FIRST OFF . . .

Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Bob Goldthwait, Martin Mull, Martin Short and Steven Wright are among the comedians appearing in Comic Relief ‘87--Home Box Office’s sequel to last year’s comedy benefit for the homeless--it was announced Thursday. HBO will broadcast the event live from the Universal Amphitheatre on Nov. 14 and ask viewers to phone-in donations on toll-free lines. Last year’s event raised almost $2.6 million, which was donated to various health-care and related service organizations providing assistance to the homeless. Whoopi Goldberg, who, along with Williams and Crystal, was highly vocal and visible in promoting the event last year, will be on location filming and unable to attend, an HBO spokesman said, adding that the actress-comedian planned to send a videotape to contribute.