Editing Steve Allen (section)

== Career ==
{{More citations needed | section|date=June 2024}}

=== Early career ===
==== Radio ====
[[File:Steve Allen (signature and handprints in cement).jpg|right|thumb|The handprints of Allen in front of [[Fantasmic!#Hollywood Hills Amphitheater|Hollywood Hills Amphitheater]] at [[Walt Disney World]]'s [[Disney's Hollywood Studios]] theme park]]
Allen became an announcer for radio [[KFAC (radio station)|KFAC]] in Los Angeles, then moved to the [[Mutual Broadcasting System]] in 1946, talking the station into airing his five-nights-a-week comedy show ''Smile Time'', co-starring Wendell Noble. After Allen moved to CBS Radio's [[KNX (AM)|KNX]] in Los Angeles, his music-and-talk half-hour format gradually changed to include more talk in an hour-long late-night format, boosting his popularity and creating standing-room-only studio audiences.<ref name=NYT>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/01/arts/steve-allen-comedian-who-pioneered-late-night-tv-talk-shows-is-dead-at-78.html | title=Steve Allen, Comedian Who Pioneered Late-Night TV Talk Shows, Is Dead at 78 | author=Richard Severo | date=November 1, 2000 | work=The New York Times}}</ref>

During a show's segment, Allen went into the audience with a microphone to [[Ad libitum|ad lib]] on the air for the first time.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Allen|first1=Steve|last2=Wollman|first2=Jane|title=How to Be Funny: Discovering the Comic You|date=1998|publisher=Prometheus|pages=55–56, 103}}</ref> This became a commonplace part of his studio performances for many years. His program attracted a huge local following; as the host of a 1950 summer replacement show for the popular comedy ''[[Our Miss Brooks]]'',<ref>{{Cite magazine|last1=Morse|first1=Leon|title=The Steve Allen Show|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m_UDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA37|access-date=14 April 2015|magazine=Billboard|date=July 1, 1950|page=37}}</ref> he found himself in front of a national audience for the first time.

==== Television ====

Allen's first television experience came in 1949, when he answered an advertisement for a television announcer for [[professional wrestling]]. Knowing 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]]: when he got the job, he created names for many of the holds, some of which still are in use.<ref name=Inventing /> After the first match got under way, Allen began ad-libbing in a comedic style that had audiences outside the arena laughing. An example:{{Blockquote | style=font-size:100% | 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 [[Veloz and Yolanda]].<ref name=Inventing />}}

After CBS radio gave Allen a weekly prime time show, CBS television believed he could be groomed for national television 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 to a thirty-minute, early evening slot. The new show required him to relocate, with his family, from Los Angeles to New York. It ran until 1952, after which CBS tried several different formats to showcase Allen's talent.<ref name=Inventing>Ben Alba, ''Inventing Late Night: Steve Allen and the Original Tonight Show'' (Prometheus Books, 2005), pp. 40–42</ref>

He achieved national attention in early January 1951, when he was pressed into last-minute service to guest host the hugely popular ''[[Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts]]'' when [[Arthur Godfrey|Godfrey]] was unable to appear.<ref>John Crosby. "New Sprig in the Allen Family Tree." ''Lansing'' (Michigan) ''State Journal'', January 12, 1951, p. 18.</ref> 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 as a host.<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|48}} ''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&nbsp;... The guy's a natural for the big time."<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|49}}

Leaving CBS, Allen briefly hosted a talent-competition program on ABC called [[Talent Patrol]] in the first months of 1953.

At the same time, he became a regular on the popular panel television game show ''[[What's My Line?]]'' from January 1953, substituting for the suspended [[Hal Block]], and replacing Block by March.  He continued on the show until 1954, and returned frequently as a [[panelist]] until the series ended in 1967. He once appeared as a regular contestant on June 19, 1966, but the panel failed to guess his line, which was selling motorcycles; Allen at the time was co-owner of a Los Angeles dealership selling [[Honda]] motorcycles.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K7LL6wwIGw Whats My Line? TX 06/19/1966]</ref><ref name=NYT /> Those introducing him as a panelist sometimes jokingly called him the son of panelist [[Fred Allen]], but the two men were unrelated. He also revived and popularized the question "Is it bigger than a breadbox?" while trying to guess the products associated with ''[[What's My Line?]]'' contestants.

=== ''The Tonight Show'' ===
{{Main|Tonight Starring Steve Allen}}
[[File:Steve allen Morey amsterdam WNBT shows bookmark.jpg|thumb|80px|Bookmark promotion for Allen's late-night show]]
He then created a late-night New York talk/variety television program that debuted in July 1953 on local station WNBT-TV (now [[WNBC|WNBC-TV]]). The following year, on September 27, 1954, the show went on the full [[NBC]] network as ''[[The Tonight Show]]'', with fellow radio personality [[Gene Rayburn]] (who later went on to host hit game shows such as ''[[Match Game]]'', 1962–1982) as the original announcer. The show ran from 11:15&nbsp;p.m. to 1&nbsp;a.m. on the East Coast.

