Never Not Funny and Jimmy Pardo Hosts 2013 Pardcast-A-Thon for Smile Train Tonight

By: Nov. 29, 2013
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Jimmy Pardo and Never Not Funny are returning to host the Fifth Annual Pardcast-a-Thon fundraiser to benefit Smile Train. This year's event will stream live from noon to midnight Pacific Standard Time today, November 29th. Jimmy will once again be joined by co-hosts Matt Belknap and Pat Francis.

The 12-hour marathon webcast will stream live at www.pardcast.com and www.laffster.com/nnf from The ACME Comedy Theatre in Hollywood and feature more than twenty all-star comedy guests. Celebrities scheduled to participate include Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, Andy Richter, Joel Stein, Scott Aukerman, Doug Benson and radio legend Phil Hendrie. Donations will be collected throughout the event via online contributions, and for the first time, special items from the guests will be up for grabs live during the show. Donate and watch live at www.pardcast.com on November 29th, and get a free ticket to the Laffster stream now at www.laffster.com/nnf to receive updates when new items from the all-star guests are added.

Since the inaugural webcast in 2009, the Pardcast-a-Thons have exceeded fundraising goals and emerged as one of comedy's most anticipated charitable events. "I had a blast appearing on the Pardcast-a-Thon," says Conan O'Brien, who participated last year. "Jimmy Pardo is a hilarious comedy partner and I always have fun when we yell at each other for a good cause." Additional celebrity guests have included Amy Poehler, Sarah Silverman, Colin Hay, Aimee Mann, Kevin Nealon, Bob Saget and perennial favorite Jon Hamm. "The Pardcast-a-Thon is the highlight of my Thanksgiving," says Hamm. "The fact that Jimmy doesn't have to do this, and yet year-in and year-out does it all in the name of charity, and has grown it into a national presence, is nothing short of inspiring."

To-date, the Pardcast-a-Thons have raised over $300,000 for Smile Train.

"Smile Train is honored to be a part of Jimmy Pardo and Never Not Funny's Fifth Annual Pardcast-a-Thon. The support Jimmy and his fellow comedians have provided to Smile Train helping children around the world is priceless," said Smile Train CEO Susannah Schaefer. "A smile is such an important part of comedy and we couldn't be happier to work with such a talented and kindhearted group."

Never Not Funny is a paid subscriber podcast currently in its thirteenth season. It was named one of Mashable's top ten comedy podcasts, an Editor's Pick by Esquire Magazine and "The #1 Relatively Obscure Thing You Need to Be Paying Attention To" by GQ. It has been named a top comedy podcast by The AV Club, iTunes and USA Today's pop culture blog Pop Candy. Full audio and video episodes are available at www.pardcast.com.

In addition to hosting Never Not Funny, Jimmy Pardo opens for Conan O'Brien at Conan tapings and recently co-hosted two episodes of the show. His new comedy album Sprezzatura is available now on aspecialthing Records. Visit www.jimmypardo.com for tour dates.

Matt Belknap is the Editorial Director of aspecialthing.com and the co-founder and President of the comedy record label aspecialthing Records.

Smile Train is launching their Seasons of Smiles campaign this winter to provide children with clefts in the developing world their very first smiles. The Pardcast-a-Thon will help kick off this campaign, which will run through the holiday season.

About Smile Train : Smile Train is an international children's charity with a sustainable approach to a single, solvable problem: cleft lip and palate. Millions of children in developing countries with unrepaired clefts live in shame, but more importantly, have difficulty eating, breathing and speaking. Cleft repair surgery is simple, and the transformation is immediate. Smile Train's sustainable model provides training and funding to empower local doctors in 85+ developing countries to provide 100%-free cleft repair surgery in their own communities. To learn more about how Smile Train's sustainable approach means donations have both an immediate and long-term impact, visit www.smiletrain.org.



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