INTERVIEW: "I would dive in front of a bullet for Trump": From Happy Gilmore to Happy Warrior: Allen Covert on Hollywood's many problems
How a "dad and an aging Gen X guy who likes to have fun and mock people" became a fierce supporter of Donald Trump and of Israel.
For decades, Allen Covert has had a front row seat to Hollywood, as both an actor and as a producer. But he’s recently moved to Texas to work with Roseanne Barr on her upcoming comedy, which he described in an interview with the Washington Reporter as a show that is “no holds barred, pure comedy.”
Covert, a lifelong Republican, has seen Hollywood evolve from a place where “no one cared that I was a Republican or conservative” to a place where no one would green light an animated sequel to his most famous role, Grandma’s Boy.
“There was the rise of extreme political correctness and basically fucking Maoist levels of discipline,” he said — and comedies were among the first casualties.
“I was just a guy trying to make funny movies with my friends,” Covert, who described himself as “just a dad and an aging Gen X guy who likes to have fun and mock people.” And he found stunning levels of success. But his industry has been overtaken by what he’s described as an HRification.
“If I go in to pitch a comedy, and the lady sitting on the other side of the room from me looks like the twin of Molly Jong-Fast or whatever her name is, I know I’m not selling,” he said. “If I see those fucking square glasses, I start texting everyone else on my team and going, ‘we’re done. Why are we even here?’”
Perhaps nowhere has this change been more evident than with Hollywood’s reaction — and lack thereof — to the horrors of October 7th.
“They’re idiots,” Covert said of those in Hollywood who don pins with bloody hands, celebrating the Palestinian murderers of the Ramallah Lynching. “They’re fucking idiots. They’re stupid. Honestly, they’re sheep. They get told that you need to be on the right side of history, and they’re like, ‘yeah, I do.’ Also they’re surrounded by people who all think the same.”
“That fucking bloody hands thing, I guarantee you, none of them know what they’re supporting,” he continued. “It’s wrong. And if they did find out that it’s about Palestinians lynching an Israeli soldier and tearing his body apart, they’d be like, ‘well, it was a soldier.’ They’ve been told this lie about Israel, and they don’t understand that the only place in the Middle East where they would be accepted and their ideas would not get them killed is Israel.”
Covert, a self-proclaimed “terrible Jew” who grew up in the swamps of Florida, repeatedly asked where the Jews of Hollywood have been on the horrors of October 7th.
“It’s important to ask why has there not been a drum beat for two years about the hostages from the Jews of Hollywood?” Covert asked. He thinks that most are “hiding like cowards and praying it passes over…and some of them are actively supporting the terrorists. Hollywood has decided that the internal politics are more important than human rights. It’s like high school. They’ve all bought into the cult. Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism, end of story.”
While Covert noted that some Jews, namely Barr, Debra Messing, Jon Lovitz, and Michael Rapaport were ceaseless in their advocacy, most remained frustratingly silent about the atrocities committed by Arabs in Gaza. Covert also singled out two Christians in particular for praise. “Why are Patricia Heaton and John Ondrasik the loudest supporting voices for Israel and the Jews? These are two Christians. Patty Heaton has done more for the Jews over the last two years than a single big time Jew in Hollywood has. Why aren’t there 25 movies about the horror of October 7th?”
“I’m disgusted by Hollywood, which is supposedly run by Jews, because it isn’t,” he said. “It’s run by secular Jews, and it’s not even run by them anymore. If you look at who really is running Hollywood, is Sony Jewish? Donna Langley has run Universal forever. She’s not Jewish. Ted Sarandos? I don’t even know if they have any Jews at Netflix, and I’m not saying that the Jews would be doing anything different or better.”
So what explains the the ignorance by many in Hollywood and also the hostility? “Who knows?” he said. “Maybe it’s from Javier Bardem, who got them all to sign that stupid letter. That stupid letter too, by the way? That was the most anti-Semitic, genocide-enabling letter I’ve ever seen. Luckily, no one gives a shit anymore about what a bunch of pampered people in Hollywood think. There were a couple names on that letter that broke my heart.”
Covert, the lifelong Jew and Republican, said that “more Jews should be Republicans,” and that more Jews should own guns.
“This dates back to growing up in redneck part of Florida,” he explained. “I grew up around guns, and I grew up about people who used them responsibly and were legal gun owners. I think more people should have guns.”
Covert also addressed those on the right who have markedly shifted against Israel in recent months, and he provided a simple explanation.
