Top comedians such as Jon Stewart, Conan O’Brien, and John Oliver took to the stage at the 11th Annual Stand Up for Heroes benefit at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.
The event was presented by the Bob Woodruff Foundation – which raises money for military veterans and their families – and it kicked off the New York Comedy Festival, which sees hundreds of performers in more than 60 shows at venues across the City. The New York Comedy Festival is produced by Caroline’s on Broadway in association with TBS.
(Hasan Minhaj, pictured above, rocks the red carpet at Stand Up for Heroes)
Check it out, it’s John Oliver!
If you were following the Shark Facebook Live experience covering the red carpet arrivals that night, you may remember I got John Oliver to say “hi” to me, and John Mulaney stopped by for a quick chat!
The show opened with a beautiful rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner, sung by Hamilton The Musical‘s original Aaron Burr, Leslie Odom, Jr.
In her opening remarks, with husband Bob Woodruff, Lee Woodruff suggested putting politics aside to “just laugh” tonight – and that’s exactly what the sold-out crowd did.
This year’s star-studded line-up featured:
-Jon Stewart (former host of The Daily Show)
-Hasan Minhaj (correspondant, The Daily Show)
-Trevor Noah (host, The Daily Show)
-Conan O’Brien (Conan)
-John Mulaney (Big Mouth, and his comedy specials The Top Part, New in Town, and The Comeback Kid)
-John Oliver (host, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and the voice of Zazu in Jon Favreau’s remake of The Lion King )
They kept the political jokes to a minimum for the crowd of military personnel, but that’s not to say they didn’t get their fair share of material in about current events.
The show ended with an incredible performance from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, performing favorites like “Can’t Stop”, “Snow (Hey Oh)”, and “Dark Necessities”.
If you’d like to get more information about the Bob Woodruff Foundation, you can visit their website.