Sen, Elizabeth Warren, Gal Gadot and Will Ferrell also joined Americare's "COVID Is No Joke" event to raise money for frontline workers during the pandemic.
An array of comedic talent fired up their webcams on Friday to support the latest fundraiser to benefit frontline workers amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Steve Carell, Elizabeth Banks, Ike Barinholtz, Jack Black and Tenacious D, Will Ferrell, Bryan Cranston, Gal Gadot, Mark Duplass and Sia were among just some of the names to join Americares' "COVID Is No Joke" event on Friday to fundraise for the nonprofit's coronavirus-targeted health programs. Mindy Kaling, Patton Oswalt, Chelsea Handler, Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis, Wayne Brady and Kristin Chenoweth, among others, also took park, while Scandal actor Tony Goldwyn hosted.
In between "thank yous" to first responders performed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Hamilton, Gadot, Davis, Chenoweth, Kaling and others, several stars performed short coronavirus-themed comedic routines. Handler demonstrated how to make substitute Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the absence of the real thing by substituting hand sanitizer for alcohol, gloves for doggie bags and masks for bras. In a brief reunion of cast members on the ABC show Scandal, actors Bellamy Young and Washington Zoom-bombed Goldwyn just after he had launched into a weak comedic monologue about dogs and pasta.
"We'll save him from himself, Kerry," Young said.
"Tony, it's terrible," Washington added. "You should introduce people and no more jokes."
Young added, "Just be handsome."
Later, Black and Tenacious D performed a song called "The Five Needs" which specified those requirements as the planet, the air, water, love and "to rock your world" (the latter one "comes before food," the song argued). D'Arcy Carden taught a "virtual kindergarten class," where she played a teacher frustrated by children's poorly illustrated drawings. Stephanie Beatriz hosted a segment called "The Joy of Painting at Home," a Bob Ross-like lesson that nevertheless saw the host get frustrated with her work, poke a hole through her canvas and subsequently paint drunk.
Carell iterated on the now-stereotypical segment of a Hollywood star showing quarantined audiences how they bake bread by "baking" dough without yeast and in a microwave. When the bread came out, it was still raw; Carell slapped a pat of butter on the creation and took a bite anyway. Duplass sang a song dedicated to first responders, Ferrell also tried to sing a song with a guitar but then revealed he didn't know how to play the instrument, Banks taught viewers a made-up card game and Cranston attempted to eat pasta with a white mask on. Oswalt cut in briefly to sing a lyric of "Baby Got Back."
In the final sketch of the event, Ike and Jon Barinholtz and Adam Scott brainstormed a routine for the Americares event, finally landing on a "mask-Inception hybrid." In the final moments of their group chat, a rousing, Hans Zimmer-esque score played behind them and video effects contorted their webcam images. Sia closed off the night by performing a song with the refrain "save my life" while her face (which she often hides in performances, in music videos and album covers) was hidden behind a hanging lamp.
Americares is currently delivering Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) — 45 tons of it in the U.S. alone, including in 40 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands — organizing support groups and skills workshops for healthcare workers. It is also operating healthcare clinics in Colombia, Connecticut and El Salvador.
Watch the fundraiser in full below.
