The Success of Night of Too Many Stars Continues with Auction Ending Saturday

Telethons have long been a successful way to spread awareness and encourage nonprofit fundraising for worthy causes with the help of celebrities and other public figures. Comedy Central together with Jon Stewart’s Busboy Productions have revolutionized this concept with the special Night of Too Many Stars (NOTMS) telethon.

The Biennial NOTMS event benefits the New York Collaborates for Autism (NYCA) and helps contribute to autism schools, services and programs across the United States. Given the staggering fact that 1 in 88 children are now diagnosed on the autism spectrum, raising funds for specialized treatment is now more important than ever. The NOTMS has been taking place since 2006 and in that time has raised over $14 million dollars even in difficult economic times.

The latest live show aired Sunday October 21st on Comedy Central and did not disappoint. Hosted by the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, NOTMS featured a cavalcade of celebrity appearances, comedy sketches, live auctions and musical performances including:

• Celebrities Matthew Broderick, Tom Hanks, Jack McBrayer, Julianne Moore, Al Pacino, Paul Rudd and Meredith Vieira.
• Comics Jerry Seinfeld, Louis C.K., Seth Rogan, Bill Burr, Bob Saget, Hannibal Buress, JB Smoove and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
• Saturday Night Live stars Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, Jason Sudeikis, Kenan Thompson and alumni Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Tracy Morgan.
• Talk show hosts Stephen Colbert, Andy Cohen, Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O’Brien, Hoda Kotb, Lara Spencer and Wendy Williams.
• Daily Show correspondents Samantha Bee, John Oliver, and Jason Jones.

Though the telethon portion was live, some of the segments were taped from an event that took place on October 13th at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. Taped portions included Chris Matthews and Bill O’Reilly in a political debate with helium voices, Carly Rae Jepson and Harvey Keitel singing Call Me Maybe among other appearances. The most poignant moment was the duet between pop star Katy Perry and 11-year old Jodi DiPiazza, who has autism, performing the hit Firework (below).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX-xToQI34I[/youtube]

NOTMS raised a total of $3,718,613.00 including money from corporate sponsors, celebrity auctions and phone donations. If you missed contributing, you can still donate online, via mail or you can donate $10 by texting STARS to 50555 (message and data rates may apply). Donations of $75 or more will receive a Derek Zoolander “End of Syphilisation” 2013 Calendar. Donations of $100 or more will receive a “Game of Thrones” DVD featuring commentary by Tracy Morgan and JB Smoove along with the Derek Zoolander “End of Syphilisation” 2013 Calendar too.

There is another opportunity to give as the NOTMS online auction is still active until Saturday October 27th, 2012 and items include: Jon Stewart ‘s title belt from his “Rumble” debate with Bill O’Reilly, Personalized Ringtone Recorded by Oprah Winfrey, 11×14 lithograph autographed by Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly, South Park script signed by Matt Stone & Trey Parker, Script from NOTMS taping signed by cast members, signed copies of “America Again…” and “I Am a Pole…” by Stephen Colbert, autographed copy of “Bossypants” by Tina Fey, Cupcake Girl costume signed by Katy Perry, duck telephone autographed by Jersey Shore’s JWOW and Sammi, and One-of-a-kind autographed 8×10 caricatures of stars like Hannibal Buress, Bill Burr, Stephen Colbert, Paula Deen, Tina Fey, Carly Rae Jepsen, Chris Matthews, Tom Morello, Amy Poehler, Seth Rogen, Steve Schirripa and Ben Stiller.

This is a cause that is personal and close to Miratel’s heart as we honour Autism Awareness month in Canada in October with a month-long internal fundraising event for Autism Speaks Canada. We are proud to be joining the fight and contributing to this very worthy cause.

Don’t forget to check out the auction items.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.