Six years ago, Seth Rogen and his wife, Lauren Miller set out to create a charity that would feature comedians to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer's disease. The charity would be called "Hilarity for Charity" and has been getting bigger and bigger every year. This year, the event is streaming only on Netflix.
“We started the Los Angeles variety show six years ago in order to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s, a disease that has touched so many families including my own,” said Miller Rogen. “Our goal is to educate a younger audience and ultimately create the next generation of advocates for the cause. I am so thrilled to be able to share this year’s show with an even larger audience through our partnership with Netflix and are proud to have them as a partner.”
The event this year was star studded and filled with stand up and sketch comedy. The show starts out in classic Seth Rogan fashion, R rated comedy featuring jokes about vape pens and nether regions. Surprisingly, ten minutes later, The Muppets make an appearance which leads into the first comedian, Michael Che's routine. Che's performance was underwhelming, but a great anecdote about his mother having Alzheimer's and "a racist joke still making her laugh". Knowing Rogen, I expected the show to be childish.
Making it a variety show was the smartest move on Rogan's part, if you didn't like one segment, there was a new one on the way. Throughout the show, there were a few shorts like one from the creator of Rick and Morty.
The live lineup featured greats like John Mulaney, Tiffany Haddish, and Sarah Silverman. Haddish turns out to be the shining star with a story about a time she got to party with Beyoncé after the Academy Awards.
The show starts wrapping up on a sweet note with a second appearance by The Muppets and a rendition of "The Rainbow Connection".
Post Malone hits the stage to close out the show and thats when my television somehow shut off. Good way close out the show on precaution so the show isn't possibly ruined it for me.
Overall, Rogen and Miller did a fantastic job of getting great acts while still staying true to the focus of the event. Light hearted fun never hurts and it was great to see a cause like this to be on the Netflix front page.
