David St. Hubbins blesses 2024 Thundergong! benefit for Steps of Faith foundation
Thundergong! presser with Jason and Billy. // Photo by Brock Wilbur
For the 8th year in a row, the THUNGDERGONG! evening of celebrity-heavy comedy and music will spotlight KC tomorrow night at the Uptown Theatre.
The Steps of Faith Foundation, whose mission is to raise money to supply limbs to amputees, probably shouldn’t need to exist. In a better America, every state’s Medicaid would handle this sort of thing, not only to help folks get back to work but also because it’s a human right that everyone should be able to walk. Until we exist in that better world, Steps of Faith and their cause remaina one of the most important non-profits operating in that space.
Jason Sudeikis and Billy Brimblecom, executive directors of the org, took the Encore stage at Uptown today ahead of tomorrow night’s sold out mega-show at Uptown (in the huge space, not Encore).
The two—Sudeikis, a TV and movie star best known for his work on Ted Lasso and Saturday Night Live; Briblecom, a drummer in many local rock acts and an amputee himself—have remained best friends since high school. The impetus for the show sprung up nearly a decade ago, with the idea of Sudeikis inviting various famous folks to cycle through a night of music, serving as drummers/singers on cover songs. Since then, it has grown into a sprawling tentpole event for the city, featuring not only huge stars waving their freak flags by belting out hits on stage but also assorted blind auctions and raffles, regularly raising huge sums of money for stranger their serve.
In a press conference, the two organizers celebrated the evolution of the show. “This year, we sold out within the first few days,” Brimblecom says. “We’d barely released the names of any of the huge special guests for this year, and that was always the dream for THUNGERGONG!, that one day we wouldn’t need to sell it on the promise of individual guests but that KC (and guests traveling here from around the world) would know exactly what they were in for, and would trust us to deliver on that—but also allow us to keep an element of surprise to the evening.”
This year’s revealed guests include Will Forte, who has attended every year. “We’ve also got Weird Al and Flavor Flav,” Sudeikis says. “One has a long history of tackling huge sociopolitical issues in his music, and the other is Weird Al,” the performer joked.
Last year’s event featured the auctioning off of a one-of-a-kind pair of THUNDERGONG! branded Nike shoes, designed by the godfather of the stylized athletic sneaker, Tinker Hatfield. On the night, a random shout from the crowd after the auction for the shoes ended resulted in a huge bidding war for a second pair of the… one-of-a-kind items—displaying the kind of manic, anything-goes spirit of the evening.
“David St. Hubbins is looking down on us,” Sudeikis joked at the presser. “That’s a reference to Spinal Tap for no one apparently.” The flat reception was met by Briblecom hoping that The Pitch would not include mention of this in our headline. Sorry, bud.
Brendan Hunt, Cristo Fernandez, The Woodhalls (U.S. Olympic athletes), and more are set for this evening’s sold-out event, along with stories from amputees who have had their lives changed by the work performed by Steps of Faith. Assorted raffled prizes can be accessed by anyone, including those not in attendance, via the THUNDERGONG! website. Among those prizes, this year is a private evening for you and some friends doing karaoke with Flavor Flav. Yeah boi.
2023’s THUNDERGONG! // Courtesy photo
