Earlier than Byron Allen turned a media mogul, he was a kind of comedians whose life was modified by Johnny Carson.
Rising up, Allen would accompany his mom to the NBC lot in Burbank, the place she labored as a publicist, and was supplied with a present enterprise training. An aspiring comedian who performed comedy golf equipment as a teen, he repeatedly waited within the car parking zone for the late-night host to alternate a number of phrases earlier than tapings of “The Tonight Present Starring Johnny Carson.”
When Allen was 19 years outdated, he turned the youngest comedian to seem on Carson’s “Tonight” stage. It led to a daily function on the NBC prime-time collection “Actual Folks” and a profitable stand-up profession that had him touring for twenty years.
Now Allen, 64, is poised to reenter the late-night TV enviornment — and simply when the style is at a crossroads. CBS’ resolution to finish “The Late Present With Stephen Colbert” subsequent Could raises questions on the way forward for the nocturnal kingdom Carson as soon as dominated.
Allen will grow to be part of the CBS late-night lineup beginning Sept. 22, when his collection “Comics Unleashed” takes over the 12:30 a.m. time slot and can observe Colbert throughout his remaining season.
Allen’s collection hasn’t produced a brand new episode since 2016, however the 233 that have been made throughout its authentic run have remained in syndication and aired as a stopgap for CBS in 2023 after the community canceled the money-losing “Late Late Present With James Corden.” The community is selecting up “Comics Unleashed” for the 2025-26 season because the successor to Corden substitute “After Midnight With Taylor Tomlinson,” which concluded its second and remaining season in June.
Allen has no illusions about why CBS has turned to “Comics Unleashed” once more.
“It’s not cheaper,” Allen stated. “It’s zero.”
Allen Media Group buys the airtime on CBS for “Comics Unleashed” and retains a lot of the promoting time on this system to promote.
It’s the identical formulation Allen used for “Entertainers With Byron Allen,” this system that launched his firm within the Nineties. Allen would rating interviews with main stars at press junkets and minimize them right into a weekly half-hour program.
He would go to the Nationwide Assn. of Tv Program Executives convention, an annual TV market for syndicated programming, and inform station homeowners that when the high-priced new reveals they have been shopping for failed, they need to come to him and get “Entertainers” totally free. The stations acquired half the business time whereas Allen bought the remainder to nationwide advertisers from his kitchen desk.
“I’m hooked on promoting,” Allen stated.
CBS stated Colbert’s present is being canceled for monetary causes, with insiders saying it was accruing losses of $40 million a yr.
“The Late Present” might have essentially the most viewers in late night time, however Colbert has the largest piece of a shrinking pie. Nielsen knowledge present the variety of houses utilizing tv between 11:35 p.m. and 1:35 a.m. has declined round 13% within the first six months of 2025 in contrast with the identical interval final yr. Advert revenues for the entire reveals have declined dramatically as effectively over the previous few years.
Byron Allen, chairman of Allen Media Group.
(Michael Bezjian / Getty Pictures for Allen Media Group)
Late-night reveals are costly to provide, with high-priced hosts, giant writing staffs and the prices of servicing dwell audiences. Whereas they generate income from clips on social media, they don’t do effectively on streaming. The topical nature of the reveals diminishes their worth as library product, which helps hold subscribers hooked on streaming platforms.
What makes “Comics Unleashed” completely different than conventional late-night franchises is that it’s designed to have an extended shelf life.
Within the latest reruns which have aired on CBS and in syndication, viewers heard an occasional joke concerning the Bush administration or a plug for a comic book’s MySpace handle. However for essentially the most half, the reveals include few references that date them.
“I inform the comedians we’re capturing ‘I Love Lucy,’” Allen stated. “One thing that’s evergreen. So I don’t need to hear any political humor. Simply be humorous, family-friendly and advertiser-friendly.”
Along with veteran comics Allen has identified for years, the collection booked many stand-up stars earlier than they turned family names, together with Kevin Hart, Whitney Cummings, Sebastian Maniscalco, Nate Bargatze and Chelsea Handler.
Stand-ups who toil on the comedy membership circuit are grateful for the publicity the present offered.
“To me, Byron is the patron saint of comedians,” stated Greg Romero Wilson, who wrote for this system and appeared as a panelist. “He’s given so many alternatives to comics of each stage. From up-and-comers to names you’ve identified your entire life, Byron makes room for everybody.”
Stand-up comedian Shang Forbes stated he hears from viewers members at golf equipment who recall bits from episodes of the collection he taped years in the past.
“It was an excellent expertise,” Forbes stated. “I used to be stunned how many individuals noticed it.”
Allen wished “Comics Unleashed” to re-create the camaraderie he skilled throughout his personal stand-up profession, which began when Jimmie “J.J.” Walker employed him as a 14-year-old joke author alongside David Letterman and Jay Leno. (“Let me ask my mother,” Allen stated when he obtained the supply.)
“What I bear in mind most is that comedians have been at their funniest afterwards after we went to Canter’s Deli,” Allen stated.
Since shopping for the Climate Channel for $300 million in 2018, Allen has made a behavior of throwing his hat within the ring each time a legacy media firm is claimed to be up on the market. However he just lately reached a deal to promote 10 of Allen Media Teams’s 28 TV stations to Atlanta-based Grey Media as a part of an effort to scale back the privately held firm’s debt and spend money on streaming.
Because the proprietor of community affiliate stations, he’s effectively conscious of the financial challenges dealing with conventional TV as viewers migrate to streaming, driving down scores and advert income.
“All of it’s underneath strain,” he stated. “The networks are spending extra on sports activities and fewer on nonsports content material.”
Allen spends loads of time speaking to bankers and attorneys — over the past decade he’s filed lawsuits towards Comcast, McDonald’s and Nielsen, all of which have been settled — however regardless of working a enterprise, he’ll host new episodes of “Comics Unleashed” himself. He plans to provide 132 half-hours, which is able to run back-to-back with repeat episodes. He may also be writing some jokes.
“You by no means cease being a comic,” he stated. “It’s a muscle that by no means goes away.”
