Jimmy Pardo and "Never Not Funny" are back to host the fourth annual Pardcast-a-Thon fundraiser to benefit Smile Train. This year's event airs "from 12:00 to 12:00 in '12," kicking off at 12:00pm PST on Friday, November 23rd. Jimmy will be joined by co-hosts Matt Belknap and Pat Francis.
The 12-hour marathon webcast will stream live via Dailymotion at http://pardcast.com and www.dailymotion.com from the ACME Theatre in Los Angeles and feature over twenty all-star comedy guests throughout the event. Celebrities scheduled to participate include Jon Hamm from "Mad Men," Sarah Silverman from "Wreck-It Ralph," Rob Corddry from "Children's Hospital" and Scott Aukerman from IFC's "Comedy Bang! Bang!"
To date, the Pardcast-a-Thons have raised more than $100,000 for Smile Train.
"Smile Train is proud and honored to be a part of the 4th annual Pardcast-a-Thon and greatly appreciates Jimmy Pardo's continued support in helping children with cleft lip and palate in the developing world," says Smile Train Executive Director Priscilla Ma. "We thank Jimmy and his fans for generating awareness about our cause and motivating donors and supporters to give from their hearts and help those less fortunate. This holiday season, Smile Train wishes to create a 'Season of Smiles,' giving thousands of children the gift of a smile and hope for a fresh start in the New Year."
"Never Not Funny" is a paid subscriber podcast currently in its eleventh season. It was named an Editor's Pick by Esquire Magazine and "The #1 Relatively Obscure Thing You Need to Be Paying Attention To" by GQ. It has also been named a top comedy podcast by LA Weekly, The AV Club, iTunes and USA Today's pop culture blog Pop Candy. Full audio and video episodes are available at http://pardcast.com. The first twenty minutes of each episode are available for free through iTunes.
In addition to "Never Not Funny," Jimmy Pardo hosts the Nerdist YouTube Channel web series "Write Now!" and the backstage celebrity interview series "The Pardo Patrol" for TeamCoco.com. He also opens for Conan O'Brien at "Conan" tapings.
Matt Belknap is the Editorial Director of aspecialthing.com and the co-founder and President of the comedy record label AST Records.
Smile Train's mission is to provide a child born with a cleft the same opportunities in life as a child born without a cleft.
Every day, Smile Train provides more than 320 free cleft surgeries. These surgeries not only provide the precious gift of a smile, but also, a second chance at life. Smile Train was founded in 1999 and has become the world's largest cleft charity with over 2,300 partner surgeons operating in over 1,100 partner hospitals and has helped children in over 80 countries.
Unlike many charities that do many different things, Smile Train's mission is focused on solving a single problem: cleft lip and palate.
Every year more than 170,000 children are born with cleft lips and palates in the developing world. Each one can be helped with corrective surgery that costs as little as $250.
Clefts are a major problem in developing countries where more than a million children are suffering with unrepaired clefts. Most cannot eat or speak properly, aren't allowed to attend school or hold a job and face very difficult lives filled with shame, isolation, pain and heartache. Their clefts usually go untreated because they are poor - too poor to pay for a simple surgery that has been around for decades.
Smile Train wants its mission to be yours.
For additional information on the organization and how to get involved, visit www.smiletrain.org.
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