For a
23-year-old

North Vancouver

man, promoting comics

and other showbiz types is no

a rey

a

FUNNY BUSINESS

ee, eo

nes

TOM Allien is taking a brash swagger into the high pressure,
high-pitched jungle of showbiz promotion.

In what is his first official enter-
tainment promotion, the 23-year-
old North Vancouver man is walk-
ing the entrepreneurial high road.

Rather than promote a conser-
vative weekend dance, featuring
the tried and true basics of a rock
and rolt band, Allen has quietly
plugged into entertainment con-
nections established in three years
of television work and come up
with comic Jay Leno.

FUNNY MAN

The American performer,
variously christened as the Bruce
Springsteen of Comedy and the
“funniest man working .oday’*
will appear for two shows at the
Commodore Ballroom on March
1,

Allen regards the coup with the
nonchalance of a veteran enter-
tainment sharpshooter: ‘“‘it’s a
business.’’

The North Vancouver man says
he wandered into the garish glitter
of television show business five

Includes dresser, hutch & hyboy
Nitestand extra

Padded caps

Mattress Pads

SsOort_InD F&F

Sq 9 9 Bed a 3 9 Caps & drawers optional

Reg. $749 Now

IMOTHY RENSHAW
News Reporter

years ago when he landed a
freelance job at BCTV.

He gained experience in promo-
tion by working on such produc-
tions as the Alan Thicke Show.

Like an unknown entity in a
high-stakes poker game, Allen is
thus far playing the cards of his
latest venture close to the vest.

INSATIABLE APPETITE

He knows the competitive vola-
tility of the business, its insatiable
appetite for things new and its dis-
dain for things over-the-hill.

In the best of showbiz tradi-
tions, Allen is therefore keeping
the precise nature of his eight-
week-old Tom Allen and
Associates promotion company a
mystery.

He does not, he says, want to
give away the seeds of a novel idea
tu the big-name promoters who

Fg Oty,

from 2 9
from 1 se

3292 E. Broadway, Vancouver
255-8486

Budget terms available O.A.C.

I™N EE

Comforter Pack

Top and bottom sheets
and pillow cases

have so successfully harvested the
loca’ :rop of rock and roll talent.

Alen will only say that promo-
tion of standard rock and roll acts
is low on the company’s list of
priorities.

KNOWN NAMES

It will instead, he says, attempt
to stock mid-size downtown venues
with known entertainment per-
sonalities from a wider range of
the entertainment spectrum.

And comedy, according to
Allen, is one area of that spectrum
that has yet to be adequately pro-
moted in the Lower Mainland.

Thus far, Allen says he has had
no feedback on the Leno promo-
tion from other area promoters.

He adds that plans to follow his
first promotion are in the works.

As to who will follow Leno,
Allen says that wil] depend largely
on the success of the comic’s
Commodore performances.

Tickets to the two March |
shows are reported to be selling
steadily. A sellout is expected for
both.

from 7 g% |

9 - Friday, February 28

AMERICAN COMIC Jay Leno is one of the many entertainers pro-
moted by local entrepreneur Tom Allen. The 23-year-old North Van-
couver man has been walking the high road of showbiz promotion for the
past five years.

Don’t miss this
chance to save
money

1° above cost
Cash & Carry
Moving Sale
Feb. 28
Mar. ist & 2nd

5% above wholesale for
Visa & Mastercard carrying charges

We rent movies, Beta, VHS & Laser Disc

A WIVISIUN UF GENERAL TECHNICAL SERVICES LTO,

f 3736 Mt. Seymour Parkway, North Vancouver

= $29-8222 --)

SI dial-a- movie