While ''[[Today (American TV program)|Today]]'' developer [[Sylvester Weaver (executive)|Sylvester "Pat" Weaver]] often is credited as the ''Tonight'' creator, Allen often pointed out that he had created it earlier as a local New York show. Allen told his nationwide audience that first evening: "This is ''Tonight'', and I can't think of too much to tell you about it except I want to give you the bad news first: This program is going to go on ''forever&nbsp;...'' You think you're tired now. Wait until you see one o'clock roll around!" It was as host of ''The Tonight Show'' that Allen pioneered the "[[Vox populi|man on the street]]" comedic interviews and audience-participation comedy breaks that went on to become staples of late-night TV.

=== ''The Steve Allen Show'' ===
In June 1956, NBC offered Allen a new prime-time, Sunday night variety hour, ''[[The Steve Allen Show]]''. NBC's goal was to dethrone CBS's top-rated ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]''. The show included a typical run of star performers, including early television appearances by rock-and-roll pioneers [[Elvis Presley]],<ref name=wardvol1>{{Cite book |last=Ward |first=Ed |date=2016 |title=The History of Rock & Roll, volume one, 1920–1963 | location=New York |publisher=Flatiron Books |page=132 |isbn=978-1-250-07116-3 |author-link=Ed Ward (writer)}}</ref> [[Jerry Lee Lewis]], and [[Fats Domino]]. Many popular television and film personalities were guest stars, including [[Bob Hope]], [[Kim Novak]], [[Errol Flynn]], [[Abbott and Costello]], [[Esther Williams]], [[Jerry Lewis]], [[Martha Raye]], [[The Three Stooges]], [[Sammy Davis, Jr.]], [[Shelley Winters]], [[Edward Everett Horton]], and a host of others.

The show's regulars were [[Tom Poston]], [[Louis Nye]], [[Bill Dana]], [[Don Knotts]], [[Pat Harrington, Jr.]], [[Dayton Allen]], and [[Gabriel Dell]]. Dell was the only show-business veteran, having appeared in the [[The Bowery Boys|Bowery Boys]], [[Dead End Kids]], [[Little Tough Guys]], and [[East Side Kids]] film series. Allen's other regulars were relatively obscure performers prior to their stints with Allen, and all went on to stardom. The comedians in Allen's gang often were seen in his "Man in the Street" interviews about some topical subject. Poston would appear as a dullard who could not remember his own name. Nye's character was an effete advertising executive named Gordon Hathaway, known for greeting the host with "Hi ho, Steverino!" Dana played amiable Latino "Jose Jimenez." Knotts was an exceedingly jittery man who, when asked if he was nervous, invariably replied with an alarmed "No!". Harrington was the Italian immigrant and former golf-pro Guido Panzini. Dayton Allen, who had gotten his start playing various characters on the children's television series "Howdy Doody," played wild-eyed zanies answering any given question with the question "Why not?" Dell usually played [[straight man|straight men]] in sketches (policemen, newsmen, dramatic actors, etc.), and occasionally played the character Boris Nadel, a Bela Lugosi/Dracula lookalike.

Other recurring routines included "Crazy Shots" (also known as "Wild Pictures"), a series of sight gags accompanied by Allen on piano; Allen inviting audience members to select three musical notes at random, and then composing a song based on the notes; a satire on radio's long-running ''[[The Answer Man]]'' and a precursor to [[Johnny Carson]]'s Carnac the Magnificent (sample answer: "Et tu, Brute." Allen's reply: "How many pizzas did you eat, Caesar?"); and overdramatic readings of real letters to the editor from New York City newspapers.

Allen's show also had one of the longest unscripted "crack-ups" on live television when Allen began laughing hysterically during "Big Bill Allen's Sports Roundup". Allen, known for his infectious high-pitched cackling laugh, laughed uncontrollably for over a minute with the audience laughing along, because, as he later explained, he caught sight of his unkempt hair on an off-camera monitor. He kept brushing his hair and changing hats to hide the messy hair, and the more he tried to correct his appearance the messier and funnier it got.

Allen helped the then-new [[Instant camera#Cameras and film|Polaroid camera]] become popular by demonstrating its instant-picture capabilities during live commercials and amassed a huge financial windfall for his work because he had opted to be paid for it in [[Polaroid Corporation]] stock.

Allen remained host of "Tonight" for three nights a week (Monday and Tuesday nights were taken up by guest hosts for most of the summer of 1956; then by [[Ernie Kovacs]] through January) until early 1957 when he left the show to devote his attention to the Sunday night program. It was his (and NBC's) hope that ''The Steve Allen Show'' could defeat Ed Sullivan in the ratings. Nevertheless, [[Maverick (TV series)|''Maverick'']] often bested both in audience size.<ref>{{Cite web|author=Tise Vahimagi|title=Maverick|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/maverick/maverick.htm|publisher=The Museum of Broadcast Communications|access-date=2007-10-20|quote=Maverick premiered on September 22, 1957, and pretty soon won over the viewers from the powerful opposition of CBS's The Ed Sullivan Show and NBC's The Steve Allen Show, two programs that had been Sunday night favorites from the mid-1950s.|archive-date=September 11, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130911105959/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/maverick/maverick.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> In September 1959, Allen relocated to Los Angeles and left Sunday night television (the 1959–'60 season originated from [[NBC Studios (New York City)|NBC Color City]] in [[Burbank, California|Burbank]] as ''The Steve Allen Plymouth Show'', on Monday nights). Back in Los Angeles, he continued to write songs, hosted other variety shows, and wrote books and articles about comedy.