“It’s all money,” he said. “If you look at all of the people who turned against Israel the last six months or year, it’s all people who have contact with Qatar…half the people who supported Trump now say he’s Netanyahu’s poodle, and that’s money talking. That’s all money. Roseanne didn’t get any Qatari money, because she would never change her stance based on money. But you’re trying to tell me that all these people instantly just switched?”
While Covert has nothing but scorn for many in his industry, he hasn’t given up hope, thanks to his move to Texas to work with Barr, and due to the leadership of President Donald Trump.
“There’s a young contingent coming up that doesn’t buy into any of this shit,” Covert said of a growing crew of young actors. “That’s the good thing about being a being a producer, is you get to meet a lot of younger people, because you’re always casting, and there’s a disconnect in Hollywood right now. They have no clue what anyone outside of Hollywood thinks. They really don’t, and that’s a big problem. There’s a group of people coming up in Hollywood who don’t kowtow to that.”
As for Trump, Covert went from not voting for him in 2016 — because he thought that Trump might still be a Democrat — to saying that he “would dive in front of a bullet for Trump.”
The second Trump administration has brought additional changes to Covert’s life. Covert is now a much slimmer target for bullets, thanks to the MAHA movement that has overrun so much of Hollywood. That movement has gone from mostly being friends of Covert’s like Rob Schneider telling people to not use toothpaste to something that Covert now predicts will be an enduring part of the GOP’s coalition.
“I was heavy, and I took my son to see Trump at Coachella,” Covert said of the event that helped change his life. “I passed out in the heat. The paramedics tried to get me to go in the ambulance. I refused, because I had to make sure my son met Trump. But the next day, I was just like, ‘I’m going on a diet.’
”
When the Coverts met Trump, the former and future president had Covert get a mutual friend on the phone, “and he’s talking to my son and telling me what to do. So I go and I get our mutual friend on the phone, and I go, ‘the big man wants to talk to you.’ He grabs the phone. He goes ‘yeah, we found him. I don’t know what was going on. I don’t know. Anyway, we found him. He’s okay.’ He goes, ‘the son is gorgeous.’ And then he looks at me, and he looks me up, and down he goes, ‘the dad is okay.’”
When it comes to taking a bullet for Trump, Covert acknowledged that there are “people who would say that that’s just gross.” But, “no dude,” he continued, “he’s going to make my kids’ lives better and safer as Jews in America. So why wouldn’t I do that? Why wouldn’t any American do that?”
Below is a transcript of our interview with Allen Covert, lightly edited for clarity.
Washington Reporter:
Let’s start big picture here. How have you found yourself, as I look at you, this contrarian conservative lane? Is this who you’ve always been or did something happen to shift your perspective? Obviously, you were involved in Friends of Abe, but has this always been where you’re at ideologically?
Allen Covert:
100 percent. I volunteered for Reagan in Florida when I was in high school. I’ve been a conservative my entire life. I shifted in certain areas, honestly, some to be more liberal. I have gotten crazier in other areas, like life. I’m much more loud about being pro-life than I ever had been, and part of that is just because of how morbid the obsession with abortion in Hollywood is. That has made me become very loud about that. I’ve been conservative and pro-life my whole life. I just read stuff when I was young and looked around and thought that Reagan was the right way to go. But you know what’s crazy? It never mattered in Hollywood until after 9/11. I swear to you, it never mattered. No one cared that I was a Republican or conservative. It’s not like I was ever a person who thinks anyone should care about what I do or say; I was just a guy trying to make funny movies with my friends, but it never mattered. We would talk politics, because people talk politics, and it never mattered. And then after 9/11 I noticed that people I used to talk politics with a bit were just a little angrier about stuff — I don’t know. I don’t know what it was, and it’s just gone downhill since then to when, by the time Trump was elected, you couldn’t even mention his name in a kind way. And by the way, I’m going to tell you right now, I didn’t vote for Trump in 2016, because I thought he was a Democrat. The Trump I knew was the Trump from the 80s. He was hanging out with Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson. He was hanging out with Hillary and Bill and all those people, so I honestly thought that he might be a con artist.
Washington Reporter:
What made you change that perspective? Because obviously you are totally on the other end of that now.
Allen Covert:
Literally. I would dive in front of a bullet for Trump. I know people who would say that that’s just gross. But no dude, he’s going to make my kids’ lives better and safer as Jews in America. So why wouldn’t I do that? Why wouldn’t any American do that?
Washington Reporter:
When did you first come around to that?
Allen Covert:
Election night 2016.
Washington Reporter:
So you went from not voting for him to that day saying I would take a bullet for him?
