Comedy Central lights up lives this holiday season with ‘Spread the Cheer’ campaign

Bangalore, 20th December, 2014: Taking forward the promise of inducing happiness one laugh at a time, Comedy Central, India’s leading 24-hour English Entertainment channel, mobilized India to spread happiness through one random act of kindness at a time. Bringing this movement to life through a unique ‘Spread the Cheer’ campaign, Comedy Central took the season’s celebrations to various parts of India to NGOs, Hospitals, Drug Rehabilitation Centers and Jails. Yes, you read correctly, JAILS!
Commenting on this Cheerful campaign, Ferzad Palia, General Manager & Executive Vice President, English Entertainment, Viacom 18 says, “Christmas is the season of giving and we’ve taken this a step further with our ‘Spread the Cheer’ Campaign. The idea was to break away from regular TV programming and undertake a campaign that gets India to smile more! We got our funniest men on the JOB and managed to spread some laughter across schools, hospitals, NGOs, drug rehabilitation centers, old age homes, orphanages and even jails. We hope we’ve achieved our endeavor to touch people’s heart and leave a smile at every place we visited while encouraging them to pay it forward with their own random acts of kindness.”
Comedy Central hosted a laughter-inducing evening with Cyrus Broacha at Apollo Hospitals and schools in Bangalore, Bharti Singh, Amit Tandon and Zakir Khan at Tihar Jail and a few NGOs in Delhi and Cyrus Sahukar at Make a Wish foundation, Teach for India and drug rehabilitation centers in Mumbai. These renowned and immensely talented comedians engaged in interactive sessions with the unique audiences and encouraged them to participate in fun activities and celebrate the festive season with laughter.
It was a warm, heartening experience to watch faces cheer up. Children at Make a Wish Foundation and Teach For India immediately recognized Cyrus Sahukar and thoroughly enjoyed the various activities that were lined up for them, such as Caterpillar Walk and a balloon popping game called Burst them all. The patients at Apollo hospitals were in for a treat while they interacted with ‘funny man’ Cyrus Broacha through eclectic interactive stand-up comedy acts and comedians Bharti Singh, Amit Tandon and Zakir Khan were received warmly by the inmates of Tihar Jail.
To take this initiative forward the channel also has a TAB on their Facebook page asking people to SHARE their good deeds while encouraging others to go out & spread the cheer.
Comedy Central’s commitment of making people smile goes beyond just programming and translates into touching lives through their actions. The channel’s ‘Spread the Cheer’ campaign is supported by a 360 degree promotion plan which includes an extensive online leg, PR activations, Radio promotions, TRADE awareness campaigns and so much more.
About Comedy Central India:
Comedy Central India, launched in 2012, lines up powerful programming including hit TV series such as Anger Management, Episodes, Saturday Night Live, Whitney, The Office, Seinfeld, Frasier , That 70s Show, South Park and Suits. The country’s first 24-hour channel dedicated to English language comedy, Comedy Central is available in over 27 million households across the country and across analog, digital cable & DTH. Since late 2006, Comedy Central has expanded globally with localized channels in Poland, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Sweden, Ireland, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Israel Spain & Singapore.