After being canceled by NBC in 1960, the show returned in the fall of 1961—on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], as ''The New Steve Allen Show''. Nye, Poston, Harrington, Dell, and Dayton Allen returned. New cast members were [[Joey Forman]], [[Buck Henry]], the [[Smothers Brothers]], [[Tim Conway]], and Allen's wife Jayne Meadows. The new version was canceled after fourteen episodes.<ref name="muse">{{Cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/steveallens/steveallens.htm|title=The Museum of Broadcast Communications&nbsp;— Encyclopedia of Television|publisher=museum.tv|access-date=February 2, 2020|archive-date=April 19, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419171707/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/steveallens/steveallens.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Later television projects ===

==== Westinghouse ====
From 1962 to 1964, Allen recreated ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' on a new show, ''The Steve Allen Show'', which was syndicated by Westinghouse TV. The five-nights-a-week taped show was broadcast from an old vaudeville theater at 1228 North Vine Street in Hollywood that was renamed ''[[The Steve Allen Playhouse]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cinematreasures.org/theater/1419 |title=Filmarte Theatre |location= Los Angeles |publisher=Cinema Treasures |access-date=2013-02-21}}</ref> The new Allen show could be programmed by local stations as an alternative to the networks' late-night shows, but many stations opted to broadcast the Allen show during the daytime hours.

The show was marked by the same wild, unpredictable stunts, and comedy skits that often extended across the side street to an all-night food outlet known as the Hollywood Ranch Market, where Allen had a hidden camera spying on unsuspecting shoppers. On one show, he had an elephant race down the side street, much to the annoyance of the occupants of the neighboring houses. On this show, he originated the term "little black things" in reference to anything regarding food, and the term "larger than Steve Allen's breadbox" in reference to any item under discussion. He also presented Southern California eccentrics, including health food advocate [[Gypsy Boots]], quirky physics professor Dr. [[Julius Sumner Miller]], wacko comic Professor [[Irwin Corey]], and an early musical performance by [[Frank Zappa]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Slaven|year= 1996| title= Electric Don Quixote| pages= 35–36}}</ref>

During one episode, Allen placed a telephone call to the home of Johnny Carson, posing as a rating company interviewer, asking Carson if the television was on, and what program he was watching. Carson did not immediately realize the caller was Allen. A rarity is an exchange between Allen and Carson about Carson's guests, permitting him to plug his{{who|date=May 2022}} own show on a competing network.

One notable program, which Westinghouse refused to distribute, featured [[Lenny Bruce]] during the time the comic repeatedly was being arrested on obscenity charges. Footage from this program was first telecast in 1998 in a Bruce documentary aired on [[HBO]]. [[Regis Philbin]] briefly took over hosting the Westinghouse show in 1964.

The show also featured many jazz songs played by Allen and members of the show's band, the [[Donn Trenner]] Orchestra, which included such virtuoso musicians as guitarist [[Herb Ellis]] and flamboyantly comedic hipster trombonist [[Frank Rosolino]] (whom Allen credited with originating the "Hiyo!" chant later popularized by [[Ed McMahon]]). While the show was not an overwhelming success in its day, [[David Letterman]], [[Steve Martin]], [[Harry Shearer]], [[Robin Williams]], and a number of other prominent comedians have cited Allen's "Westinghouse show," which they watched as teenagers, as being highly influential on their own comedic visions.

Allen later produced a second half-hour show for Westinghouse, titled ''[[Jazz Scene USA]]'', which featured West Coast jazz musicians such as Rosolino, [[Stan Kenton]], and [[Teddy Edwards]]. The short-lived show was hosted by [[Oscar Brown, Jr.]]

==== Network shows ====
In 1964 Allen returned to network television as moderator of the game show ''[[I've Got a Secret]]'' (replacing original host [[Garry Moore]]). In the summer of 1967, he brought most of the regulars from over the years back with ''The Steve Allen Comedy Hour'', featuring the television debuts of [[Rob Reiner]], [[Richard Dreyfuss]], and [[John Byner]], and featuring [[Ruth Buzzi]], who would become famous soon after on the comedy ensemble show ''[[Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In]]''.

