CLEVELAND Christian comic returns to the area

Jeff Allen brought his life full circle, and his act came along for the ride.
By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
After nearly 30 years as a stand-up comedian, veteran funnyman Jeff Allen is learning the difference between a niche and a stigma.
As a born-again Christian, he falls into the former or latter description depending on your beliefs and what you hope to experience when attending a comedy club. Even though the Chicago native is billed on his own Web site as a purveyor of faith-based comedy, he contends the label doesn't stick.
"I don't do faith-based material," said Allen, calling from Nashville. "I just talk about my wife and my kids. I guess I'm considered edgy in a church. I wouldn't be considered edgy at 2 o'clock in the morning at a casino."
Beginning in the late '70s, Allen started touring the comedy club circuits based on his funny and often bitter views of real life. When he was single and doing drugs and booze, that is what he talked about. When he was married (to wife and Hudson-native Tami, whom he met at the old Cuyahoga Falls Hilarities while performing there in the '90s) with kids, that's what he talked about. And now that he's turned his life around as a Christian, he's talking about that. For Allen, it's that simple.
"I got in a lot of trouble with alcohol and drugs, and when I got married and had kids, I knew I couldn't do both. So I went into Alcoholics Anonymous," Allen said. "They told me to pray. And I said, to what? I didn't believe in God, that's for sure. And they said find something in this universe that's larger than you because that's the only way you're going to make this journey,"
He added, "That started me on a personal quest to find some kind of meaning and point to my life, outside of my wife and my children. Anyway, all roads in my journey led to Christ, and that took eight or nine years."
After her conversion, Allen spent years tweaking his act -- at first he was too clean -- until finding the perfect blend of insight and wit. Today, he works in comedy clubs, churches and even at corporate events.
Breaking out
As for that niche and stigma talk, Allen discovered he had to overcome both when performing in not only secular venues but also Christian arenas.
"The perception if you're a Christian and a comedian is that you're not funny," Allen said. "So I kept pushing the envelope even in the churches, and one of the things pastors had started coming to me, and saying, 'You know what we like about you? You haven't learned Christian-eze yet. You don't talk like the rest of us, and we like that.'"
What he does talk about on stage is life, albeit with a Christian slant.
"I have a joke about teenagers that in a club gets a good laugh but in the church it gets applause," Allen said. "I believe teenagers are God's revenge on mankind. It's as if God himself one day looked down over his creation and said, 'Let's see how they like it to create someone in their own image who denies their existence.'"
Allen stresses that no matter what religious background audience members are, his comedy is for everyone. And it's different regarding the lack of certain four-letter words you won't hear on stage.
"It's clean," Allen said. "That just happens to be the way I work. I think the people who take the time to work clean are better comics, only because in order to do something you need to get a dictionary out. [George] Carlin did the seven words [you can never say on TV] bit, and it seems to be those are the only words comics seem to use anymore."
Allen returns to Cleveland from Thursday to Sunday at Hilarities.