Steve Allen didn't just decide to be a comedian, he was destined to become one. Steve's parents were the vaudevillian comedy team of Montrose and Allen. He credits his mother, Belle Montrose, for his funny bone.  Milton Berle called her "the funniest woman in vaudeville."      Steve was a pushover for comedy.  He loved to write it, act it and watch it.  Some 92 percent of today's comedians broke him up.  He worried why he didn't laugh at the remaining eight percent.      For years he was known as one of the greatest ad-lib specialists in the business, taking advantage of situations as they come up and getting laughs out of them.

     Hundreds of his off-the-cuff one-liners are legendary.   Announcing the final score of a big game between Harvard and William and Mary, it came out: "Harvard 14, William 12, Mary 6."  When someone in the studio audience once asked him, "Do they get your program in Boston?", he quipped, "They see it, but they don't get it!"

     A psychologist -- interviewed on an Allen show -- announced that the only two instinctive fears in man are the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling.   "I have a great fear," replied Steve, without missing a beat, "of making a loud noise while falling."

    "When I ad-lib something, I laugh," Allen was quoted.   "I laugh for the same reasons the audience does;  I've never heard that joke before -- and I'm just as surprised as they are."

     For nearly 50 years he distinguished himself in the spontaneous creation of humor in front of audiences.   The first telecast of the American Comedy Awards presented their Lifetime Achievement Awards to only five American comedians:  Steve Allen, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar and Jonathan Winters.

     Allen has also been referred to as "the most imitated man on television."  He was the first comedian to do funny and totally ad-libbed interviews with studio audiences or on the street, originated the Question Man in which the answer comes before the question, originated the idea of taking close-up pictures of people in his audience and building a comedy routine around them, and was the first comic to regularly do crazy and sometimes dangerous physical stunts on his shows.
Attention Steve Allen fans!  Please check out the comedy items below.  

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	Steve Allen's Private Joke File -- Just Released! $12.95 plus (S&H) Steve Allen is a legend among comedians and entertainers. He played to audiences on stage, radio, film and television for more than 50 years, gaining acclaim for his unique wit and energy. Now, for the first time, here are more than a thousand of his favorite one-liners, anecdotes, limericks, quotes, other general funny things. The entries are divided into nearly two hundred categories to make it easy for anyone to find the right laugh for any occasion. If you're faced with the prospect of having to "say a few words", Steve Allen's Private Joke File is the perfect place to look for ideas and inspiration on such topics as awards, drinking, baseball, lawyers, dentists, insurance, marriage, the stock market, and dozens of other subjects. A sampling: - My wife and I had words, but I never got to use mine! - If ignorance is bliss, he should die of joy. - "How are the acoustics here?" "Great, I can hardly hear you!" - I learned to rumba very early in life....I had a tricycle with a loose seat. - Room for rent, by young lady, freshly plastered. Steve Allen has also included a number of his favorite essays and monologues. Steve Allen's Private Joke File is great to flip through for fun or for function, and for those of us looking for a good laugh--to give one or to have one--it's indispensable. Click here for online ordering information.
	Steve Allen's 75th Birthday Celebration Video - $12.95 plus (S&H). Bill Maher (Politically Incorrect) serves as master of ceremonies at this all-star comedy and music event celebrating Steve Allen's 75th birthday and his half-century career in television and entertainment. Steve performs several of his greatest musical hits and introduces clips of some of his best-loved comedy sketches and ad-libbed routines. He also enjoys tributes by fellow entertainers including Milton Berle, Jackie Mason, Billy Crystal, Ted Koppel, Jay Leno, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, David Letterman, Rodney Dangerfield, Steve Martin, Phil Hartman and a special appearance by Jayne Meadows. Classic clips from the golden age of television feature: Bob Hope, Charlton Heston, Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis, Louis Nye and many more. The Steve Allen Big Band performs some of the many songs he wrote including, "The South Rampart Street Parade," "Gravy Waltz," and "This Could Be The Start Of Something Big." So join in this musical, comedy celebration of the career of one of television's living legends...Steve Allen. Click here for online ordering information.
	Special Offer -- While Supplies Last! You can own a hard-cover, guaranteed authentic autographed copy of Hi-Ho, Steverino!  Only $19.95 plus s&h  (Limited Supply) Steve Allen's 38th book is an autobiography covering his fifty years in radio and television. Filled with comedy, both on- and off-camera, this is Allen's first-person look at the Golden Age of TV. Hi-Ho, Steverino includes Steve's experiences as creator and first host of the Tonight Show, and his years as star of his own primetime comedy series The Steve Allen Show, where he worked with such gifted comedy players as Don Knotts, Tom Poston, Louis Nye, Pat Harrington, Jr., Gabriel Dell, Bill Dana, Dayton Allen, Buck Henry, Tim Conway, The Smothers Brothers, and Jim Nabors. In recalling the glory years of these series, Allen reminisces about getting to know such luminous guests as Jack Kerouac, Lenny Bruce, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis. There's a chapter on Allen's award-winning PBS series Meeting of Minds, and reports on his other comedy-and-talk shows, series and specials, in which he relates on-the-air TV boners, mistakes, and technical mishaps that are now part of the comic folklore of television history. Along the way, Steve Allen pays tribute to Arthur Godfrey, Ernie Kovacs, Jack Paar, Dave Garroway, Jerry Lester, and other video pioneers. Click here for online ordering information.
	NEW LOW PRICE How To Be Funny by Steve Allen  -- $11.95 plus shipping and handling. No one knows more about comedy than Steve Allen. For four decades as a writer, performer, and keen observer of the social scene, he has looked into every aspect of who's funny, and why. Now he shares his discoveries in a book designed to help every reader develop his or her special talent for funniness. For anyone who wants to be a more amusing conversationalist, a more effective public speaker, or just more fun to be around, How to Be Funny is as foolproof as a Steve Allen punch line. Click here for online ordering information.