COMIC Relief fundraising bucked the credit crunch to smash the previous record by more than 40%, and with more donations expected to flood in some predict the total could end up doubling 2007's takings.

At last count this year's donations had hit a record-breaking £57 million, easily beating the previous record of £40.5m in 2007 and setting a new benchmark in the 21-year history of Red Nose Day. A spokesman for BT said they had handled 656,649 calls during the seven-hour telethon, with call rates peaking at around 9.30pm when they reached an average of 250 per second.

Announcing the result, host Graham Norton pointed out that the amount was not even the final total. "Masses of fundraising money isn't in yet. Last time we added £20m to our end-of-night total," he said.

The comedy extravaganza featured TV, music and sports stars including David Beckham, Kate Moss and Robbie Williams, kicking off at 7pm on Friday with Harry Hill's TV Burp as Britain's best-known comedians "did something funny for money" - the slogan for this year's campaign.

Gavin and Stacey's James Corden provided a highlight of the evening as he berated England's footballers for missing out on qualification for Euro 2008. He jokingly criticised Frank Lampard for not passing to Steven Gerrard, told Peter Crouch to resurrect his robotic goal celebration and told Ashley Cole his wife, singer Cheryl, should not have been climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

The night of comedy sketches and fundraising stunts also included the last-ever French and Saunders sketch. Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders performed a parody of the smash hit Mamma Mia! The Movie.

Guest stars in the show-stopping musical skit included Sienna Miller, Joanna Lumley, Philip Glenister and Alan Carr. Dragons' Den tycoons pitched their wares to Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse before Comic Relief hosted a Top Of The Pops special.

Kate Moss and Sadie Frost performed a skit with comedian Katy Brand. Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates were joined by a gang of comedians to present a live show including performances from Tom Jones and Oasis.

Other hosts on the night included Davina McCall, Jonathan Ross, David Tennant, Fern Britton and Claudia Winkleman.

However, gaffe-prone Angus Deayton swore live on air two hours before the watershed, prompting McCall to mouth "sorry" to millions of viewers.

In a gag about the former Have I Got News For You star reading out his bank details, Deayton inadvertently said: "B****r, yes." A BBC spokeswoman said no offence was intended by Deayton's comments.

Based on previous years, the total is expected to increase by at least £20m as donations pour in.

A documentary following nine celebrity climbers - including Take That's Gary Barlow, Cheryl Cole, Fearne Cotton and Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles - to the 6000m summit of Kilimanjaro raised more than £1.5m alone.

Moyles said: "It was such an important thing we were doing and for me, I had two jobs - we wanted to raise money and I was representing every fat, lazy man."

TV presenter Fearne Cotton said a visit to Africa to meet victims of malaria inspired her to keep going on the climb. She said: "I was lucky enough, in a way, to go to Uganda before Christmas and meet people and families who are so affected by malaria. So whenever I felt really ill and awful I just remembered the people that I met, and it drove me on."

The money raised from Red Nose Day will go towards helping disadvantaged people across Africa and in the UK.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "I would like to offer my personal congratulations to the whole Comic Relief team for their success in raising a record £57 million."

Sainsbury's, which sold Comic Relief merchandise, handed over a cheque for more than £9m - the biggest single donation in the event's history.

The supermarket reported record sales of red noses this year, with an average of 100,000 sold every day.