Allen Loeb might be the funniest lawyer ever.
Loeb, who grew up in New Jersey, worked in advertising before coming to UCLA for law school, and during that time he saw an improv show at Groundlings and decided to take a stab at it himself
In addition to working for California Lawyers for the Arts, Loeb produces a multitude of online videos, writes for several blogs and has appeared on the web series “Dorm Life.”
Now, Loeb stars in a one man show playing this Wednesday at Upright Citizen’s Brigade called “Hi There With Allen Loeb.”
The Daily Bruin’s Devon McReynolds sat down with Loeb to discuss his career, his show and comedy.
Daily Bruin: So, you didn’t grow up wanting to be a comedian?
Allen Loeb: No. I think in the very back of my mind I always thought that might be fun. I was a funny kid and I think people around me used to say, “˜one day you’re going to put that in your act’ which I think is probably very common for people who are in comedy now. … When I came out here for law school I thought 100 percent that I was going to be a lawyer. I didn’t know that I was going to find this passion that was going to consume my life.
DB: Tell me more about your one-man show, “Hi There with Allen Loeb.”
AL: I’ve been doing comedy for about five years, and it was just recently that I figured out my personal comedic view was, so I decided to do a show that kind of expressed that. My goal for “Hi There with Allen Loeb” was first to be delightful and then to be funny. I think it’s both. … It’s a one-man show in the style of a late night talk show but with my daytime energy. It’s me as myself as the host and follows the format of a late night talk show with the monologue and desk segments and then I introduce the different guests, who are me doing character monologues.
DB: How did you develop the characters, or the concept of the show in general?
AL: I knew I wanted to play myself on stage for a large component of the show, which is how the host character of myself developed. … The woman doing standup is based on someone I knew in high school; the celebrity playing the fiddle is based on my impression of Matthew McConaghey, which I started to do because I’m scrawny and nothing but I think I have similar coloring to him.
DB: You’ve done a lot of side-projects in addition to being part of (Upright Citizens Brigade), with a lot of short videos on Funnyordie.com. What do you like about this format for comedy?
AL: I think the short videos are a really fun way to express yourself quickly. My friend Stephanie Allynne and I made a video that’s up on Funnyordie that parodies the movie “Precious”. … We were just bantering back and forth making fun of the movie “Precious,” which is what we did in the video. I called her up a few days later and we decided to do this thing, so we got together on a Saturday, brainstormed for a half hour and shot it in two hours. It’s very cool to me how you can take a simple idea into something people can enjoy and laugh at.
DB: Do you think that everything can be turned into a joke, or do you think that there are some things in comedy that are off-limits?
AL: I think that anytime somebody says that a specific subject will never be funny, probably the very next show they see, somebody will turn it around and make it funny. … Done smartly, all kinds of tragedies can be funny because that’s how we cope with tragedies, by trying to see the humor in it. There are things that I’m uncomfortable with, like genuine racism for instance, but playing around with racial stereotypes is fair game so long as it’s done smartly and not in a cliché manner.
DB: What do you consider to always be funny?
AL: I love being surprised, like with a specific reference that I haven’t thought of in forever. In my show on Monday, I referenced the Burger King Kids Club and the audience responded wildly. I was shocked by how big of a response I got from it because it was just a one-off comment, but that’s the kind of stuff I love to see people do, pull random memories that are real to them and have it strike a chord.
E-mail McReynolds at dmcreynolds@media.ucla.edu.