What is Red Nose Day? It has never been celebrated in the United States before until this year, on May 21, 2015. It began in in the United Kingdom in 1985 run by the nonprofit organization Comic Relief, and now goes on every two years.

Richard Curtis, an Oscar nominee and Emmy award winner, created Red Nose Day with the belief that mass media and celebrities would promote the idea. The main idea being to raise money and awareness for children in poverty throughout the world. The red noses sold to raise money for the charity make up its name.

Curtis stated to rednoseday.org, “For many years, I have dreamt of bringing Red Nose Day to the U.S., and I am so excited that we have teamed up with NBC, who will do such a brilliant job on this.”

The first Red Nose Day held in the U.S. will give 50% of the money raised to help children in the U.S. The other 50% will be given to the most unfortunate countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Walgreens, one of the main drugstores in the United States, partnered as the exclusive retailer of the Red Nose Day campaign. All of the money raised from the Red Nose Day sales are given to the fund to help bring children out of poverty throughout the world.

M&M’s was another partner in the Red Nose Day campaign that raised money and awareness for this important cause. Other corporations that contributed to the Red Nose Day campaign were BBDO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bloomberg, One, Sprinkles, The Global Poverty Project, Ray Chambers, Cooney Waters Unlimited.

In the United States, a three hour TV special was showed on NBC with various movie stars, comedians, and musicians. Seth Meyers, Jane Krakowski, and David Duchovny each spent one hour hosting the NBC special. Seth Meyers produced the first hour of the show with lots of laughs. Matt Lauer and Hoda Kotb, two broadcasters on NBC, took a large part, especially Lauer when he biked from Boston to New York. Other famous stars included in the event were Ed Sheeran, Will Ferrell, Chris Pine, Coldplay, Julia Roberts, Anna Kendrick, One Direction, Jimmy Fallon, and many more.

Red Nose Day proved to be a success as NBC had announced to United Press International that the NBC special raised $21 million for children in poverty.