Byron Allen got his first big break as a teenage comedian on Johnny Carson’s “The Tonight Show.” Nearly five decades later, he is returning to late night not just as a comic, but as a billionaire media mogul with a sprawling and unconventional empire.
Allen owns The Weather Channel television network. He recently bought a controlling stake in BuzzFeed. He has made splashy, unsuccessful bids for Paramount, ABC, BET and Tegna. He has even expressed interest in buying CNN.
On Friday, the comic-turned-media mogul is taking over CBS’s 11:35 pm slot, the storied perch once occupied by David Letterman and Stephen Colbert, with “Comics Unleashed,” a low-cost, politics-free comedy show that reflects both his roots as a stand-up and the business model that made him one of the most unusual figures in American media.
The move marks a dramatic shift for CBS late night: from Colbert’s topical, Trump-era comedy to a syndicated-style comedy format built around quick jokes and minimal controversy.
“We don’t talk about politics,” Allen told CNN’s Michael Smerconish earlier this month. “We don’t talk about anything that’s topical. We don’t do anything that’s racist, sexist or antisemitic or homophobic.”
He added: “Just be funny and don’t offend.”
From performer to power player
According to Allen, 65, a comedian has two birthdays: One is the day they were born, and the other is their first time on Johnny Carson’s show.
At 18, the Detroit native was one of the youngest comedians to perform stand-up on Carson’s show, making his debut on May 17, 1979, a week before graduating high school.
“I watched him like clockwork,” Allen sold Smerconish, reflecting on his admiration of Carson, who hosted NBC’s “The Tonight Show” for 30 years.
“This is what I want to do for the rest of my life: I’m going to make people laugh,” he said on CNN.
So, he did just that. His first big break came in 1979, when he hosted NBC’s “Real People,” a newsmagazine show that profiled eccentric people across the United States.
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