During a recent performance at the Laugh Factory comedy club in Hollywood, California, legendary comedian Byron Allen discusses debt collectors and people still trying to avoid direct debt contact.
Allen was born in Detroit but grew up in Los Angeles. His interest in show business began during his childhood, when he would accompany his mother, Carolyn Folks, to NBC studios in Burbank where she worked as a publicist. At age 14, Allen put together his first stand-up routine and began appearing on amateur nights at comedy clubs throughout the Los Angeles area. Comedian Jimmie Walker saw Allen’s stand-up act and invited the 14-year-old comedian to join his comedy writing team alongside promising young comedians Jay Leno and David Letterman. At age 18, Allen made his television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. One of his earliest roles was as a regular presenter on the NBC series Real People, joining the cast at the beginning of the second season.
His show Jammin was picked up as Kickin’ It with Byron Allen in 1992, and it ran for more than 21 seasons. Allen’s foray into television production began in Los Angeles in 1993 when he founded Entertainment Studios with the launch of his first series — Entertainers with Byron Allen — a weekly, one-hour series profiling the current stars of film and television.
In 2018, Entertainment Studios acquired The Weather Channel from Comcast.
In 2019, he partnered with Sinclair Broadcast Group in Diamond Holding Group to acquire Fox Sports Networks, which The Walt Disney Company agreed to sell as a condition of its purchase of 21st Century Fox.
In 2020, Allen ended a 5-year campaign against Comcast. After reaching the Supreme Court of the United States, Allen settled a $20 billion legal claim (for racism), achieving carriage agreements for three of his cable channels: Comedy.TV, Recipe.TV, and JusticeCentral.TV.
Opening its doors in 1979, the World Famous Laugh Factory has been recognized as “the #1 comedy club in the country” by such high-profile media as USA Today. With southern California locations in Hollywood (its original Sunset Boulevard locale) and Long Beach (opened in 2008), comedy’s top stars, as well as today’s brightest emerging talent, shine on its legendary stage.
Founder Jamie Masada, the driving force behind the Laugh Factory, is revered as a pioneer and innovator and is an iconic name on the comedy scene. He was and continues to be instrumental in launching the careers of many of today’s biggest comics. The New York Daily News called him the “Real King of Comedy.” His knowledge and expertise have made him the leading authority on all things comedy and his advice is highly regarded by the entertainment industry’s top power brokers.
