Jason Sudeikis’ Thundergong! show in KC raises nearly $300,000 to help amputees
Jason Sudeikis promised the audience “jambalaya.”
“There’s going to be a little bit of everything in here tonight,” he told the capacity “Thundergong!” crowd on Saturday night.
And so it was for nearly three and a half hours as Sudeikis, a cohort of his famous TV and music friends, and local musicians treated an Uptown Theater crowd of more than 1,700 to a hodgepodge of karaoke, live performances, laughs and general tomfoolery in support of the Big Slick alum’s latest charitable cause.
In its second year Thundergong!, Sudeikis’ benefit show for the Steps of Faith Foundation — a Kansas City-based nonprofit that helps provide prosthetics, care and financial support for amputees — built upon its 2017 debut by raising nearly $300,000.
The exact figure was announced at the end of a night that featured a bevy of live performances from local and national stars, including Sudeikis, his “Saturday Night Live” colleague (and longtime karaoke partner) Will Forte, Grammy award-winning headliner Chance The Rapper, guitarist Ben Harper, actor Sam Richardson (“Veep”, “Detroiters”), magician Rob Zabrecky and local band Ultimate Fakebook, among others.
The night kicked off, and was regularly interspersed, with slapstick karaoke sets from Sudeikis and Forte.
The two covered Black Sabbath, REO Speedwagon (“Can’t Fight The Feeling”) and Willie Nelson (or as Sudeikis calls him, “Caucasian Snoop Dogg,”). They also reprised their infamous “Jon Bovi” SNL skit about a tribute band who detests Bon Jovi, singing “Dying on a Curse,” an inversion of Jovi’s “Living On A Prayer.”
Perhaps even livelier than those two, however, was Richardson.
The comedian, most known for his supporting role on the HBO comedy “Veep,” provided many of the evening’s funniest moments, including a spirited, pitch-challenged rendition of Toto’s “Africa.”
The hilarious bit made a perfect combination with Richardson’s next performance, of “Little Red Corvette” by Prince.
“You know Sam’s an African prince,” Sudeikis said to the crowd with a laugh. “I’m totally not kidding, look it up.”
Turns out Richardson, who is Ghanaian American, is the grandson of a tribal chief in Ghana.
After the karaoke and a crowd-pleasing performance from Zabrecky, whom Sudeikis called an “odd son of a b---- from Los Angeles I met who I think KC would appreciate,” the show began to focus on what the night was really about — charity.
Sudeikis and Forte began a live auction that culminated with a $20,000 pledge to Steps of Faith from a couple in the audience. As a perk for winning the auction, the couple were able to request from Sudeikis and Forte a performance of any song they wanted.
They chose “Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty, which the duo remixed into the satirical “Expensive Climbing.”
After the auction, Billy Brimblecom Jr., the executive director of Steps of Faith, addressed the crowd.
Brimblecom, who has known Sudeikis since the 90s and formerly performed alongside him in the ComedySportz improv troupe, lost his left leg below the knee because of cancer. His injury, challenges and efforts to help others were the main inspiration for Thundergong!’s creation.
Brimblecom also played the drums for the night’s house band, Summer Breeze, alongside fellow musician Jason Barnes, a drummer with a prosthetic arm.
“Jason and I don’t really think like handicapped people very often because we don’t feel like handicapped people very often,” Brimblecom told the crowd. “Because we have the right tools to just go about our lives. But many people are not afforded that ... so what Steps of Faith does is, we help those people, everyday heroes, who lose their limbs.”
One of those everyday heroes is J.P. Phillips, a man who lost his right leg after being struck by a drunk driver while riding a motorcycle. Phillips joined Brimblecom and Sudeikis on stage after a showing of a short video documenting his life-changing ordeal.
Suddenly losing a limb, Phillips said, “takes you to some places that are very dark. You feel like you don’t have a place in the world anymore ... but Steps of Faith, they want you to stand up and be the man or woman you were meant to be.”
The moment, coupled with a rousing ovation from the crowd, stood as the evening’s emotional climax.
The night ended with the evening’s strongest musical performances. Guitarist Ben Harper electrified the crowd with his set, which included performances of his song “Amen Omen” and the country-blues classic “When the Levee Breaks.”
Chance the Rapper, a noted philanthropist in his own right, helped wind the evening down with a short but spirited set, which included “Blessings” from his Grammy Award-winning “Coloring Book” mixtape, the raucous anthem “No Problems,” and “Work Out,” one of his newest singles, released earlier this summer.
“This is a beautiful event,” Chance told the crowd. “I’m touched just seeing everyone’s faces out here supporting this.”
After Chance’s performance, Sudeikis announced the event’s fundraising total of $279,976. That included the year’s ticketing and merchandise sales, donations and the live auction.
“Whoa!” Sudeikis screamed out to the crowd as the figure appeared on the onstage screen. “That’s a little bit more than last year, just a little bit, just a little bit more.”
The statement apparently needed a correction, as a joyous Brimblecom hurried onstage and shouted into the mic in Sudeikis’ hands.
“Like a lot a bit more!”
This story was originally published November 4, 2018 at 1:14 PM.