Alan Donnes

Cast · Writer

Died

July 8, 2020

Birth name

Alan Gerard Donnes

A native of New Orleans, Alan began his entertainment career as a comedian before acting in "bad dinner theatre". After tiring of being relegated to conly comedies, he went back to stand up comedy and quickly found success as the opening act of for some of the biggest performers of the 80' and 90's and a total of at least members of The Rock N ROll Hall of Fame. The Temptations, The Four Tops, Jerry Lee Lewis, and many others are just a sampling of the acts. After appearing on Showtime"s Comedy Club Network and several other cable shows, Donnes entered The Johnny Walker Red Comedy Search. Although one of 5 finalist (out of 6000 comics), he retired from stand up again. Alan Donnes jumped to radio starting a sports network covering the NFL. Quickly his network grew to be one of the largest covering the league. On a lark, he covered a boxing event in Las Vegas and with great comic timing and sports knowledge became a much sought after boxing commentator. This odd career turn became even odder when a few years later he became part of the management team of Heavyweight champion Larry Holmes. After one too many dealings with Don King, he secured the rights to The National Lampoon Radio Hour including the rights to the classic library. Along with head writer Tanner Colby and executive producer/host Richard Belzer, he built the show into a powerhouse of comedy once again. In 2011, Alan Donnes was made President of National Lampoon leading the company in a brilliant turn around. Alan Donnes is currently producing a slate of film and television projects.