Behold: our call to arms and the explanation of why we’re here:
Comic Relief.
In America, this organization has been basically a non-entity since the early 90s, and even then it was merely a television special featuring comics of a rapidly dwindling level of quality.
We didn’t even know they were still around. Then one day, Ken Plume called co-conspirator John Robinson (aka Widgett Walls) — known collectively as Nuts on the Road — and asked if he knew anything about a British phenomenon known as “Red Nose Day.” Even in this age where Americans can grab more tasty Brit goodness via the miraculous program known as BitTorrent (you know who you are…and so do your ISPs) and sites like YouTube, most people on this side of the pond still have no idea of the event’s import.
Ken quickly explained the whole setup: over in Britain, Comic Relief is going gangbusters. Biannually, they have their “Red Nose Day” celebration. This is treated as nothing short of a holiday, with participation from comedians, actors, presenters, and the public, who band together in a day-long celebration of the months of behind-the-scenes fundraising efforts of regular citizens and various companies. There’s a CD single released. There’s a stunningly massive block of programming on the BBC. Everybody not only pitches in for a good cause, but has a freaking blast doing it.
Ken then ordered all the Red Nose related stuff for their last celebration–for an extremely reasonable price–and continued to share his amazement at this incredible event.
However, as with most things in life, amazement gradually faded into a dull resentment. The two mused: why in the hell should the Brits have all that fun for a good cause? Netniks act like idiots year-round…why not harness that unbridled energy and do something positive with it for once?
They wanted to. And they know you do, too.
Therefore, they submit to you: REDNOSENET.com. Their aim is to take the same sort of community building–and downright fun–of Red Nose Day, and slap it onto the Internet, making it a worldwide hoedown of hilarity. They will set up the website to coordinate the shenanigans, and direct people towards the official Comic Relief site to make their donations. They’re not affiliated in any way with Comic Relief, mind you, this new site exists merely to have fun and get you netizens to head to Comic Relief and make a donation. And if you want to know all the good that Comic Relief does, take a look here.
What shenanigans? Well, in the style of the Red Nose Day celebration in Britain, the plan is to have a twenty-four hour period of whacked out fun on the Net in the style and spirit of Red Nose Day in the UK.
And they want you to participate. Have a funny short story, be it fiction or non-fiction? Run it on your site! Have a funny photo, painting, engraving or etch-a-sketch design? Run that too! Have you got a funny video lying around, a song, or…well, bloody nearly anything, really. Post it to your site or Twitter or Facebook (or wherever) to celebrate Red Nose Day on the net. More importantly, encourage them to donate.
“But what if I am a creative void from which no funny can escape?” you cry (as well you should).
“But what if I’m so creative that I’m in demand to the point where I have no time?” you ask.
No problem: just spread the word about Red Nose Day and Red Nose Net and no need ostracize you. (Hey–that’s what Twitter is for–!) This site will log the mayhem as it goes live from noon EST on Saturday, May 1st through noon EST on Sunday, May 2nd.
“But what will the Red Nose Net guys (Ken and John) be doing besides motivating the general public to participate and donate?” We’ll be announcing soon what will be happening here on May 1st and what famous people will be joining in on the fun to support Comic Relief.
So…what do you say? Let’s prove that it’s not just those whacky Britons who have a corner on caring anymore…it’s a global thing.