Allen Covert:
Not quite. On that night, I was saying that ‘this is going to be the most fun I’ve had.’ We were in the editing room, and someone in the room was nervous, a Democrat, and they left. I was sitting there, saying ‘Hillary’s going to be President tomorrow. Why are you nervous?’ Some other people and I were sitting there, just watching. Being on the West Coast is great for politics, because it was five o’clock and I was looking at Virginia’s numbers, and I just looked at the person next to me, and I went, ‘something’s going on.’ And they said, ‘what?’ And I go, ‘Virginia should not be this close at eight o’clock.’ He asked if I thought Trump was going to win, and I go, ‘no, but I think it might be a more fun night than I was expecting.’ By 10 o’clock that night, I was literally dancing around the editing room. We were flipping around every channel as they were calling states, and I was trying to find who was the most distraught. I was looking at it from a purely humor situation. Because I was just like, ‘what’s everyone freaking out about?’ Soon after that, I just started watching what they said and how they reacted to him, and I was just like, ‘oh, he’s the guy.’ But also, once he was elected, I was like, ‘good, he’s a Republican. He’s the president. Let’s go.’
Washington Reporter:
Here we are two years out from October 7th, 2023; you are now saying that you would take a bullet for him, because he will allow your kids as Jews in America to be safe. When did you first feel that? Was that during the first term with the Abraham Accords? Was it during the Biden interregnum?
Allen Covert:
It was during Biden when I realized what we had, what Jews in America, had lost with Trump out of office. I was MAGA by that election. I got up early and voted, but after October 7th, it was just like, we need to get him back. And I already knew he was coming back, but it became even more imperative. Just look at everything he’s done, and I’m not even talking about Israel, I’m talking about appointing Harmeet Dhillon, Leo Terrell, and they’re actually going after people who are literally terrorizing a group for their religion, as opposed to going after religions, because you think they’re scared, like when the Biden people went after Catholics. I’m not just a ‘protect the Jews’ guy. I’m a ‘protect all religions’ guy. I’m not just like, ‘well, they’re doing it to the Jews.’ I was outraged that they were spying on Catholic churches.
Washington Reporter:
Going back to what you said about Hollywood’s celebration of abortion, one of the things that I was thinking about as you were talking about that was at the Academy Awards last year, at the Emmys this year, a nonzero amount of actors who even uncultured people like myself have heard of, were wearing these red, bloody hand pins to celebrate Palestinian terrorism.
Allen Covert:
They’re idiots. They’re fucking idiots. They’re stupid. Honestly, they’re sheep. They get told that you need to be on the right side of history, and they’re like, ‘yeah, I do.’ Also they’re surrounded by people who all think the same. But you know what? There’s a young contingent coming up that doesn’t buy into any of this shit. That’s the good thing about being a being a producer, is you get to meet a lot of younger people, because you’re always casting, and there’s a disconnect in Hollywood right now. They have no clue what anyone outside of Hollywood thinks. They really don’t, and that’s a big problem. There’s a group of people coming up in Hollywood who don’t kowtow to that, but that fucking bloody hands thing, I guarantee you, none of them know what they’re supporting. It’s wrong. And if they did find out that it’s about Palestinians lynching an Israeli soldier and tearing his body apart, they’d be like, ‘well, it was a soldier.’ They’ve been told this lie about Israel, and they don’t understand that the only place in the Middle East where they would be accepted and their ideas would not get them killed is Israel. How do they not understand that?
Washington Reporter:
They’re told to wear these pins. Is this an in-group pressure?
Allen Covert:
Who knows? Maybe it’s from Javier Bardem, who got them all to sign that stupid letter. That stupid letter too, by the way? That was the most anti-Semitic, genocide-enabling letter I’ve ever seen. Luckily, no one gives a shit anymore about what a bunch of pampered people in Hollywood think. There were a couple names on that letter that broke my heart. I mean, literally broke my heart.
Washington Reporter:
What do you do in that case? Do you reach out to these people?
Allen Covert:
I’ve left Hollywood, and I live in Texas. We’re building a community here. I came here to work with people who want to make comedy, and specifically who don’t want to make comedy that’s set inside some framework that you can’t step outside of. And that’s what we’re doing. In Hollywood, they listen to CNN and MSNBC. That’s who tells them this stuff.
Washington Reporter:
I want to get to your what you’re working on in Texas in a little bit. One of the things you talk about all of the time is this shift in Hollywood, especially in what you deal with, which is comedies, away from making funny comedies. What do you trace this to? When did this happen? And is Hollywood itself as a location completely out of the picture as you in your industry think about how do you make people laugh again? Is the center of gravity just moving fully to Texas?
