The organizers and hundreds of the Relief Fund beneficiaries want to thank them all.

The Official (Unofficial) Results

Streamed on Comedy Gives Back's website, Laugh Lounge, AXS TV, Twitch, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. Laugh Aid reached 2.5 unique viewers.  All partners were thrilled with the results:

• Twitch 1,005,000
• Twitter 252,000
• Facebook 645,000
• YouTube 600,000

The Event – Continuing to Stream

Starting with "Laughter is healing," the goal of LAUGH AID is to raise the nation's spirits, entertain the world via technology as we sequester in our homes, while supporting the venue-less comedy community that lives and breathes with a live audience. Comedians created content from their homes specifically for LAUGH AID, including interviews, sketches, and peeks into their family life during this crazy time.

To continue the awareness and donations, Laugh Aid windowed on Laugh Lounge and Comedy Central's YouTube. Starting this week, a curated audio version will be available on Sirius XM and Spotify.

The Fund provides financial relief and support to fellow comedians in need during this difficult time when all live performances are banned, and income has been lost. Grants have started to be distributed and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.  Comedian Bob Saget noted, "It was wonderful to participate in LAUGH AID. It's such a worthy cause with so many caring funny people helping other caring funny people who have been affected by COVID-19. I look forward to the day when we won't need this event ever again, but always ready to help those in need in unforeseen, incredibly tough times." 

Responses of gratitude from a few of the beneficiaries:

The comedy community is literally more efficient and generous than entire governments. And I'm eternally grateful. I can't wait to pay it forward.
-  Caleb Synan

As a comedian who was just making ends meet, my income was totally wiped out by the pandemic. $500 is HUGE. It's food for my daughter and I for at least a month or two, which is one less dire question to be answered. Thanks a ton!
-  Andrew Orvedahl

A lighthearted video thanks from K-von: https://youtu.be/CZ3smh4WGmg

The Fund is open and taking submissions for grants at: https://www.comedygivesback.com/covid-19-grant.   

Grants are available on a first-come first-serve basis.

The Laughs go on…

The comedy community continues to show up to take care of their own. Comics who were not part of LUAGH AID have come up with creative ways to engage their fans while raising funds. On April 8^th, Brian Regan made his 2011 CD, All By Myself, available as a free download and for each download, he donated  $10.00 (up to $25,000 total) to Comedy Gives Back's Emergency Relief Fund.  This goal was met within the first hour.

On April 13^th Caroline Rhea hosted a birthday bash on Instagram Live benefitting Comedy Give Back's Relief Fund. The top three donors received a personalized outgoing voice message. We look forward to partnering with our creative community to continue our fundraising efforts.

More Gratitude Going Around

The organizers of this event are deeply grateful to its many streaming and other back office partners who donated their time and services. The success of this event couldn't have been possible without Laugh Lounge, Laughter Gives Back's official production partner.

LAUGH AID streamed on Laugh Lounge app, Twitch, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, AXS TV, LiveXLive, and Stirr. restream.io powered the simul-stream which sent the stream to 18 different channels at once. Zoom was used to connect all artists and production. And, a special thank you to Suite Spot, AXS TV, All Mobile Digital Media and Sonixphere for their production support.

Other partners include Amazon Prime Video, Stamps.com, and a big heartfelt thanks to everyone who volunteered but didn't get called out in this news release.

For more information and performance updates, visit www.comedygivesback.com 

Media Contact: Margot Black / Black Ink PR
(323) 376-6787 
[email protected]

SOURCE Comedy Gives Back