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Time​ Magazine

Richard Curtis and Lenny Henry

After witnessing firsthand the devastation of the famine in Ethiopia in the 1980s, British screenwriter and producer Richard Curtis returned home with an idea to use comedy to raise funds to help those in need. Fonted by beloved British comedian Lenny Henry and a plethora of other famous faces, what started out as a live stage show has become an annual fundraising event—Red Nose Day—and telethon that are still going strong. 'We took a big gamble in believing that people can take tragedy and comedy on the same night,' says Curtis, who also co-founded the Make Poverty History campaign in 2004. That gamble has paid off. Comic Relief has raised over $2 billion for charity projects tackling poverty and injustice, supporting more than 100 million people globally. To date, Comic Relief U.S., which operates Red Nose Day, has raised more than $436 million. Earlier this month, Curtis and Henry were honored with a Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy Catalyst Award for their philanthropic work with Comic Relief, which is now in its 40th year. Henry credits the success of Comic Relief to its ability to appeal to the public's will to do 'the right thing.' He says: 'I think it is really important in terms of citizenship, that we know when it's our turn to do something, and we have the energy and the wherewithal to do it.'