[StBernard] Comic Relief

[Westley Annis]

Comic Relief returning after eight years to help Katrina recovery
 

06:21 AM CDT on Thursday, June 1, 2006

Associated Press 
Comic Relief, founded 20 years ago to help the homeless, is returning after
an eight-year hiatus to help children and animals recover from Hurricane
Katrina, founder and president Bob Zmuda said Wednesday. 
 
He made the announcement during an audience question-and-answer session with
NBC news anchor Brian Williams, who had said that some viewers want him to
stop reporting on the hurricane and its aftermath. 
 
"I want you to know that Comic Relief has listened. Robin Williams and
Whoopie Goldberg and Billy Crystal have listened," Zmuda said. Williams,
Goldberg and Crystal have been hosts for all of the eight performances since
1986. 
 
He said the live performance Nov. 18 will be broadcast simultaneously on
HBO, TBS and AOL. In an interview afterward, he said the eight previous
performances raised a total of $50 million to fight homelessness. He was in
New Orleans to look at flooded schools, a medical clinic and other possible
recipients. 
 
Brian Williams was the luncheon speaker at a conference about bringing back
the city, called "Rebirth: People Places & Culture in New Orleans." 
 
At the end of his speech, Williams said that between the time he told
viewers his broadcasts Wednesday and Thursday nights would be from New
Orleans and the time he got back to his office Tuesday, he said, two people
had sent him e-mails saying, "Well, I'm not watching for the next two
nights." 
 
"We get a lot of that. A whole lot," he said, recalling one he'd read on the
air during his last visit, from a viewer from North Dakota asking, "Why
aren't you people going to move on?" 
 
Williams said NBC's news division "immediately backed up the commitment many
of us made out here by opening up a full-fledged New Orleans bureau. 
 
"Americans all have a stake in this," he continued. "Too much of the culture
we enjoy in our country is thanks to this city and this whole area." 
 
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)