Comedians speak out at Stand Up for Heroes at Madison Square Garden
— -- John Oliver, Jon Stewart, Trevor Noah, Conan O’Brien, Red Hot Chili Peppers and more came together at New York City's Madison Square Garden Tuesday night for the annual Stand Up for Heroes benefit -- an evening of comedy and music that raises money to support programs for injured veterans and their families.
It's presented by the New York Comedy Festival and the Bob Woodruff Foundation, created by the ABC news anchor who was injured in Iraq in 2006.
Oliver, host of HBO’s "Last Week with John Oliver," told ABC News the event is about more than just words.
“You know, ‘I thank you for your service’ is nice, but at the end of the day … it's one step above the literally, the least you can do," Oliver said. "More has to be done. It just takes will to do it."
Oliver thinks the American public needs to be more involved.
"So few people have skin in the game," he said. "The vast majority of people in America do not know someone who is in the service. The problem is people need to understand that this is a responsibility.”
Woodruff believes returning vets need purpose.
“Nobody wants pity,” he said. “What they really want is to be treated with dignity and to go back to what they were before, and I think it’s more and more possible. These are people that had missions. And they want to continue to have a mission.”
He continued, “Most companies that I know who promise they are going to hire x-number of veterans, almost all of them have hired more. And they’ve been much more successful than they ever expected.”
The next Woodruff Foundation fundraising event, "Dine Out for Heroes," will be on Veterans Day, Saturday, Nov. 11, in New York City. Visit bobwoodrufffoundation.org for more information.
