Comic Relief aired its annual Red Nose Day telethon on Friday night, with some of the biggest names in British comedy and A-listers from around the globe teaming up to help raise money for a good cause.
In case you missed the live broadcast, we’ve rounded up some of the must-see moments, including the return of some comedy greats, a stunning live performance and a powerful speech from one of the night’s presenters…
1. The return of Rock Profile
They may be best known for their divisive comedy Little Britain, but Matt Lucas and David Walliams decided to bring back another of their old shows for this year’s Red Nose Day.
Rather than Little Britain, the pair revived Rock Profile, which used to see them impersonate different celebrities in a mock interview format.
This time around, the duo donned outfits to stick the boot into Miley Cyrus, Adele, Lady Gaga, Lewis Capaldi and Billie Eilish. We’ll let you decide for your best which ones they pulled off the best…
2. French and Saunders have some fun with Dame Judi Dench
They may be technically “retired” now as a comedy duo, but French and Saunders decided to resurrect the “extras” character from their old sketch show for Comic Relief – and yes, that’s the real Dame Judi Dench they’re sat next to.
For the new skit, the pair parodied The Repair Shop, with chaos obviously ensuing from the off.
3. Strictly winners Rose and Giovanni reprise one of their most famous routines
Reminding us all why we fell in love with them during Strictly Come Dancing last year, champions Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice swung by the studio to perform one of their dances from the show.
Suffice to say, it was every bit as beautiful as we remember.
4. Jack Whitehall takes on an endurance challenge slightly less impressive than Jordan North and Tom Daley’s
As part of this year’s fundraising efforts, Radio 1 presenter Jordan North spent five days rowing from London to his home town of Burnley, while gold medallist Tom Daley rowed choppy waters, cycled against the freezing winds and swam in ice cold rivers from London to Plymouth.
Jack Whitehall also got sporty on the night but in a somewhat less impressive capacity.
He and England squad members Declan Rice and Mason Mount took on a mini-golf challenge, with the comedian finishing dead last. As part of his forfeit for coming third out of three, Jack had to post a photo of himself in a West Ham shirt on Instagram – which we’re guessing wasn’t easy for the lifelong Arsenal fan… but it’s no miles-long triathlon, is it?
5. Sir Lenny Henry has bad news for Tom Holland and Courteney Cox in one sketch
As part of one of the night’s more starry moments, Comic Relief co-founder Sir Lenny led a sketch in which he had to let down various A-listers by telling them the live broadcast was running over, meaning their sections had to be cut.
This included breaking the news to Courteney Cox, Gordon Ramsay and, of all people, Lulu, as well as locking Tom Holland in his dressing room to make sure he didn’t cause chaos on set.
6. A few last-minute switches to the presenting line-up
Prior to the show, it was revealed that the previously-announced host Joel Dommett had tested positive for Covid, meaning Vernon Kay had to step into his shoes at the eleventh hour.
Unfortunately that wasn’t the end of the story.
It was then revealed on Friday that Zoe Ball had also contracted coronavirus, with Alesha Dixon extending her presenting slot to fill in for her. Singer Kylie Minogue was also supposed to have been performing, but was unable to appear in the studio due to Covid.
7. David Tennant makes an impassioned speech about Ukraine
During the live show, host David Tennant introduced the now-viral clip of Amelia, a young girl in Ukraine who was filmed singing the Frozen song Let It Go in a bomb shelter amid the war in her home country.
“I don’t know about you but I find it very hard to see past that at the moment,” he said of the conflict. “I think it hit me because I feel so helpless because there’s a wee girl in a basement singing the same song that my kids grew up singing.
“It’s so scary and it’s so wrong.”
8. A truly epic total
Hats off to Comic Relief, whose fundraising efforts this year sparked donations of more than £42 million. The money raised will go towards “supporting people to break free from poverty, violence and discrimination” both here in the UK and worldwide.
Read more about Comic Relief’s efforts on their website.