Written by Michelle Kretzer
Last night, the Stand-Up for Animals PETA benefit show at the famous Comedy Store on L.A.'s Sunset Strip was funnier than a barrel of animatronic monkeys.
Bill Maher, Jane Lynch, Carol Leifer, Jeffrey Ross, Marc Maron, and host Fred Willard—in other words, some of the most talented comedians in the world—came together to raise money for PETA and kept the packed house laughing until the audience's sides hurt.
Guests included Pink, Carey Hart, Olivia Munn, Cloris Leachman, Jorja Fox, Christian Serratos, Renee Olstead, Elisabetta Canalis, Emily Osment, and Moby, many of whom tried valiantly not to do spit takes with The Comedy Store's delicious vegan snacks while laughing at Jeffrey Ross' hysterical poem to his cat or Carol Leifer's explanation that she had to go vegan because being a Jewish lesbian wasn't enough.
Bill Maher quipped, "Before PETA was around, you know, you could f-ck with animals any way, anybody, anytime, anywhere, and now you can't. That's a pretty big change in the world. That's a big achievement. … Animals will not be ignored. They're the Glenn Close of species."
And with all the funds raised by the end of the night, PETA can make sure that animal abusers won't be laughing for long.
Last night in Tinseltown, celebrities crowded onto the red carpet while photographers' flashbulbs went off like fireworks. But it wasn't the premiere of a new movie. It was the grand opening of the Bob Barker Building, PETA's new West Coast headquarters, located in L.A.'s Echo Park.
The famed game show host and animal defender extraordinaire was on hand to toast his namesake building, an expansion that will allow PETA's Communications Department to be in the midst of the many celebrities who help promote our work. peta2 is also setting up shop in the all-vegan, dog-friendly space to carry out its teen and college outreach from the entertainment and culture capital of the world. And the Marketing and International Grassroots Campaigns departments will organize PETA's international actions for animal protection from within the 82-year-old structure, now freshly renovated to be eco-friendly.
At the star-studded grand opening were Christian Serratos, Stephanie Pratt, Moby, Kate del Castillo, Sasha Grey, Renee Olstead, Fivel Stewart, Diane Warren, and the stars of Doin' It for Love. Guests enjoyed vegan food from Echo Park's own Mohawk Bend, Elf Café, and Sage Organic Vegan Bistro on the rooftop of the Bob Barker Building, which offers a picturesque view of the Hollywood sign from one side and the twinkling lights of downtown L.A. from the other.
The man of the hour, Bob Barker, told reporters, "I support a long list of organizations, but I support PETA because I think that internationally it is probably the most productive of all animal-oriented organizations. And it doesn't just try to help animals—it really produces. I think you get more for your dollar invested in PETA than you do [with] most any other organization."
Marco Antonio Regil, who hosted The Price Is Right in Mexico for many years, followed in Bob Barker's animal-friendly footsteps. Regil is vegan and, like Barker, closed his show with an animal rights message.
Written by PETA
I got my first vegan pancake recipe from Moby when his berry flapjacks were featured way back when in Seventeen magazine.
He could have stopped there, but it seems like Moby keeps coming up with ways to win my animal-loving heart.
In a recent blog entry, Moby goes the extra mile for animals and the planet by calling out "environmentalist" Al Gore over his refusal to ever mention that animal consumption is the leading cause of climate change. Moby says:
i asked al gore about why he didn't mention this in an 'inconvenient truth' (as animal production is responsible for more greenhouse gases than every car, bus, truck … plane, boat on the planet COMBINED). he answered honestly, basically saying that getting people to drive a hybrid car isn't that difficult. getting people to give up animal products is almost impossible. i appreciated his honesty. so i guess i'll be talking about climate change tomorrow, and i guess i'll have to mention the most inconvenient of inconvenient truths, that you can't talk seriously about climate change and global warming without looking at the role of animal production (animal production being responsible for 24% of greenhouse gas emissions and also the #1 cause of deforestation in the rainforest).
Gore should have named his movie Sorta-Inconvenient Truths if he didn't want to cover the environmental destruction that his meaty diet causes.
Written by Shawna Flavell
Back when I was coming up, we didn’t need all these whistles and bells to enter a good, ol’ fashioned video contest. We’d just throw on our Sunday best, cue up the Kodak Super 8, and make ourselves a video. And a damn fine video it would be. But apparently that’s not good enough for kids today. They won’t do a video contest unless there’s a famous pop star standing by to judge it. And if there’s no chicken costume for a prize, well, they turn their noses up at it. Is what they do.
Actually, this is starting to sound pretty sweet. More details at peta2.com.
… But, as our friend Moby shows in this sketch, sometimes you also need to be, like, interesting. This one’s just for fun.
The villain in this video for Moby’s new single, "Disco Lies", looks really familiar…
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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