Film & TV / Comedy / Business & brands
Byron Allen
born 1961 · comedian, television host, media executive
Detroit-born comedian who debuted on The Tonight Show at 18 and built Allen Media Group, one of the largest Black-owned media companies in the United States.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 65- Birth name
- Byron Allen Folks
- Detroit years
- 1961–1968
- Field
- Film & TV, Comedy, Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Allen was born in Detroit and lived there until 1968, when he and his mother moved to Los Angeles after her divorce. She found work as a publicist at NBC in Burbank, and the boy grew up watching tapings of Sanford and Son and The Tonight Show and sitting at Johnny Carson's empty desk. At 14 he was doing amateur nights at the Comedy Store and writing jokes for Jimmie Walker alongside Jay Leno and David Letterman; in 1979, at 18, he became the youngest comedian ever to perform on The Tonight Show, and then co-hosted NBC's Real People. In 1993 he founded the company that became Allen Media Group, which produces and syndicates programs, owns cable channels including The Weather Channel, local television stations and a film distributor, and holds a stake in BuzzFeed. He still hosts Comics Unleashed.
Highlights
- Born in Detroit; moved to Los Angeles in 1968
- At 18, the youngest comedian ever to perform on The Tonight Show (1979)
- Co-host of NBC's Real People, 1979–1984
- Founded Allen Media Group in 1993; owner of The Weather Channel