Allen Covert:
It’s very clear. Judd Apatow said this 10 years ago: if you’re a studio and you’re rolling the dice on these $200 million budgets that cost however much to promote, why would you spend $10 million on a comedy that’s never going to get to a billion dollars? And that came true. Everyone wants these billion dollar franchises, and they all want to create universes. Now, there’s no room for a $10 million or $5 million teen comedy. So that was one thing, the economic pressure on the studios. Because the model of selling a movie is where the expense comes in. If I had $100 million, I could literally make 25 movies. But the problem is selling them. And part of that problem was, you have to build up awareness. And so they would do all these things, and there were certain ways you had to do it, and it was all based on TV ads mainly, and that’s hugely expensive. So you pay five to 10 million for some little comedy, but then you’ve got to spend 20 or 15 million dollars to get it out in enough theaters for people to show up, and then it has to be good and word of mouth, so financially, they got squeezed a lot of the time, but simultaneously there was the rise of extreme political correctness and basically fucking Maoist levels of discipline. I mean, it’s crazy. It’s like everybody was asking for adult animated shows, R rated goofy shows that are crazy and for adults. That was the word that went around Hollywood. During COVID, I got together with Barry Wernick, who was one of the original writers of Grandma’s Boy and then he and I and another guy he knew, we kind of put together an outline for an animated Grandma’s Boy show. And we’re like, ‘this is exactly what everyone’s looking for.’ Village Roadshow loved it so much that they literally spent around 75 grand to do a two minute scene animated the way we wanted it. We developed it. We went to every studio and streamer in town. Everybody in the room said that this is one of my favorites, this and that. But on top of everything else, it was funny. Everybody laughed. Not one nibble, because it was all dudes. We even added a girl character, and another girl character, but they didn’t tell you that; they would just give this generic ‘we just don’t see a spot for it right now.’ If I take out something and people tell me, ‘we don’t like this,’ or they give me specific reasonings, I never have had a problem with that. I’m like, ‘okay, cool,’ but to have everybody saying how much they need adult animation, then to have every single studio turn down Grandma’s Boy animated just doesn’t make sense to me, unless it was because of political correctness, or they don’t like me, or I don’t know, it just seemed baffling that we had a financial partner who is huge in television, but nothing clicked. And part of that is because the people who buy the product don’t know shit anymore. And that’s where the political correctness came in, is you have people who are buying things based on their agenda, and it may not be overt. No one has a fucking meeting and says ‘we’re not going to do this.’ But if you’re sitting there with a free Palestine flag and a #MeToo button and a Trans Lives Matter shirt, are you buying a teen comedy about kids trying to get laid? Do you know what the college kids at University of Oklahoma want to see? No, you don’t. So you then start buying things to teach those Neanderthals what they need to be shown. And no one goes and no one watches.
Washington Reporter:
On the flip side, you’ve talked a lot about the HRification of of Hollywood.
Allen Covert:
Here’s the deal. And I know this is a stereotype, and I don’t give a shit, but if I go in to pitch a comedy, and the lady sitting on the other side of the room from me looks like the twin of Molly Jong-Fast or whatever her name is, I know I’m not selling. If I see those fucking square glasses, I start texting everyone else on my team and going, ‘we’re done. Why are we even here?’ It’s 100 percent true.
Washington Reporter:
On the flip side of this, we saw this towards the end of 2024, Trump was doing a lot of outreach, both to podcasters more broadly, and also to a lot of comedians. I’m thinking of Tony Hinchcliffe, Joe Rogan. Do you think, on behalf of the comedians and the podcasters, that this is a sincere embrace of Trump? Is it driven by ratings? Is it because Kamala Harris was so easy to make fun of? What do you see as the future of that relationship that was a very important part of Trump winning last time?
Allen Covert:
With Joe Rogan, for example, it was simply because Rogan wanted both Trump and Kamala, and Kamala wouldn’t sit down with him. But I don’t look at Joe’s show that much as comedy. It’s funny as hell. But when he’s doing serious stuff, when he’s really good, he lets people talk, he listens. So I think his embrace of Trump was for the election because he honestly thought that Trump was not a bad guy. The other people? I’m not sure. Look at recently: half the people who supported Trump now say he’s Netanyahu’s poodle, and that’s money talking. That’s all money. Roseanne didn’t get any Qatari money, because she would never change her stance based on money. But you’re trying to tell me that all these people instantly just switched?