==== Filmways ====
In 1968 Steve Allen returned to syndicated variety/talk with a new show for [[Filmways]], produced and co-written by Jeff Harris and Bernie Kukoff. The show was a free-wheeling, light-entertainment blend of comedy sketches, musical specialties, and conversation. It sometimes featured the same wacky stunts that would influence David Letterman in later years, including becoming a human [[hood ornament]], jumping into vats of [[oatmeal]] and [[cottage cheese]], and being slathered with [[dog food]] before allowing dogs backstage to feast on the food. During the run of this series, Allen also introduced [[Albert Brooks]] and [[Steve Martin]] to national audiences for the first time; Allen's talent coordinator for the Filmways show was [[Bill Saluga]], who himself became a TV personality in the 1970s as "Raymond J. Johnson, Jr." ("You can call me Ray! Or you can call me Jay!"). The Filmways show was offered to local stations in both 60-minute and 90-minute versions; during each taping, after an hour had passed, Allen simply said goodbye to part of his audience and continued the show for those stations using the longer version. This Filmways show ran through 1971.

==== In the 1970s ====
Allen returned to guest host ''The Tonight Show'' for a single 1971 episode, and then became a semi-occasional guest host (15 episodes) from 1973 to 1977. After another long layoff, he guest-hosted two episodes in 1982, the last time he would host ''The Tonight Show''.

A syndicated version of ''I've Got A Secret'' hosted by Allen and featuring panelists [[Pat Carroll (actress)|Pat Carroll]] and [[Richard Dawson]] was taped in Hollywood and aired during 1972–1973 season. In 1977, he produced ''Steve Allen's Laugh-Back'', a syndicated series combining vintage Allen film clips with new talk-show material reuniting his 1950s television gang.

==== ''Meeting of Minds'' ====
{{Quote box||align=right|width=25em|bgcolor = LightCyan|quote=It elicited a kind of mail none of us connected with its production had ever seen. What appealed to the thousands who wrote, I believe, was that they were actually given the opportunity to hear ''ideas'' on television, a medium which otherwise presents only people, things, and actions.|source=-- '''Steve Allen'''<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|302}}}}
From 1977 until 1981, Allen wrote, produced and hosted the award-winning show ''[[Meeting of Minds]]'', which aired on the [[PBS|Public Broadcasting Service]] (PBS).<ref name=mind>{{Cite magazine|url-access=subscription | magazine=Philosophy Now| title= A Mind is a Wonderful Thing to Meet| first= Tim |last= Madigan |url= http://philosophynow.org/issues/100/A_Mind_is_a_Wonderful_Thing_to_Meet | number=100 |access-date= 2014-01-29}}</ref> The series brought together actors portraying historical figures such as [[Socrates]], [[Marie Antoinette]], [[Thomas Paine]], Sir [[Thomas More]], [[Attila|Attila the Hun]], [[Karl Marx]], [[Emily Dickinson]], [[Charles Darwin]], [[Oliver Cromwell]], [[Daniel O'Connell]], [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]], and many others, as if transported from the past, all in a round table discussion and sometimes arguments. The dialogue covered issues such as racism, women's rights, crime and punishment, slavery, and religious tolerance. [[Jayne Meadows-Allen]] played most of the female characters, wisely eschewing Emily Dickinson, played by [[Katherine Helmond]], and the Empress Tz'u-hsi, played by [[Beulah Quo]].<ref name=mind /><ref name=Meeting>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gH5Nbdmdg4 "Meeting of Minds", TV show]</ref> [[Associated Press]] television columnist Peter Boyer called it the "best talk show on television", created by the person who "invented the television talk show", and added:<ref name=Boyer />
{{Blockquote | style=font-size:100% | The amazing thing about this show is that it actually comes off as a talk show, with a talk show's rhythm and pace. A truly conversational script is a tough trick to turn; Allen turns it with apparent ease.<ref>Boyer, Peter. "Meeting of Minds" shows off Steve Allen's." AP, ''Longview News-Journal'', (Longview, Texas) March 27, 1981</ref>}}

Allen was a "philosophy fanatic" and avid reader of classic literature and history. He wrote the scripts based on the actual writings and actions of the guests, and as host would lead the conversations to different subjects. He described the show as "drama disguised as a talk show."<ref name=Boyer>"Best of TV Talkshows Readies for Third Season", ''The Tennessean'' (Nashville, Tennessee), May 6, 1979</ref> Most of the female roles (Marie Antoinette, [[Catherine the Great]], [[Florence Nightingale]], et al.) were portrayed by Allen's wife, the actress [[Jayne Meadows]] – over her objections. She resisted monopolizing these roles, but Allen was insistent. She recalled in 1994, "He came to me and he said, 'You're gonna play [[Cleopatra]].' I said, 'I am ''not!'' Go away. Go away!' And he calmly said, 'It's a divorce if you don't play it.'"<ref>Jayne Meadows interview, ''Hi-Ho, Steverino!'', Arts & Entertainment Network, 1994.</ref>

