CORPUS CHRISTI — Comedian Jeff Allen will take the stage in June at Catholic Charities of Corpus Christi’s Celebration of Charity at the American Bank Center.
His stand-up has been featured on places like HBO, Netflix, Showtime, Comedy Central, America’s Got Talent and YouTube, one video surpassed 400 million views.
“He’s really funny,” Shanette Holscher, the communications and mission advancement coordinator at Catholic Charities of Corpus Christisaid. “He focuses on family and raising children.”
Allen has made audiences laugh for five decades.
“I hope they just laugh and forget about their problems for an hour and a half,” Allen said.
The decision to quit cuss-filled comedy came after his son got in trouble at school.
“It’s not pretty when your children repeat what comes out of your mouth,” Allen said.
He said he made a conscious effort to clean up his show.
“I felt, if I start there, then I would be cleaner around the house,” Allen said. “And I paid my children 25 cents for every bad word that came out of my mouth. (That’s) pretty much how I funded their college was through that program.”
Allen’s current stand-up is about finding faith after a dark time in his life.
“Families can come and sit together and laugh together,” Allen said. "And I don’t know about you but those were cherished times for me. There was a lot of stress in our home and there were times where we sat in the living room and sat and listened to comedy albums.”
It was another reason Holscher said he was a perfect feature for their fundraiser.
“They get to laugh, they get to release endorphins, they get to feel good,” Allen said. “When they lay their head down at night they can know their resources and their money is staying in the community and it’s producing fruit.”
“Prior to COVID, we had our fundraiser here actually in our building and it was the standard dinner and auctions,” Holscher said.
She said during the pandemic they had to hold their fundraiser virtually for three years.
“It’s our first year back to doing a live event and we thought we need to do something out of the box,” Holscher said.
After Ticketmaster fees, 100% of ticket sales will go to Catholic Charities of Corpus Christi and the Mother Theresa Shelter, the largest day shelter in the area.
“They serve two meals a day,” Holscher said. "They offer showers. They offer laundry services, computer services.”
Allen said they are the type of non-profits he has dedicated his life to.
Along with clubs and other venues, Allen also often performs for free for soldiers over-seas, churches and charities.
“They get to see the brokenness of the world and then they get to do something to heal that world. It’s a true calling, I mean it really is,” Allen said. “Organizations like Catholic Charities will be around a lot longer after I’m dead gone.”
He said he hopes his service and message inspires others.
“I hope that these seeds that are planted certainly prunes fruit,” Allen said.
While people can go home with sore bellies from laughing, Allen said he already has a plan for after the show.
“I’m gonna go out afterwards and get my Whataburger,” Allen said. “I love Whataburger.”
Allen’s show is June 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Selena Auditorium, and tickets are available through Ticketmaster.
