Having never met a problem yet that couldn’t be solved by throwing a bunch of famous people at it, America is now turning to some of its most well-known comedians to help keep its people fed. (We might have suggested a system in which wealth is peacefully redistributed via a conscientiously-run central government, instead of just dialing Chris Rock up on Skype, but hey: To each their own.) Per The New York Post, Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy are the latest comedy superstars to lend their talents to Byron Allen’s upcoming Feeding America Comedy Festival, with proceeds from the online event going toward the titular food bank network.
To be clear, this is one extremely stacked bill of pre-recorded bits, including appearances from Rock, Billy Crystal, Marlon Wayans, Howie Mandel, Tiffany Haddish, Brad Garrett, Taraji P. Henson, Louie Anderson, Margaret Cho, Kenan Thompson, Marc Maron, Jon Lovitz, Caroline Rhea, Allen himself, Billy Gardell, Tim Meadows, Jamie Kennedy, Bill Engvall and Sheryl Underwood, most of whom, presumably, will also be forced to field their best Lorne Michaels stories for Maron’s benefit. Murphy, meanwhile, might be the biggest get of all: The veteran comic was just on the verge of what felt like a major comeback when the entire live comedy industry shut down a few weeks ago, but his semi-recent appearance on SNL suggests that his chops are still thoroughly intact. Whether they can translate to hilarity while trapped within the confines of a Zoom window is another question entirely, of course, but the humor potential of this roster is undeniably huge.
The Feeding America Comedy Festival, which collects pre-taped segments from its various uber-famous participants, is scheduled for May 9. Co-produced by Funny Or Die, it’ll livestream on the app Local Now, as well as Allen’s Comedy.TV network, and also on the Weather Channel, because Byron Allen owns the Weather Channel, a completely normal thing for a human being to own.