IN: Allen was born in New York City, son of Billy (Carroll Abler) and Isabelle Allen (nee Donohue), a husband and wife vaudeville comedy team. He was raised on the South Side of Chicago largely by his mother's Irish Catholic family. Milton Berle called Allen's mother "the funniest woman in vaudeville". Allen's first radio job was on station KOY in Phoenix, Arizona, after he left Arizona State Teachers College (now Arizona State University) in Tempe while still a sophomore.

Allen's first television experience came in 1949 when he answered an ad for a TV announcer for professional wrestling. Although he knew nothing about wrestling, he watched some shows to gain insight, and discovered that the announcers did not have well-defined names for the wrestling holds. So, when he got the job he created names for many of the holds, some of which still are in use. After the first match got under way, Allen began ad-libbing in a comedic style which had audiences outside the arena laughing. An example:  Leone gives Smith a full nelson now, slipping it up from either a half-nelson or an Ozzie Nelson. Now the boys go into a double pretzel bend with variations on a theme by Velox and Yolanda.  After CBS radio gave Allen a weekly prime time show, CBS television believed it could groom him for national TV stardom and gave him his first network show. The Steve Allen Show premiered at 11 a.m. on Christmas Day, 1950, and was later moved into a thirty-minute, early evening slot. This new show required him to uproot his family and move from Los Angeles to New York, since at that time technology had not yet been developed that would allow a coast-to-coast program to originate from LA where the time zone was earlier than on the East Coast. The show ran until its cancellation in 1952, after which CBS tried several shows to showcase Allen's talent.  He achieved national attention when he was pressed into last-minute service to guest host the hugely popular Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts when Godfrey was unable to appear. He turned one of Godfrey's live Lipton tea and soup commercials upside down, preparing tea and instant soup on camera, then pouring both into Godfrey's iconic ukulele. With the audience (including Godfrey, watching from Miami) laughing uproariously and thoroughly entertained, Allen gained major plaudits both as a comedian and a host. Variety magazine editors who had seen the show wrote, "One of the most hilarious one-man comedy sequences projected over the TV cameras in many a day ... . The guy's a natural for the big time."  Allen also was a regular on the popular panel game show What's My Line? from 1953 to 1954, and returned frequently as a panelist until the series ended in 1967.

Can you provide me with a little information on Steve Allen and Television?

OUT: Allen's first television experience came in 1949 when he answered an ad for a TV announcer for professional wrestling.


IN: Jordan Haworth Peele (born February 21, 1979) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and director. Peele appeared for five seasons as a cast member on Mad TV, and starred with Keegan-Michael Key in the Comedy Central sketch series Key & Peele. In 2014, he had a recurring role in the first season of the FX anthology series Fargo, based on the 1996 film of the same name. Peele's 2017 directorial debut, the horror film Get Out, earned critical acclaim and was a box office success.

Peele regularly performed at Boom Chicago in Amsterdam and The Second City in Chicago. He and Nicole Parker were well known for their musical duets at Boom Chicago. He portrayed a popular character called "Danish Supermodel Ute" during his time at Boom Chicago and hosted MTV's Comedy Weekend in 2002.  In 2003, Peele joined the cast of Mad TV for its ninth season. Around the time Keegan-Michael Key joined the cast as a featured performer, it was assumed that Key would be chosen over Peele. The two of them ultimately were cast together after showing great comedic chemistry. Peele performed celebrity impersonations, which included favorites Caroll Spinney (as the voice of Big Bird from Sesame Street), Ja Rule, James Brown, Flavor Flav, Justin Guarini, Montel Williams, Morgan Freeman and Forest Whitaker. Peele was absent from the first four episodes of his second season on Mad TV. He made a cameo in "Weird Al" Yankovic's video "White & Nerdy" with Mad TV co-star Keegan-Michael Key.  Peele was nominated for a 2008 Emmy Award for his song "Sad Fitty Cent", a music video parody about 50 Cent lamenting over his rivalry with Kanye West. The lyrics were, according to the music video, written by Peele, and he was involved in arranging its music. In 2009 he appeared in Little Fockers.  Peele appeared in a viral video titled "Hillary vs Obama" (which was shown as a Mad TV sketch) where he and a Hillary Clinton supporter (played by short-term cast member Lisa Donovan) argue over whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama would make a better president, only to get upstaged by a Rudy Giuliani supporter (played by Donovan's brother, Ben). Peele auditioned to be a castmember for Saturday Night Live when SNL producers were looking for someone to play Barack Obama (around the time when SNL and Mad TV -- and other scripted shows -- were put on hiatus due to the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike). Peele remained at Mad TV and the role went to Fred Armisen until September 2012, when Jay Pharoah took over the role.  After five seasons on Mad TV, Peele left the cast at the end of the 13th season.

Did he do anything else on Mad?

OUT:
Peele was nominated for a 2008 Emmy Award for his song "Sad Fitty Cent", a music video parody about 50 Cent lamenting over his rivalry with Kanye West.