Who is Byron Allen?
Born in Detroit, Allen has been active since elementary school. What was supposed to be a two-week vacation in Los Angeles turned into a permanent vacation when his mother, Carolyn Foulkes, landed a job as NBC’s first intern.
Her gig meant that Allen, now 65, spent her formative years on the network’s property. “I fell in love with television,” he explained in the 2019 Executive Quarterly Profile. “The art of making television, and the business of making television and being a comedian.”
He began doing stand-up at the Comedy Store in LA at the age of 14, standing in the back between sets to avoid jeopardizing his liquor license, where he was discovered by Good Times star Jimmy “JJ” Walker.
He accepted an invitation to Walker’s apartment, detailing that “David Letterman had just come out of Indianapolis in a red pickup truck, Jay Leno was sleeping in the car, and Marty Nadler, who went on to produce “Laverne & Shirley” and “Happy Days.”
His big break came one week before his high school graduation when Allen became the youngest comedian to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. A stint hosting NBC’s Real People followed, and Allen was soon juggling film school at the University of Southern California and opening for Lionel Richie and Dolly Parton.
