Byron Allen
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Byron Allen (born Byron Allen Folks on April 22, 1961, in Detroit, Michigan, USA) is an American stand-up comedian and television talk show host.
Allen is one of many notable graduates from Fairfax High School in Hollywood, California. He began doing stand-up comedy as a teenager in Los Angeles.
In 1979, he was named one of the hosts of the weekly NBC television series Real People. After that series was canceled in 1984, he returned to stand-up comedy, and in 1989, became the host of a short-lived weekly (eventually becoming daily) syndicated late-night interview program in the mold of The Tonight Show called The Byron Allen Show. Two years later, he also started hosting and producing a seasonal music video countdown program syndicated to local TV stations called Jammin. This show later was renamed Kickin' It.
In the Fall of 1994 his talk show, Entertainers with Byron Allen, premiered and is now running in its eleventh season. [1] Since then, Allen's Entertainment Studios production company (formerly CF Entertainment) has expanded. Today, he produces and distributes about a dozen lifestyle-related and interview programs for television syndication. He currently hosts "Comics Unleashed", a comedic talk show similar to that of "Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn." Many of Allen's shows, "Entertainers" in particular, are produced on an extremely low budget and are some of the few programs produced for the express purpose of occupying low traction timeslots. Paltry production values coupled with the fact that his current programs air new episodes in timeslots normally reserved for infomercials and reruns have led to a general consensus that his programs constitute syndicated television at its worst.
While being interviewed by Byron Allen, Ronnie Lott said that he and Marcus Allen would not have graduated from college without cheating with the help of Byron Allen [2]
