Short Bio: Born in small-town Ontario and moved to Toronto, Todd Van Allen traded life from the provincial capital to the nation’s capital. Based in Ottawa, Canada, Todd’s comedy is sourced locally and delivered globally through 23 seasons of his podcast “Comedy Above the Pub”, and his new podcast “Okay, So Here’s One!: A Podcast Celebrating Street Jokes”. His ongoing comedy roast show “Write Em Up!” still continues to this day. Todd’s performance grapples with relationships, society, aging and trying to take a picture on his stupid phone. Both his albums “Really?” and “Butterflies” debuted #1 on the iTunes comedy charts and both can be heard on SiriusXM. It’s no wonder he’s headlined across North America and Europe, having performed at the #JFL42 Festival five times as well as the Melbourne Comedy Festival and the Edinburgh Festival. He was also invited to Just For Laugh’s to talk about his television show idea for the CBC at ‘Stand Up & Pitch’.
Not only has Todd done the club circuit, but he has performed at Just For Laughs in Montreal, headlined at the Melbourne Comedy Festival in Melbourne, Australia, and both the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Edinburgh Free Festival. He has performed at Just for Laughs, #JFL42 Festival in Toronto (five times), Brantford Comedy Festival, Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, 1000 Islands Comedy Festival in Gananoque, WinterCity Festival in Toronto, the Orillia Comedy Festival, Kinston Summer Festival, and Gananoque’s Festival of the Islands.
Todd has also opened for comedy greats Emo Philips, Rory Scovel, Dana Gould and Jimmy Pardo.
Todd has appeared on Comedy Network’s “The Beaverton”, CBC Radio’s “Definitely Not The Opera” as well as CBC’s “Spark” and AM640’s ‘Inside Jokes with Sandra Carusi’. He’s also been seen on RogersTV with Val Cole on “daytime toronto”, CITY-TV’s “Breakfast Television” with Jennifer Valentyne. You may also have caught him on CBC’s “Test the Nation” as well as SiriusXM’s “Laugh Attack”, “Anything Goes”, and “The Guest Spot”. He also appeared on an episode of the world famous podcast “Never Not Funny” with Jimmy Pardo. You may have also heard him voice over dozens of commercials for television and radio.
His corporate comedy styling has impressed the likes of Bank of Montreal, Toronto, EIFS Council of Canada, Gleneagles Country Club, Bolton, the Township of Leeds and Thousand Islands, and the Brockville Chamber of Commerce. He has also performed for charity events for such great organizations as the Ontario Breast Cancer Society, Cystic Fibrosis Society and the Brockville United Way.
Todd has appeared in clubs all over Canada (such as Absolute Comedy in Ottawa, Toronto and Kingston, Levity in Hamilton, Showtime Comedy in St Catherines, Comedy Nest in Montreal, Laugh Shops in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, The Comedy Cave in Calgary and Jokers in Halifax) and the US (such as Gotham Comedy Club, and Ha! Comedy Club in New York, NY, the Improv in Hollywood, CA, the New York Comedy Clubs in New York, NY and Boca Raton, FL and the Laugh-In Comedy Café in Ft Myers, FL).
Todd also hosted the award-winning podcast Comedy Above the Pub (CATP). It has recently celebrated its 23rd season and was written up in Maclean’s magazine. Guests include the likes of Rich Little, Wendy Liebman, Jeff Cesario, Blaine Capatch, Jackie Kashian, Laurie Kilmartin, Greg Proops, Dana Gould, Jen Kirkman, Anthony Jeselnik, Andy Kindler, Colin Mochrie, Alan Thicke, Bruce McCulloch, Henry Rollins, author Ian Rankin and Iron Chef America co-host Kevin Brauch. The podcast was part of the 2012 NXNE Music Festival, and Todd also moderated a podcasting panel for both the Hot Docs Podcast Festival in 2018 and the Canadian Comedy Awards in 2012. You can hear the show at www.comedyabovethepub.com or through iTunes.
He now hosts the hilarious podcast “Okay, So Here’s One!: A Podcast Celebrating Street Jokes” where guests come on and tell their favourite street joke. The jokes can be dirty or clean, just no -isms, no -obias.
Todd has won the “Search for Canada’s Funniest New Comic”, and is also an award-winning playwright having been one of four winners of the National Arts Centre’s “Young Playwright Competition”. As well, being a graduate of Second City’s Conservatory Program has also helped Todd become one of the most sought-after comedians and hosts around.