Allen first conceived the show in 1959 but took almost 20 years to make it become reality.<ref name=mind /> He initially produced a version in 1971 that aired locally in Los Angeles and earned three Local Emmy Awards.<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|299}} But, although it received critical acclaim from Hollywood critics, the distributor chose not to broadcast it nationally, feeling it would not draw a large enough audience.<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|301}} Even PBS backed off on showing it, and many in the television industry felt the series was "too thoughtful" for the American public.<ref name=SecularWeb /> Allen then produced the first shows at his own expense, which resulted in attracting major backers. It eventually aired nationally, beginning in 1977.<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|301}}

The series, consisting of six hour-long episodes per season, became enormously popular. Allen received a Personal Peabody Award in 1977 for creating and hosting "a truly original show."<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|302}} The award also recognized Meadows for her various portrayals. In 1981, the show won an Emmy for Outstanding Informational Series, and Allen's writing was Emmy nominated.<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|302}} It was the show Allen wanted to be remembered for, because he believed the issues and characters were timeless and would survive long after his death. A similar Canadian television series called ''[[Witness to Yesterday]]'', created by Arthur Voronka, aired in 1974, three years after Allen's local Emmy Award-winning program. Allen appeared on a 1976 episode of ''Witness to Yesterday'' as composer-pianist [[George Gershwin]].{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}

==== In the 1980s ====
After television executive [[Fred Silverman]] became head of programming at [[National Broadcasting Company|NBC]], he tried to revive some of the network's bygone successes. He signed [[Mitch Miller]] to reunite his old choral group for a new series of ''[[Sing Along with Mitch]]'' musical hours, and signed Miller to a pilot with an option for a 13-week series.<ref>Val Adams, ''New York Daily News'', Jan. 1, 1981, p. 48.</ref> The pilot aired but the series did not.

In the same vein, Silverman tried to return Steve Allen to the network. He hired Allen for two primetime projects: ''The Steve Allen Comedy Hour'' (1980), similar to Allen's 1950s variety hour, with comic characters and sketches; and ''The Big Show'' (1980), an attempt to stage spectacular events for television. A third Silverman project got the green light: Allen would return to his roots as a late-night star, in a weeknight revival of ''The Steve Allen Show''. Silverman scheduled the hourlong show for five nights a week at 12:30&nbsp;a.m. Eastern time, immediately following ''The Tonight Show.'' Allen was excited about the opportunity, only to be disappointed: Johnny Carson opposed the plan and voiced his objections to Silverman. Silverman's own schedule of new NBC shows was failing (Allen's ''Comedy Hour'' ran for only five episodes and ''The Big Show'' for only eleven) and NBC couldn't afford to alienate Carson, the network's most important asset, so the new Steve Allen show was abandoned.

From 1984 to 1986, Allen created and hosted ''Steve Allen's Music Room'' which aired on the newly formed [[Disney Channel]].<ref>IMDb listing for "Steve Allen's Music Rhttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt2770782/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1oom"</ref> This was a talk show with jazz vibraphonist [[Terry Gibbs]] leading a studio band with the top Los Angeles musicians to include [[Conte Candoli]], [[Pete Candoli]], [[Carl Fontana]], [[Med Flory]], [[Plas Johnson]], [[Alan Broadbent]], and drummer [[Frankie Capp]]. 27-year-old [[Bill Maher]] was the announcer and "sidekick." The show featured musicians and entertainers including [[Melba Moore]], [[Joe Williams (jazz singer)|Joe Williams]], [[Paul Williams (songwriter)|Paul Williams]], [[Burt Bacharach]], [[Anthony Newley]], [[Rosemary Clooney]], [[Lou Rawls]], [[Dizzy Gillespie]], [[Sarah Vaughan]], and [[Henry Mancini]]. Allen spun off a similar show for Disney, ''Steve Allen's Comedy Room'', this time with professional comedians talking about comedy styles.

From 1986 through 1988, for Allen hosted a daily, three-hour long comedy program, broadcast over the [[NBC Radio Network]], featuring sketches and some of America's better-known comedians as regular guests. Allen's co-host was radio personality Mark Simone, and they were joined frequently by comedy writers [[Larry Gelbart]], of ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'' writing fame; [[Herb Sargent]], best known for his writing for  "Saturday Night Live," and [[Bob Einstein]], who created and portrayed the hapless daredevil stuntman character, [[Super Dave Osborne]].

On October 30, 1988, Allen portrayed a radio newscaster in a remake of the famous ''[[The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)|The War of the Worlds]]'' broadcast of fifty years earlier. The 1988 version was produced by [[WGBH (FM)|WGBH]] in Boston and picked up by 150 [[National Public Radio]] stations.

=== Composer ===
According to his own estimate, Allen was a prolific composer who wrote more than 8,500 songs, although only a small fraction of them were ever recorded. In one famous stunt, he made a bet with singer-songwriter [[Frankie Laine]] that he could write 50 songs a day for a week. Composing on public display in the window of Wallach's Music City, a Hollywood music store, Allen met the quota and won $1,000 from Laine. One of the songs, "Let's Go to Church (Next Sunday Morning)" became a chart hit for the duo of [[Jimmy Wakely]] and [[Margaret Whiting]], hitting #13 pop and #2 country in 1950.

