People used to laugh at Byron Allen. They’re not laughing anymore. Allen began as a standup comedian while he was still in his teens occasionally selling gags to other comedians and performing in half-empty houses. At 18 he worked his way up to “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” and later briefly hosted his own late-night talk show.
But Allen had other things on his mind than the next knee-slapper. Now as the CEO and founder of Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios, he’s a multimillionaire who, among other enterprises, owns 36 network affiliate broadcast television stations in 21 U.S. markets including the Weather Channel.
He’s big with the “judge-no-jury” syndicated shows like “America’s Court With Judge Ross,” “Justice for All With Judge Cristina Perez,” “Supreme Justice with Judge Karen,” “Justice With Judge Mablean” and “The Verdict With Judge Hatchett.” “We are the largest producer-distributors of court shows,” he nods.
“We have six of them on the air, and so we are able to help television stations have the largest court-block of court shows. Starting next month, with Lauren Lake, she will be the sixth hour. ... And the audience, our real bosses, can never get enough of court. They really appreciate it.”
Allen thinks people cotton to court shows because they learn something. “The personalities on the bench are so strong and smart and they teach us so much,” he says.
“We learn a lot. And I think people really appreciate learning. And it’s almost like going in front of your parents and your parents telling you what's right, what's wrong, and how to look at it, and how to be better. There's something there. And it’s a little bit of the gladiator. You (the plaintiff or defendant) are in the Coliseum and you're about to get eaten by the lion, so you're front and center. . . And I think the key is it has a resolution, and it doesn't just drag on. We don’t just complain about it. We look at it, and we make a definitive decision; the best way to approach this.”
While he’s a bonafide business tycoon, Allen hasn’t entirely forsaken his comedy. He owns the syndicated comedy-quiz show “Funny You Should Ask,” where comics ad lib answers to questions which two contestants deem either true or false.
Allen says he discovered his entrepreneurial spirit when he was a boy. His mom worked for NBC, and because she couldn’t afford child care, little Byron tagged along.
“I waited for my mom to get off work and I would go from studio to studio to studio and watch Johnny Carson tape his show, and Redd Foxx do ‘Sanford and Son,’ and Freddie Prinze and Jack Albertson do ‘Chico and the Man,’ and Flip Wilson do his show, and Bob Hope and George Burns and Dean Martin do their specials. And I thought what a wonderful way to go through life, making people laugh. And that’s when I decided to be a comedian,” he says.
“And I remember my mom putting the idea in my head when I was a little kid: ‘Yes, you can be like Flip Wilson and Redd Foxx and Johnny Carson. You can be in front of the camera, but you can also own a network.’ And I remember her saying that to me as a little boy and I thought, ‘Wow, own the network too?’ And she said, ‘Yeah.’ And that seed was planted in me as a little boy, just hanging around, waiting for my mom to get off work... .”[
But it wasn’t just his mom who influenced him, he adds. It was also his dad and grandfather. “Watching my blue-collar side of the family. My dad worked at Ford Motor Company for 30-plus years, my granddaddy worked at Great Lakes Steel for 30-plus years. And these guys never called in a day sick. And maybe their best year was 30, 40 grand a year — I'm not sure — not very much. And my grandfather and my grandmother on my dad’s side, they built a roller-skating rink that’s still open 75 years later because they laid the foundation correctly.”
Allen’s very first job was working at that roller-skating rink. “It was an interesting image for me to see my grandmother and grandfather own the business, and work the door, and work the cash register,” he says.
“I was the floor-guard. I learned how to roller-skate before I could walk. And I used to stand in the center of the roller-skating rink with a whistle. And if the kids started to fall, they would pile up to the ceiling, and I would blow the whistle. And one of my cousins would take the needle off of the record (that was playing.)
“So it was instilled early in me: think big, work hard, and own what you work for. It’s the great American Dream and it's the great American opportunity, and pursue it relentlessly and vigorously because it’s a gift.”
Showtime brings home the Bacon
It’s not six degrees of separation for Kevin Bacon, who is into his third season as the corrupt FBI vet in Showtime’s “City on the Hill.” After a brief break, the show resumes streaming and on-demand Friday and airs on Showtime Sunday.
Bacon says he thinks the phrase "show business" can be defined in two different ways. “I separate work from business. I think of business as publicity, marketing, box office, deal making — who's hot. ... I think of that as business.
“Work is the thing I like best,” he says, “saying lines to another person, taking a scene and shaping it, working with a director. Some magic happens when I’m really in there that makes me fly. I love that. ... The best thing about show biz is it can, at its best, make people feel something. At its worst, it's fleeting and often cruel and it's coldblooded. There are times when — it's a cliche — people at the top are primed and ready for the downslide, and everything around them is sitting and waiting for that.”
Married to actress Kyra Sedgwick for 33 years and the father of two, Bacon says, “You have to take responsibility for the life you carve out for yourself. There’s a reason I’m not a dentist, a stockbroker or a plumber or a farmer because I do like to live on the edge. I do like the danger of it as much as I like the fireplace and the dog, I like the danger of it. To have to say next week, ‘Oh, I gotta go! This is coming down.’ I’m sort of a rambling man in some ways. I have to accept that about myself.”
Hulu in the ring with Tyson bio
On Thursday Hulu will begin streaming “Mike,” its eight-episode drama about the controversial heavyweight champion boxer Mike Tyson. It’s an unblinking and unauthorized look says Steven Rogers, creator and executive producer of the series.
“At first, I thought it was a cautionary tale, sort of, about the American Dream and its underbelly. But then, you know you could go to any country on this planet and say the words ‘Mike Tyson’ and you're gonna get a reaction. And you will have done that for, like, 30 years. And so to me, that means it's a very universal story. And it has been for 35 years, and it continues to fascinate.
"We didn't want to just tell what happened, but go behind that and explore why,” he says.
“When I was first doing the research, the very, very first video that I looked at on YouTube, Mike Tyson was talking about his face tattoo. “And I remembered it as sort of the punchline that comics on the late-night talk shows would use and people were laughing at it. But in this interview, Mike Tyson was saying the reason that he got the face tattoo was because Mike Tyson hated Mike Tyson so much that he didn't want to see his face when he looked in the mirror.
“And I was just floored by that. And I was so surprised by that. And it really made me want to go behind the sound bites and show not just what happened but ask why?”
Animated comedy is a family affair
A little nepotism never hurt in Hollywood. Two of Danny DeVito’s kids are costarring with him in the new FXX animated comedy “Little Demon,” which premieres Thursday.
They’re really not kids anymore — Lucy is 39 and Jake is 34. But growing up in the DeVito family (mom is actress Rhea Perlman) was unique, says Jake.
“Really there wasn't much that was off‑limits in our house. Our parents raised us watching so many great movies and going to see great concerts and everything. And it was always a great group of creative people that were coming through the house all the time, as well, every Sunday,” he says.
“We were around during the time of ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Out of Sight,’ and these great (Danny DeVito) projects that were very adult when we were very young. And even when ‘It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ started, those guys were hanging out in our backyard when I was in middle school. So, it was super fun to have that freedom.”
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