Look To The Stars News: John Oliver

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.

In Tanzania there is a serious shortage of health care workers. There are fewer than 1,000 doctors in Tanzania – only one for every 30,000 people compared to New York City where there is one doctor for every 200 people – leaving many to die from diseases that are preventable, treatable, and curable. Since 2004, the Touch Foundation has worked to identify innovative solutions to this complex health problem in sub-Saharan Africa, using Tanzania as a base.

Heather Prince, who coordinated the event, said “Clearly the health crisis in Africa is no laughing matter. But money raised here can provide greater access to medical care in Africa and that is something to smile about”.

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

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

Written by Tim Saunders

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.

Tickets to the comedy event are $75, and more information can be found here.

Tom Cruise Shops For Needy Children

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

Written by Tim Saunders

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.

Earlier this month the charity held a special celebrity bartending night at Bar 13 in New York that featured appearances by Val Emmich (Ugly Betty, 30 Rock), Connor Paolo (Gossip Girls), Bree Williamson, Bethann Bonner and Tika Sumpter (One Life To Live), Harold Perrrineau (Lost), Grant Bowler (Ugly Betty), Jesse Williams (Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2), Kate Shindle (Legally Blonde), Jason Butler Harner (Changeling), Kirk Acevedo (Fringe), Marcy Rylan (Guiding Light), Trevor St. John (One Life To Live), Danny Kennedy, Jeff Branson and Aiden Turner (All My Children), Broadway star Cheyenne Jackson and Jason Jones, Rob Riggle, Wyatt Cenac, John Oliver and Aasif Mandvi of The Daily Show and many others.

People wishing to drop off gifts to Stockings With Care can do so at 450 West 56th Street, New York.

John Oliver Questions Fair Trade

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

Written by Elizabeth Willoughby

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?’”

A long time political satirist, Oliver explains where this focus came from in an interview with Cool’Eh Magazine: “I guess with stand-up you end up gravitating towards talking about things that you care about… As globalization tightens its grip around the equator and squeezes, there is so much to write about. I’ve found that as I’ve become increasingly disenfranchised with party politics, I’ve become more interested in the wider issues which I no longer trust politicians to address.”

Look To The Stars News: John Oliver

John Oliver Gives A Touch Of Laughter

Related past articles

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

Related past articles

Tom Cruise Shops For Needy Children

Related past articles

John Oliver Questions Fair Trade

Related past articles