#Jason Sudeikis Recruits ‘Ted Lasso’ Co-Stars Hannah Waddingham, Brendan Hunt for Kansas City Charity Concert

Jason Sudeikis is returning to his hometown of Kansas City for his 7th annual Thundergong! charity event on Saturday, and will be bringing some familiar faces with him.

The benefit concert — supporting the Steps of Faith Foundation, which helps uninsured and underinsured amputees get the prosthetic limbs they need — will be hosted by Sudeikis and feature musical performances from his Ted Lasso co-stars Hannah Waddingham, Brendan Hunt and Sam Richardson, as well as Will Forte, Nathaniel Rateliff, Kevin Morby and Summer Breeze.

Hunt has previously taken part in the show, but Waddingham will be joining for the first time, as Sudeikis jokingly tells The Hollywood Reporter that ahead of her performance she’s “very shy, very nervous; she’s been taking just hours and hours of vocal lessons to get ready for this type of thing. But it’s a joy to know that she’s willing to do it and just love her to pieces for it.”

It will be Waddingham’s first time in Kansas City, and Sudeikis teases he has a big itinerary planned to show her the town, outside of rehearsal for the show.

“We’ll of course try to get some barbecue in them, whether they want it or not — they usually do. Then it’s getting to the hotel and they’re always welcome to go to my mom and dad’s place and hang out there,” revisiting his childhood games and baseball cards, as he jokes, “really a dream come true for people.”

Sudeikis started the Thundergong! event with his longtime friend Billy Brimblecom, who serves as executive director of the Steps of Faith Foundation. Brimblecom lost his leg to cancer in 2005, and around that time Sudeikis and their friends hosted a music and comedy show to raise money for his own prosthetic after his health insurance wouldn’t cover it. Years later, they decided to launch a similar event to help others.

“Raising money is hard, especially when it’s not kids and animals. People don’t like to think about losing a leg or losing a limb, I know I certainly didn’t want to think about it even when I knew it was a possibility for me,” Brimblecom says. In doing the event, “Jason has just helped open so many doors to these people who go, ‘Oh, I want to be in the room with this guy’ and then they learn about what Steps of Faith does; as Jason says, we’ve just got to get them there and then they know.” The organization works with doctors and buy the parts to make prosthetic limbs at a reduced price, from the usual $5,000 down to $500.

“As this thing continues, yes that brings in more money, but what it also does is it raises more awareness towards some of the shenanigans that happen with insurance companies and it allows for maybe some type of legislative change — if not from within, then certainly like through Congress, to change those things that will make Billy’s job and our role less necessary, which would be if the insurance companies would actually help folks,” Sudeikis adds. “I feel like that’s another wonderful optimistic byproduct of continuing to do this… it just shines a light on this larger sort of systemic issue that exists in the world of healthcare.”

The event brought in over $500,000 in 2022, having raised more than $2 million over the last six years. This year will also feature a raffle with items including an autographed AFC Richmond kit, an autographed “Believe” sign, Jimmy Fallon’s autographed children’s books and a karaoke party with Forte. With Ted Lasso as a key part of the evening, the event comes shortly after the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike that once again allows its stars to discuss the hit show.

As for his reaction on finally reaching a deal, Sudeikis says he’s “cautiously optimistic.”

“We’ll see how it all pans out over the next couple of days with the vote and everything, and then certainly over the next three years. I really don’t think it had to take this long and I don’t think it should have. I’m proud to be part of the two different groups, the Writers Guild and the Screen Actors Guild, for sticking to their guns and looking out for people at all different levels of showbiz, including well into the future hopefully,” he continues. “I’m glad it’s over because it’s important for everybody, a big old group of chosen family of people that works to bring those things together, and I’m glad that all those different parties — hair, makeup, transpo, grips, electricians, all those folks — everybody getting back to work is important and about time.”