Comedy Spotlight: On the stage with Henry Allen
About a month ago I had the opportunity to interview up-and-coming comedian Henry Allen. He was hosting for Andrew Schulz the second weekend of March at the Funny Bone Comedy Club.
I’ve always wondered how people decide they want to go into comedy or stand up so this was the perfect time to find out and highlight some local comedic talent in the process.
Our Q and A is as follows:
How did you discover your flair for comedy and how did you get started?
“I don’t know I just always wanted to do it. I never necessarily just wanted to do only stand up but I always want to create a show or something like that. Or be in a show and make videos, so I always just liked to do it. How I got into it was I actually got rejected the first time so. I booked a show when I was 17 at this comedy club and I wanted to go up one time to see what it was like and I reached out to the dude in Columbus and I was like hey man can I do stand up because he had a sketch show. I reached out to him and he said he was the only one who does stand up on his show, so I just drove up to Dayton with my mom to this place called Wiley’s, and my mom had to come because I wasn’t even allowed to get in, I wasn’t old enough and it was cool.”
What is the inspiration behind your comedy style?
“Just to be good at it. I just want to be good. You know and I see all these other people, I see a lot of people that are bad and some guys that are really good and I say, I just want to be that good, undeniably good.
“So good comics are the inspiration for your style?”
“Yes.”
With cancel culture such a big part of the world these days, do you worry about offending someone with your act? How do you combat that?
“I don’t think about offending people. I mean, I do think this could maybe offend people if I say it, but I like still for sure say it but there’s a certain way you have to say something. It’s all about your tone or how you say something, so if you are a jerk about it people are like wait, is he being, but if you are being clearly silly and fun and it’s something offensive usually it’s ok. Usually.”
Do you write to stay true to who you are or for what’s going to appease your audience?
“Definitely true to who I am, for sure. If you try to write something that your like, this is because somebody will like it, it’s usually going to be bad. If you write something that you like or I like in this scenario, I don’t care if it’s bad because I like it. Usually, if you’re a little more confident and you’re like this is my stuff, this is how it goes, it is funny, people are like oh, that is funny because you kind of sell it.”
How do you combat heckling?
“Just really think of the first thing and say it. The faster you can be the better because people they want it to be good so you just got to say something and it’s got to be fast.”
Do you think that’s why they continue to heckle you for that particular reason?
“I think they want the attention brought back onto them. A lot of people think this is what they’re suppose to do like the show would be bad unless they said this. Like no dude.”
Who’s been the most memorable you’ve opened for?
“So far Andrew Schulz has been pretty cool but the most memorable in a good way or a bad way? I don’t know I’ve had a bunch of cool stuff. I remember one time I opened for Bruce Bruce who is a pretty successful comedian and they told me I had to be clean, they were like you got to be clean, you have to do 10 minutes of clean stuff. So I like that’s cool whatever and I was kind of like not worried about it but like being cautious, take this joke out or whatever. When I got to the show Bruce Bruce was like ‘hey come over here’ and he leaned in real close and said ‘they told you to be clean right?’ and I was like, yeah and he said ‘do whatever the fuck you wanna do’ and I was like ok man that’s pretty cool.”
What gig has been the most fun for you?
“I feel like I have the most fun when it isn’t people who are necessarily so big. Like, let’s say Jason Banks is headlining and whenever you get to do those shows that aren’t at a big comedy club. There’s just too much other stuff that goes on, for at least me at a bigger club. It’s like oh my gosh is this person watching or is the owner going to be here cause he has the magic wand he can wave. It’s much more fun to do like a pizza place in Port Clinton or something like that. Just like who gives a fuck about what I say, it’s just to be fun, do 25 minutes and you guys drink 14 Bush Lights and it just gets wild. At bigger clubs, I’m like is my shirt tucked in, it’s just not as fun. So it’s easier to have fun when there’s less pressure.”
Where do you want to see your career go?
“I would love to make a show, like workaholics, or it’s always sunny, a show that I make and create but also star in. I’d also like to be a director but you have to take steps to do that, I just want to be a director, just have Universal be like “hey Henry here’s 100 million dollars and we want to make Jurassic Park 7, Chris Pratt is still involved but we want you to do it” You know, I wouldn’t even want to do Jurassic Park actually but being a director would be tight or making a show would be sweet.”
What advice do you have for young comics just starting out?
“I would tell them that the goal is to get as many people as you can to want to pay 20 dollars to see you. Where ever you go, you can go to Phoenix if you can get 200 people to pay 20 dollars to see you and if you can go to Miami and get 200 hundred people to pay 20 dollars to see you, you’re set. You got to get a group, you don’t even have to be funny. We see those Facebook people come through, they’re not funny but they have 700 hundred people buy tickets at 35 dollars and they sell their 30 dollar hats and their 15 dollar buttons because people want to support them, so you have to get a fan base. Having a fan base is the most important I would say.”
When will you know you’ve made it? What will that defining moment be like?
That’s a great question. I think I have a couple. I feel like an I made it moment would be like hosting Saturday Night Live, like oh shit, you know what I’m saying. Or even to be a part of that or even to be on any big show that was like you could write for this or something like that, that would be big. Also if I was ever somewhere and Kevin Hart was like ” Hey Henry” and knew me before I said something to him, I’d be like Oh Shit I’ve made it. So probably that, Kevin Hart acknowledges or knows me first or Bo Burnham or David Beckham there’s a list of people, it’s a short list of about five people, one is Childish Gambino, Kevin Hart, Bo Burnham, Idris Elba. If any of those people would be like Henry Allen, I’d be like what’s up that’s me let’s take a picture. That would be like the I did do it moment, cause some people say but you’ve made it now and I’m like have I though? I do shows like this that are cool but I’m also doing open mic’s for nothing, but I mean I like those just as much if not more sometimes.”
I want to send a big thank you to Henry Allen for letting me showcase him and to the Funny Bone Comedy Club Columbus for allowing me the opportunity to come in and do the article.
For more on Henry and where you can catch him on stage next, check him out on Instagram.
