Long story short, we all have a real opportunity to have Neil Gaiman read the entire Cheesecake Factory menu on stage. All we have to do is raise half a million dollars for the United Nations Refugee Agency.
The campaign was started by author and comedian Sara Benincasa on Twitter.
And because who could turn down such a weird, fun, and absurd request for charity, Gaiman responded.
I have said Yes. If she makes it happen, for charity, I will do this thing. https://t.co/vkJWVDiYTJ
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) May 20, 2017
Benincasa explains some more details about the plan in the Crowdrise site created for the fundraiser:
I’ll arrange with Neil at his convenience to do the reading within the next year in a public setting, whether onstage or online. If it’s onstage, I’ll sell tickets and donate profits after costs to UNHCR. Regardless, I will make the event available to the general public via livestream or a lovely video you can watch later whilst weeping at the beauty of Neil Gaiman saying “avocado egg rolls.”
And she also spoke at length about it in a really great episode of Ken Plume‘s podcast A Bit of a Chat where they also cast John Hodgman in the role of a lifetime and discuss a strange but beautiful reboot of the Peanuts franchise.
This would be so much fun and it raises money for a great cause. You’d have to be a real heel not to kick in a few bucks.