Look To The Stars News: John Oliver

George Clooney And Friends To Appear On Comedy Central Charity Special

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Over 50 amazing performers will show their support and lend their comedy chops to “Night Of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert For Autism Education,” the biennial/bi-coastal event which raises funds to help ease the severe shortage of effective schools and education programs for autistic children and adults.

This year’s presentation features star-studded taped segments from the Beacon Theatre in New York City with additional live wrap-arounds from Los Angeles including a celebrity phone bank which allows viewers to call in during the show to donate while speaking with additional comedic heavyweights. Jon Stewart hosts an evening filled with live performances and sketches from a roster of comedy all-stars with live wrap-arounds in LA and showcasing the taped segments from New York City which premieres on COMEDY CENTRAL on Thursday, October 21 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.

John Oliver Gives A Touch Of Laughter

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:00:00 +0000

John Oliver, Daily Show regular, headlined at New York’s Comix Comedy Club to raise money for the training of desperately needed health workers in Tanzania on March 5.

Other performers at ‘A Touch of Laughter’ were Karith Foster of Imus in the Morning, Comedy Central’s Tom Shillue, Baron Vaughn – who appeared at the HBO Aspen Comedy Festival – and Nathaniel Bryan, formerly of the Opie and Anthony Show.

‘A Touch of Laughter’ was a benefit for the Touch Foundation, an organization that provides funds for the training of medical, nursing and medical technician students at Weill Bugando medical university and teaching hospital in Tanzania. Physicians, nurses and all other health care workers are desperately needed in the fight against diseases like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The medical university has already grown from just 10 students in 2004 to over 800 today, but many more are needed.

The Daily Show's John Oliver To Headline Charity Comedy Show

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 11:30:00 +0000

A special event featuring John Oliver from The Daily Show will take place in New York tonight, March 5, to raise money for an organization that trains doctors, nurses and other health care workers in Tanzania.

The Touch Foundation’s A Touch Of Laughter comedy show will take place in the Comix Comedy Club at 353 West 14 Street tonight at 7pm, and will feature comedians such as Karith Foster of Imus in the Morning, Comedy Central’s Tom Shillue, Baron Vaughn from the HBO Aspen Comedy Festival, Nathaniel Bryan of the Opie and Anthony Show and Ryan Reiss from “Mike & Juliet in the Morning”.

The Touch Foundation is a non-profit organization devoted to building the health workforce in Tanzania, rebuilding the health system within which they work and providing a replicable and sustainable model for doing so elsewhere. The Touch Foundation works in Tanzania, a stable democracy that has a strong relationship with the U.S. and a demonstrated commitment to poverty alleviation. By training doctors, nurses, and health care workers, and by working hand-in-hand with the Tanzanian government to restructure the country’s health care system, the Touch Foundation aims to create a model for reform that can inform and inspire similar efforts throughout the developing world.

Tom Cruise Shops For Needy Children

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were spotted out and about in New York with daughter Suri earlier this week doing some Christmas shopping – for underprivileged children.

The family headed to FAO Schwarz – the upmarket toy store – to select toys and games for Stockings With Care, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to making sure that families in need have everything they need to create the magic of Christmas morning for their kids.

Every year the charity – founded by television casting executive Rosalie Joseph and producer Tom Fontana (“Oz”, “The Bedford Diaries”) 16 years ago – helps over 2000 children celebrate Christmas while preserving the dignity of parents and caregivers.

John Oliver Questions Fair Trade

Tue, 06 May 2008 10:12:47 +0000

Amidst the growing confusion between fair trade products – there’s fair trade, fairer trade, fair and organic, fair and local, fair and non global warming, fair to the last drop, etc. – political humourist John Oliver may have found a much easier way to determine what product to buy.

In one of his stand-up comedy acts last month, Oliver asked, “What is fair trade, when you boil it down, other than basic human politeness? …Rather than praising fair trade, we need to be demonising unfair trade. So, I suggest that from tomorrow onwards, all unfairly traded products should be forced to carry this logo: It’s a cartoon of an international businessman urinating upon an Africa boy. I think that might really help nag at your subconscious when you’re queuing up at the supermarket with a basket full of shattered lives.”

In another example of unfair trade, Oliver targeted outsourcing: “I try and write new material as much as I can, but unfortunately, recently, I have been forced to outsource my job writing operation to a little 10-year-old Indonesian boy. …I’ve brought one of his blood splattered notebooks. Most of his material is observational stuff, you know, what its like to be a little 10-year-old Indonesian boy: ’What’s up with the guy hitting me with a big stick? What’s going on there?’”