In its tenth year, Stand Up for Heroes remains one of the great nights, with Bruce Springsteen performing an acoustic "Dancin' in the Dark" spiced with dirty jokes. And after a decade of working it, Bruce's comic timing is almost as good as his philanthropy. After Bob Woodruff was nearly killed, embedded with troops in Iraq in 2006, he and his wife Lee started this benefit celebrating the bravery of our military and raising funds to help those wounded. Working with Caroline Hirsch and Andrew Fox, the Woodruffs host this event, also the opening of the New York Comedy Festival, and last night Jim Gaffigan, Louis CK, Jerry Seinfeld, and Jon Stewart, who, in the spirit of the upcoming election recounted a tale of unprovoked, unsavory, racist tweets from Trump.
The night also featured a state of the art auction with Lydia from Christie's keeping that bidding rising by the thousands. It's hard to keep your eye on the fast moving money but by the end of the night certain traditions were maintained. Bids were matched up to $770,000, and Springsteen sold his guitar, throwing in all the burgers and dogs his buyer could eat for a mere $280,000. The buyers, two Dans, will also ride around in Bruce's 1967 Cadillac and eat his mother's lasagna. For the sale of a donated Harley Davidson, all the comedians kicked in an extra $50,000 each. As to Jon Stewart, well, Trump kept referring to the comic by his Jewish name in those tweets: "Doesn't my face tell it all," he asked the laughing crowd. A rose by any other name would be as prickly.
A version of this post also appears on Gossip Central.
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