Kevin Allison (born February 16, 1970) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and storyteller. He is perhaps best known as a writing and performing member of the comedy troupe

The State A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "stat ...

, and appeared in their 1993-1995

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

series ''

''. He hosts a storytelling

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

, ''

RISK! ''RISK!'' is a weekly podcast and live storytelling show created and hosted by writer, actor, and storyteller Kevin Allison. The show's official website describes ''RISK!'' as a place "where people tell true stories they never thought they'd dar ...

'', and teaches sketch comedy and storytelling.

Early life

Allison was born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. He is a 1988 graduate of St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati. He then attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, where he became a founding member of comedy troupe

Career

From 1993 to 1995, he appeared on the sketch comedy series ''

''. Popular sketches on the show starring Allison include "Taco Man," "Mr. Magina", "Dreamboy", and "The Jew, the Italian, and the Redhead Gay". Allison created and hosts the uncensored weekly audio

'', a storytelling show "where people tell true stories they never thought they'd dare to share." ''RISK!'' is also a monthly live show in New York City and Los Angeles. Allison tours to other cities with the show on a consistent basis as well. The live show debuted in August 2009 at Arlene's Grocery in New York and moved to Joe's Pub in October with guests like Margaret Cho,

Rachel Dratch Rachel Susan Dratch (born February 22, 1966) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. After she graduated from Dartmouth College she moved to Chicago to study improvisational theatre at The Second City and ImprovOlympic. Her breakthrough ro ...

, Michael Ian Black,

Andy Borowitz Andy Borowitz (born January 4, 1958) is an American writer, comedian, satirist, and actor. Borowitz is a ''The New York Times''-bestselling author who won the first National Press Club award for humor. He is known for creating the NBC sitcom ''Th ...

, and

Janeane Garofalo Janeane Marie Garofalo ( ; born September 28, 1964) is an American comedian, actress, and former co-host on the now-defunct Air America Radio's ''The Majority Report''. Garofalo began her career as a stand-up comedian and became a cast member on ...

dropping their usual material for a night to tell unusually honest and often embarrassing stories. ''RISK!'' regularly ranks on the top ten lists of podcasts on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

and gets well over one million downloads per month. The podcast features both stories told at the live shows and studio-recorded "radio-style stories" with music and sound design. Allison's best known story from the podcast is "Kevin Goes to Kink Camp." In 2011, the RISK! team created the storytelling school The Story Studio based in New York. The school specializes in both creative and corporate storytelling training. Allison's other film and TV appearances include '' Cobra Kai,

High Maintenance ''High Maintenance'' is an American Anthology series, anthology comedy-drama television show, television and web series, web series created by ex-husband and wife team Ben Sinclair (actor), Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld. The show follows The ...

@midnight ''@midnight with Chris Hardwick'' (shortened to and formerly exclusively titled ''@midnight'') was an American late night Internet-themed panel game show, hosted by Chris Hardwick, that aired Monday through Thursday nights between October 21, ...

'', '' Reno 911!: Miami'', ''

The Ten ''The Ten'' is a 2007 anthology comedy film directed by David Wain and cowritten by Wain and Ken Marino. It was released through ThinkFilm. The film was released on August 3, 2007. The DVD was released on January 15, 2008. It is an internationa ...

'', ''

Wedding Daze ''Wedding Daze'' (also known as ''The Pleasure of Your Company'' and ''The Next Girl I See'') is a 2006 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Michael Ian Black and starring Jason Biggs and Isla Fisher. Plot Against the advice of ...

'',

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

's ''

Best Week Ever ''Best Week Ever'' is an American comedy series created and executive produced by Fred Graver. The series originally aired from January 23, 2004, to June 12, 2009, on VH1.Harris, Scott"VH1 Cancels 'Best Week Ever'". ''Inside TV''. January 13, 20 ...

'', IFC's ''

Comedy Bang Bang ''Comedy Bang! Bang!'' (formerly ''Comedy Death-Ray Radio'') is a weekly comedy audio podcast, which originally began airing as a radio show on May 1, 2009.A Special Thing Forums:Comedy Death-Ray Radio starts today! Popularly known as ''Humanit ...

'' and

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

's ''

Flight of the Conchords Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's comed ...

'', '' Viva Variety'', ''

'' on

and ''

You Wrote It, You Watch It ''You Wrote It, You Watch It'' was an MTV sketch comedy show that aired in the 1992-1993 season. It was hosted by Jon Stewart, and featured members of the State comedy troupe prior to their being given their own show by MTV. The State troupe per ...

''. He has written for TV and for production companies like JibJab and

Blue Man Group Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in 1987. It was purchased in July 2017 by the Canadian company Cirque du Soleil. Blue Man Group is known for its stage productions, which incorporate many kinds of music and art, bot ...

. Allison has taught sketch comedy and storytelling classes at

, the People's Improv Theater in New York City (where he also served as artistic director), and the

Philly Improv Theater Philly Improv Theater, or PHIT (pronounced "fit"), is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania comedy theater which produces and presents shows at The Adrienne Theatre in Center City Philadelphia. The theater also operates a training center with programs in i ...

in Philadelphia. He currently teaches storytelling through his website and The Story Studio. Allison is an advocate for the kink/

BDSM BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...

community and has taught workshops on related topics.

Media appearances

Allison appeared on podcasts including

Marc Maron Marcus David Maron (born September 27, 1963) is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, and musician. In the 1990s and 2000s, Maron was a frequent guest on the '' Late Show with David Letterman'' and has appeared more than forty ...

's ''

WTF WTF most often refers to: *WTF (Internet slang), an expression of disbelief WTF may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Books and online publications *'' The Daily WTF'', a blog about information technology "perversions" *''WTF? What's the ...

'' Ken Reid's TV Guidance Counselor, ''

Guys We Fucked ''Guys We Fucked'' is a weekly podcast hosted by New York-based comedians Corinne Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson, collectively known as the comedy duo ''Sorry About Last Night''. Described as an "anti-slut-shaming" podcast by the show's hosts, '' ...

'', ''

Las Culturistas ''Las Culturistas'' is a pop-culture and comedy podcast co-hosted by Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers, produced by Will Ferrell's Big Money Players podcast network and iHeartRadio. Started in March 2016, it was previously part of the Forever Dog podcas ...

'', ''

The Gist ''The Gist'' is an American daily news podcast hosted by Mike Pesca. The show was originally produced by '' Slate'' magazine starting in May 2014 and was suspended by Slate on February 22, 2021. A year later, Pesca relaunched the podcast under ...

'', '' My Brother, My Brother and Me'', '' How to Be Amazing'', and ''

2 Dope Queens ''2 Dope Queens'' is a podcast hosted by Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson that aired between April 4, 2016, and November 14, 2018. For the first seven days following the podcast's launch, it was number one on the iTunes podcast charts. It ...

''.

References

External links

* *
RISK! PodcastRISK! iTunes Subscribe Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allison, Kevin 1970 births Male actors from Cincinnati American male comedians 21st-century American comedians American sketch comedians American male film actors American male stage actors American male television actors American television writers Comedians from Ohio American male television writers American gay actors American gay writers Gay comedians LGBT people from Ohio Gay screenwriters American LGBT screenwriters Living people St. Xavier High School (Ohio) alumni Screenwriters from Ohio 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American male writers