Kansas City Big Slick names first celebrity guests: A country star, comedian and more
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Big Slick Celebrity Weekend 2023
Hometown hosts Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Eric Stonestreet, Rob Riggle and Heidi Gardner and their celebrity friends raise money for Children’s Mercy.
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The class of newcomers at Kansas City’s annual Big Slick fundraiser for Children’s Mercy next month will include “Wagon Wheel” singer Darius Rucker, organizers said Monday in the first wave of celebrity guests to be announced in the coming days.
In addition to Rucker, who gained fame with Hootie & the Blowfish, comedian Tim Heidecker from the Showtime comedy “Moonbase 8” will also participate for the first time.
Big Slick is fan candy, bringing a big slate of celebrities to Kansas City every year. Other names announced Monday are Big Slick veterans: hot wings aficionado and interviewer extraordinaire Sean Evans, host of YouTube’s “Hot Ones”; Kevin Rahm (“Madam Secretary,” “Lethal Weapon,” “Mad Men”); and Irish actor/comedian Aisling Bea, who starred with Big Slick host Paul Rudd in the Netflix series “Living With Yourself.”
Events include the Big Slick Celebrity Classic softball game at Kauffman Stadium on Friday, June 2, and the Big Slick Party & Show at T-Mobile Center on Saturday, June 3.
“Ant-Man” Rudd and two other homegrown stars, “Ted Lasso” star Jason Sudeikis and actor/comedian Rob Riggle, launched the fundraiser in 2010 as a celebrity poker tournament.
Eric Stonestreet and David Koechner joined them as co-hosts in 2014.
This year, “Saturday Night Live” star and Kansas City native Heidi Gardner will become the event’s first female co-host.
“I’ll be joining the boys and I am feeling … over the moon. I’m beyond excited. It’s one of the great honors of my life to be a part of this,” Gardner told The Star when her hosting news was announced in March. “I cannot believe they asked me to be a part of this. It’s incredible.”
Gardner has been a guest at two previous Big Slick weekends, the first in 2019. She steps into this higher profile role as Big Slick tries to top a record $3.5 million raised last June for the Cancer Center at Children’s Mercy.
In March she said she was talking up the event to celebrity friends. (We still think her “SNL” castmates Bowen Yang and Ego Nwodim might come to town.)
Sudeikis participated in absentia last year because “Ted Lasso” was still in production in London. But Missouri-born rocker Sheryl Crow was there and dazzled the T-Mobile Center crowd.
Organizers are expected to announce this year’s VIP participants a few at a time this week and next. Past participants have included Selena Gomez, Will Ferrell, Jon Hamm and John Oliver.
The schedule for this year’s event:
▪ The Big Slick Celebrity Classic softball game will be played at Kauffman Stadium on June 2 before the Royals play the Colorado Rockies. Anyone with a game ticket can watch.
▪ The Big Slick Party & Show is the weekend’s main event at 8 p.m. June 3. Tickets are $75-$125 for standard lower level and $375 for upgraded seats with Founders Club access including open bar. Tickets are at bigslickkc.org and T-MobileCenter.com.
This story was originally published May 15, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
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