The Team
Ben Gleib
Creator, Executive Producer, Head Writer, Host
Ben Gleib was named by TBS one of the "funniest comedians working today." He’s host, head writer, and executive producer of Emmy nominated "Idiotest" on NETFLIX & was a regular on “Chelsea Lately". He can be seen in “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot” movie & his hour standup special "Ben Gleib: Neurotic Gangster" which premiered on SHOWTIME is now on AMAZON PRIME.
Gleib was the first comedian to ever live stream a headline set on Facebook Live. During the pandemic he created the world's first virtual comedy venue, "Nowhere Comedy", finding a way to bring live entertainment to people around the globe when all venues shut down, featuring some of the funniest headliners on earth (NowhereComedyClub.com). Nowhere produced this year's Telethon for America. His podcast “Last Week on Earth” debuted at #9 on iTunes Comedy. In 2018 he created “Telethon for America". The goal was to help create historic voter turnout in the midterms, and it was achieved. This time the goal is to create the biggest turnout in American history!
Passionate about helping the country, he offered voters an out-of-the-box option running for President of the United States in the 2020 election. He campaigned in 12 states and Puerto Rico, and is proud to have been arrested protesting corruption in DC, in an act of civil disobedience led by RepresentUs.
He has been a regular on "The Today Show" with Kathie Lee and Hoda, guest co-anchor for ABC News digital, an on-air contributor for CNN, "The Young Turks," and NPR, winning a Golden Mic Award for his work on "Patt Morrison's Comedy Congress." In 2017 he was one of the hosts of social impact news show “ASPIREist” on Headline News. And he is the voice of Marshall the Sloth in "Ice Age". Four days a week he can be seen online as one of the hosts of the live-streamed interactive comedy show "Social Distancing Social Club" where the audience is part of the show. Check it out at SDSCshow.com.
Rosario Dawson
Executive Producer, Host
Rosario Dawson is an artist, designer and activist. At 15 years old she debuted in the controversial Kids and has since starred in over a 100 projects ranging from The 25th Hour, Rent, the Sin City franchise, Seven Pounds, Luke Cage, Jane The Virgin, Briarpatch and as the voice of Wonder Woman
Having produced on projects like the Award winning documentary The Need To Grow which she also narrated, and The Assembly, also for Free Speech TV, she’s barely containing her excitement to work with FSTV again on the Telethon For America.
In 2004 Dawson co founded VOTO LATINO, a voter registration and GOTV organization that was one of the founding orgs for the widely known National Voter Registration Day. VOTO LATINO has registered well over 1 million voters.
Along with her bestie Abrima Erwiah, Dawson launched STUDIO ONE EIGHTY NINE in 2013, an award winning sustainable, ethical fashion line that is handmade in Africa. She connected VOTO LATINO and STUDIO ONE EIGHTY NINE for this election season with the FASHION OUR FUTURE 2020 campaign that brought together designers, models and other creatives to register and get out the vote.
Dawson received the PRESIDENTS VOLUNTEER AWARD from Barack Obama in 2011.
Alyssa Milano
Executive Producer
Actress and Activist Alyssa Milano has been in the spotlight for most of her life. She chooses to shine that spotlight on causes that matter deeply to her. Her advancement of #MeToo sparked a viral movement of women fighting against sexual harassment and assault and she has been involved in TimesUp since its inception.
In the wake of the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, Alyssa became one of the founders of NoRA, a coalition dedicated to combatting the NRA money in political campaigns so that common sense gun reform can be enacted.
For 15 years, she has been a UNICEF National Ambassador. In 2016, she received their Spirit of Compassion Award for her dedication to their mission of advocating for the protection of children's rights, helping meet their basic needs and expanding their opportunities to reach their full potential.
She has lobbied members of congress for greater rights for immigrants as well as education reform and has been on the forefront of efforts to protect health coverage for all Americans. She continues to use her voice and platform to advocate for social justice, fairness and equality.
Renaldo Pearson
Executive Producer
Renaldo Pearson is the Chief Diversity Officer & Director of External Affairs for RepresentUs, the nation’s largest grassroots anti-corruption campaign, bringing together conservatives, independents, and progressives to pass anti-corruption laws across the country. He recently walked over 700-miles and 1.5-million steps (culminating with a sit-in and his arrest on the Capitol steps) to break the silence on the emergency that is our broken and corrupt democracy—ultimately helping to secure the pledges of 16 presidential candidates, so far, to #FixDemocracyFirst.
In 2018, RepresentUs helped pass 23 anti-corruption measures at the state and local level — more than at any point in U.S. history. Before joining forces with RepresentUs, Renaldo led Democracy Spring from protest (#FixDemocracyFirst) to legislation (#HR1), and at the inaugural Unrig the System Summit in 2018, he introduced “The 7 Deadly Sins of American Democracy” as a new framework for our movement — which global think tank and government corruption watchdog Transparency International has since credited for becoming “a touchstone for thousands of anti-corruption and pro-democracy activists around the country.”
Before making a full-time commitment to this movement, he served as the youngest college administrator and Social Engineer-in-Residence at Harvard University. Born in DC, Renaldo received his BA in Political Science from Morehouse College and now serves on the boards of Voter Choice Massachusetts, Free Speech TV, SMART Elections, and Unite America. He was a 2019 recipient of the National Citizen Leadership Award — following his 700-mile #Democracy911 Walk — and he’s featured in award-winning filmmaker Josh Tickell’s book and film, The Revolution Generation: How Millennials Can Save America and the World (Before It’s Too Late).
Our Mission
We are so excited to be bringing this powerful event back for the 2020 US election. “The Telethon for America,” created in 2018 by comedian, actor, and television host Ben Gleib, and hosted by Olivia Munn and Gleib, was a non-partisan get-out-the-vote initiative that completely reinvented the telethon for the digital age.
For 2 hours, viewers were entertained and offered interesting, fresh, and funny perspectives on the importance of voting, as well as useful information regarding how to report voter issues, register same day in certain states, and get free or discounted rides to the polls.
It was the first telethon ever with the goal of raising zero dollars. Also, in another first, instead of taking calls, the calls went out from the celebrity phone bank once viewers pledged online, or formed a voting squad. Talent also participated in the telethon by live tweeting, live streaming from their own phones, and officially carrying the stream on their social channels through technology partner Transmit Live. By encouraging viewers to form voting squads, we exponentially increased those reached.
This final effort to raise awareness, especially amongst younger people, of the midterms the next day, was part of the effort that saw more than 31 million more people vote in these elections than in the 2014 midterms (highest turnout in over 100 years) -- and young people turned out in record numbers. We are so glad to have played a part in that.
This groundbreaking event was originally presented in 2018 by Michelle Obama’s “When We All Vote,” with ICM Partners also helping bring it to life. That year it was executive produced by Ben Gleib, Neil Mandt, Hannah Linkenhoker, Rick Sorkin, and Barry Katz. Comedy Central, Lyft, GLAAD, and Nextiva were also presenting sponsors. The live stream was also carried digitally by Comedy Central, MTV, EllenTube, BET, WatchMojo, ConTV, and many more. The telethon was produced by Gleib’s Neurotic Gangster Productions, BC Live, MRB Productions, Mandt Bros Productions, and Barry Katz Entertainment.