Allen began his recording career in 1951 with the album ''Steve Allen At The Piano'' for [[Columbia Records]]. He then signed with [[Decca Records]], recording for their subsidiaries [[Brunswick Records]] and then [[Coral Records]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bQoEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22but+officer%22+%2B+%22steve+allen%22&pg=PA18 |title=Billboard |date=September 12, 1953}}</ref> Allen would release a mixture of novelty singles, jazz recordings and straight pop numbers for Decca throughout the 1950s, before switching to [[Dot Records]] in the 1960s.

In 1953 Allen added lyrics to "South Rampart Street Parade," a 1938 instrumental hit for [[Bob Crosby]], written by [[Bob Haggart]] and [[Ray Bauduc]]. The vocal was introduced in the [[Donald O'Connor]] musical film ''[[Walking My Baby Back Home (film)|Walking My Baby Back Home]]'' (1953). Though the song is best known as an instrumental, [https://4-in-a-bar.bandcamp.com/track/south-rampart-st-parade] Allen's lyrics are occasionally performed.
 
Allen's best-known song, "[[This Could Be the Start of Something]] (Big)", dates from 1954. Though it was never a hit, the song was recorded by numerous artists, including [[Count Basie]], [[Tony Bennett]], [[Bobby Darin]], [[Ella Fitzgerald]], [[Mark Murphy (singer)|Mark Murphy]] [[Judy Garland]], [[Aretha Franklin]], [[Lionel Hampton]], [[Claire Martin (singer)|Claire Martin]], and [[Oscar Peterson]]. Allen used it as the theme song of ''The Tonight Show'' in 1956-57, and as the theme song to many of his later television projects.

Allen wrote the lyrics for the standard "[[Theme from Picnic]]" from the film ''[[Picnic (1955 film)|Picnic]]'' in 1955; the song was a No. 13 U.S. hit in a vocal version for The [[McGuire Sisters]] in 1956. The song, however, is chiefly remembered as an instrumental, often performed in a medley with "[[Moonglow (song)|Moonglow]]," a popular song from 1933. Two instrumental versions charted in the U.S. top 5 in 1956, including a No. 1 hit version by [[Morris Stoloff]]. Because he did not write the music, Allen was not credited as a songwriter on the instrumental versions.

In 1957, [[Jerry Vale]] had a minor hit (US #52) with the Allen composition "Pretend You Don't See Her". The song was later covered by [[Bobby Vee]], who would also chart with it (US #97) in 1965, and Vale's recording would later be heard in the 1990 gangster film ''[[GoodFellas]]''.

"Gravy Waltz" was composed and originally performed by [[Ray Brown (musician)|Ray Brown]] as an instrumental in the early 1960s. Allen later set words to it, and the collaboration won the 1964 [[Grammy Award for Best Original Jazz Composition]]. Issued as an instrumental single in 1963, it hit No. 64 on the US Billboard charts. Though the single version was credited to "Steve Allen With Donn Trenner And His Orchestra," Allen did not play on it. As well, though Allen was credited as co-songwriter for his lyrics, the hit single version was strictly an instrumental performance.

In the realm of theatre, Allen wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical ''Sophie'', which was based on the early career of the woman long billed as "The Last of the Red-Hot Mamas," entertainer [[Sophie Tucker]]. The book for the show was by Philip Pruneau. [[Libi Staiger]] and [[Art Lund]] were featured in the leading roles. "Sophie" opened at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York, after tryouts in three other cities, on April 15, 1963, to mostly unfavorable critical notices. It closed five days later, on April 20, after just eight performances. As [[Ken Mandelbaum]] noted in his 1991 book ''Not Since Carrie'':

<blockquote style=font-size:100%>The show received consistently negative reviews in Columbus, Detroit, Philadelphia, and New York, and its problems were obvious: a cliché-ridden standard show-biz bio book, and an ordinary score&nbsp;... The score went unrecorded (by the cast), although several months later Judy Garland sang three songs from ''Sophie'' on her CBS television series.</blockquote>

Though Mandelbaum doesn't mention it, Allen was a guest on that episode of ''[[The Judy Garland Show]]'' in which she featured Allen's songs from ''Sophie''. Later, a "compiled" recording of ''Sophie'' was released with vocals by Allen, Libi Staiger, Garland, and others.

Allen's other produced musical was the 1969 London show ''Belle Starr'', which starred [[Betty Grable]] as the American West character. Allen wrote the music, and was one of three credited lyricists. ''Belle Starr'' also received poor reviews in both its Glasgow tryout and in its London run, and closed after 12 performances. Like ''Sophie'', the score went unrecorded by the cast. No compiled recording of the score has been made.

Allen also composed the score to [[Paul Mantee]]'s [[James Bond]]–inspired film ''[[A Man Called Dagger]]'' (1967), with the score orchestrated by [[Ronald Stein]].

By the 1970s, Allen was no longer actively recording his music. He continued to compose material, however, and in 1985, Allen wrote 19 songs for [[Irwin Allen]]'s television mini-series ''[[Alice in Wonderland (1985 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]''. The series starred his wife [[Jayne Meadows]] as the Queen of Hearts, among dozens of other celebrities.

After a long layoff from recording, in 1992 Allen issued the instrumental album ''Steve Allen Plays Jazz Tonight'', which included interpretations of jazz classics as well as a handful of new original compositions.

=== Allen and rock music ===
While Allen often was critical of [[rock and roll]] music, he also often booked rock and roll acts on his television program ''The Steve Allen Show''. It featured such acts as [[Fats Domino]], [[Jerry Lee Lewis]], [[Louis Jordan]] & the [[Tympany Five]], [[the Treniers]], and [[the Collins Kids]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tv.com/the-steve-allen-show/show/1465/episode_guide.html?season=All |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130105001117/http://www.tv.com/the-steve-allen-show/show/1465/episode_guide.html?season=All |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 5, 2013 |title=The Steve Allen Show Episodes |publisher=TV.com |date=July 24, 1964 |access-date=2013-02-21}}</ref> Allen famously scooped [[Ed Sullivan]] by being one of the first to present [[Elvis Presley]] on network television (after Presley had appeared on the [[Tommy Dorsey|Tommy]] and [[Jimmy Dorsey]] ''[[Stage Show (TV series)|Stage Show]]'' and [[Milton Berle]] shows).

While Presley was an exceedingly controversial act at the time, "Allen found a way&nbsp;... to satisfy the Puritans. He assured viewers that he would not allow Presley 'to do anything that will offend anyone.' NBC announced that a 'revamped, purified and somewhat abridged Presley' had agreed to sing while standing reasonably still, dressed in black tie."<ref>Glenn C. Altschuler, ''All Shook Up: How Rock 'n' Roll Changed America'' (Oxford University Press, 2003), p.90. This quote actually contains erroneous information. Elvis wore white tie not black tie. The two are often confused but are completely different. The video can be seen on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3r5AiBJr2M</ref> Allen avoided any controversy by inviting Presley to participate in the show's comedy. Elvis wore [[white tie]] and [[tailcoat]] while singing "[[Hound Dog (song)|Hound Dog]]" to a [[hound]], which was attired with a top hat. The singer was also featured in a country-music sketch with Allen, [[Andy Griffith]], and [[Imogene Coca]].<ref>Jake Austen, ''TV A-Go-Go: Rock on TV from American Bandstand to American Idol'' (2005), p.13.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/steve_allen.html |title=Steve Allen Talks About Elvis – Elvis Presley Music – The Man and the Photos |publisher=Elvis Presley Music |date=August 26, 1969 |access-date=2013-02-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://steveallen.com/television_pioneer/steve_allen_comedy_show.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030710093740/http://steveallen.com/television_pioneer/steve_allen_comedy_show.htm |archive-date=July 10, 2003 |title=Steve Allen Comedy Show |access-date=2013-02-21}}</ref>

Allen also appeared on the shows of other entertainers, even the mildly rock and roll program ''The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom'' on ABC; Boone had appeared as a guest on Allen's variety hour.

=== Actor ===
Allen was an occasional actor. He wrote and starred in his first film, the [[Mack Sennett]] comedy compilation ''Down Memory Lane'', in 1949; Allen cast himself as a "TV disc jockey" showing Sennett's old comedy films on live television. His most famous film appearance was in 1956's ''[[The Benny Goodman Story]]'', in the title role. The film, while an average biopic of its day, was hailed for its music, featuring many alumni of the Goodman band. Allen later recalled his one contribution to the film's music, used in the early scenes. The accomplished Benny Goodman no longer could produce the sound of a clarinet beginner, and that was the only sound Allen ''could'' produce on a clarinet.

In 1960, he appeared as the character "Dr. Ellison" in the episode "Play Acting" on [[CBS]]'s [[anthology series]] ''[[The DuPont Show with June Allyson]]'' though his ''The Steve Allen Show'' had been in competition with the program the preceding season.

Allen sometimes appeared as himself (or as thinly disguised versions of himself) as a TV host in feature films (like ''[[The Comic]]'') and TV shows (''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' and ''[[The Snoop Sisters]]'').

During the late 1980s, Allen and [[Jayne Meadows]], his second wife, made three appearances on the television drama series ''[[St. Elsewhere]]''. They played the estranged birth parents of the character Dr. Victor Ehrlich, who had given him up for adoption. And, in 1998, Allen and Meadows guest-starred in an episode of ''[[Homicide: Life on the Street]]''.

Allen did voice work in two episodes of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' in the 1990s, appearing once as the electronically "altered" voice of [[Bart Simpson]] in [[The Simpsons (season 3)|season 3]]'s "[[Separate Vocations]]", and as himself in [[The Simpsons (season 6)|season 6]]'s {{"-}}[['Round Springfield]]". In 1997, Allen was a guest on the ''[[Space Ghost Coast to Coast]]'' episode "Boat Show."

=== Author ===
Allen was a comedy writer and author of more than 50 books, including several volumes of autobiography; children's books; a series of mystery novels; and numerous volumes of essays and opinions. Twenty of his books were concerned with his views about religion.<ref name=god />

Among his better-known non-fiction works are ''Dumbth'', a commentary on the American educational system, and ''Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion, and Morality''. Allen also ostensibly authored a long-running series of mystery novels in the 1980s and '90s "starring" himself and Meadows as amateur sleuths. They later were revealed to have been ghostwritten by Walter J. Sheldon and, later, by [[Robert T. Westbrook|Robert Westbrook]].

Despite his lifelong reputation for political liberalism, morally, Allen was highly critical of vulgarity on both television and radio, and particularly strident in criticizing [[Howard Stern]] and other [[shock jock]]s. At the time of his death, he was completing a book on the subject called ''Vulgarians at the Gate,'' about what he saw as "the rising tide of smut on television."<ref name=NYT />

=== Scientific skepticism ===
Allen, a [[freethought|freethinker]] and [[Humanism|humanist]], became an outspoken critic of organized religion and an active member of the [[Skeptical movement#Scientific skepticism|scientific skepticism]] movement. He worked to promote [[critical thinking]] with such humanist and skeptical organizations as the Council for Media Integrity, a group that debunked pseudoscientific claims,<ref>[http://www.csicop.org/si/2001-01/steve-allen.html "Steve Allen"]. [[Center for Inquiry]]. {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090813171140/http://www.csicop.org/si/2001-01/steve-allen.html |date=August 13, 2009}}</ref> and the California-based group [[The Skeptics Society]]. He wrote many pieces for their publication, ''[[Skeptic (U.S. magazine)|Skeptic]]'', on such topics as the [[Church of Scientology]], genius, and the passing of science fiction giant [[Isaac Asimov]].<ref>[http://www.skeptic.com/magazine/back_issues/?s=1&e=5 "Back Issues, volumes 1 through 5"]. ''[[Skeptic (U.S. magazine)|Skeptic]]''. Retrieved February 6, 2017.</ref>

Working with [[Paul Kurtz]], publisher of [[Prometheus Books]], Allen published 15 books, including ''Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking with 101 Ways to Reason Better and Improve Your Mind'', which was reissued in 1998. He produced ''Gullible's Travels'', an audiotape with original music and script that was read and sung by him and his wife "in order to introduce youngsters to the brain and its proper use." Wishing to counter the influence of the American [[Christian right]], Allen wrote both a 1990 critique of the Bible (''Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion and Morality'') as well as a sequel.<ref name=SecularWeb>Kurtz, Paul (2000). [https://infidels.org/library/modern/paul_kurtz/allen.html "A Tribute to Steve Allen"]. [[Internet Infidels|The Secular Web]].</ref> A sample passage from the book that illustrated his view of the [[Judeo-Christian-Islamic]] God reads:

<blockquote style=font-size:100%>The proposition that the entire human race&nbsp;— consisting of enormous hordes of humanity&nbsp;— would be placed seriously in danger of a fiery eternity characterized by unspeakable torments purely because a man disobeyed a deity by eating a piece of fruit offered him by his wife is inherently incredible.<ref name=SecularWeb /></blockquote>

In 2011 Allen was selected for inclusion in the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]]'s Pantheon of Skeptics.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Pantheon of Skeptics|url=http://www.csicop.org/about/the_pantheon_of_skeptics|website=CSI|publisher=[[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]]|access-date=30 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131054129/http://www.csicop.org/about/the_pantheon_of_skeptics|archive-date=31 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Activities in later years ===
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Allen recorded a solo piano album for the Pianocorder Contemporary Artists Series, joining such other pop pianists of the day as [[Liberace]], [[Floyd Cramer]], [[Teddy Wilson]], [[Roger Williams (pianist)|Roger Williams]], and [[Johnny Guarnieri]]. His solo album was popular.

In 1986, Allen was inducted into the [[Television Hall of Fame]].

Allen was on the advisory board of the [[National Student Film Institute|Los Angeles Student Film Institute]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=National Student Film Institute/L.A: The Sixteenth Annual Los Angeles Student Film Festival|date=June 10, 1994|location=The Directors Guild Theatre|pages=10–11 | ref=Program}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Los Angeles Student Film Institute: 13th Annual Student Film Festival|date=June 7, 1991|location=The Directors Guild Theatre | page=3 |ref=Program}}</ref>

Allen appeared in a public service announcement advocating for [[New Eyes for the Needy]] in the 1990s.

Steve Allen had last guest-hosted ''The Tonight Show'' in 1982, and made his last appearance on it on September 27, 1994, for the show's 40th-anniversary broadcast. Host [[Jay Leno]] was effusive in his praise, and actually knelt and kissed Allen's ring.

Allen also narrated ''[[Chris Mortensen|The Unreal Story of Professional Wrestling]]'', a documentary of professional wrestling from its origins to 1998.