Washington Reporter:
Is it that simple? And is it when you look at the influences on Hollywood, I think a lot of times people think about China with Top Gun and things like that. But is it that simple when it comes to when it comes to Israel? Is it Qatar, and that’s the extent of it?
Allen Covert:
It’s all money. If you look at all of the people who turned against Israel the last six months or year, it’s all people who have contact with Qatar. And by the way, that’s a completely separate issue to me than the issue of people going to do comedy in Saudi Arabia.
Washington Reporter:
Tell me your thoughts on that.
Allen Covert:
I think some of the people who went were hypocrites, but I don’t care if people go to stuff. Here’s the deal. People can cry and scream about Saudi Arabia and they can cry and scream about MBS supposedly ordering the killing of Jamaal Khashoggi, but to try to say that the guy is not trying to open his people up to the world is stupid. And why would you not go and help encourage that and make jokes about things that push the edge a little. I get not going to Saudi Arabia before MBS, but when a guy stands up there and starts letting women have rights, why wouldn’t you try to help that guy open the society even more?
Washington Reporter:
The MAHA movement has been interesting for both you personally and for many in your orbit. Your connection comes in part from how you fainted at a Trump rally with your son which led to a literal physical transformation of yourself. Talk about that.
Allen Covert:
By the way, my move to Texas and all the stress of moving everything has gotten me off my diet. I need to get back on my my diet. I have a Twitter guardian angel, ebeth360. I’ve been avoiding her because I’ve been eating a lot of Raising Canes but yes, I was heavy, and I took my son to see Trump at Coachella. By the way, I so wish Trump was performing at Coachella. That would be amazing. And I passed out in the heat. The paramedics tried to get me to go in the ambulance. I refused, because I had to make sure my son met Trump. But the next day, I was just like, ‘I’m going on a diet.’ I got rid of all boxed food, and just started eating a lot more red meat. And God, I got really healthy.
Washington Reporter:
And Trump and Dana White, you got a call from them?
Allen Covert:
I literally think I had grass in my hair when I met him from laying on the ground while the paramedics took my blood pressure. But I got set up to meet him through a friend who is a very close friend of Trump’s, and so they were actually looking for me, wondering why isn’t he here for his picture? I’ve met other presidents. I met a president before; I met W. And W is cool, but Trump is beyond that. Trump looked at me and goes, ‘get our friend on the phone,’ and he’s talking to my son and telling me what to do. So I go and I get our mutual friend on the phone, and I go, ‘the big man wants to talk to you.’ He grabs the phone. He goes ‘yeah, we found him. I don’t know what was going on. I don’t know. Anyway, we found him. He’s okay.’ He goes, ‘the son is gorgeous.’ And then he looks at me, and he looks me up, and down he goes, ‘the dad is okay.’
Washington Reporter:
Not many people can say that Trump and meeting Trump inspired them to get healthy. Think back to when you were in the LA sphere; it seems to me, living on the other side of the country, that at least parts of that area were very ripe for this MAHA movement. Can you explain that nexus?
Allen Covert:
Rob Schneider has been friends with RFK forever. Schneider used to rag on me all the time, and I used to rag on him all the time, about politics and stuff. He was always like, ‘stop using toothpaste.’ He was totally anti-vax. Always. To me, there’s too many. But I’m not afraid of every vaccine, but Schneider was always like that, and Trump 2020 literally merged us. We each adopted what the other one had been preaching to the other for years.
Washington Reporter:
Do you think that that is an enduring coalition that will exist within the Republican Party after Trump?
Allen Covert:
I really do, because Republicans are really the party of parents. And I don’t mean that Democrats don’t have parents, but Democrats tend to believe quote, unquote, authority figures more. I look at my pediatrician now, and God bless her. I love her. She helped me get through some horrible times as a single dad, but she’s so pro-vax it’s crazy. And I’m just like, ‘why did my daughters need that papilloma vax?’ By the way, there’s another group I’m involved with that’s run by Benji Backer. It’s the environmental group that Doug Burgum is a big sponsor of. This kid’s been a conservative his whole life. He’s from Wisconsin, he’s a total outdoorsman, and he has this huge group now about making America Beautiful again. It’s actually called Nature is Nonpartisan. This kid works his ass off, and he has since high school, and he’s built this national organization and got Doug Burgum on board. And it’s basically about giving the land back to the people and letting them decide. It’s about making good environmental decisions that aren’t based in politics.
Washington Reporter:
One of the other coalitions that Trump has seen incredible growth in is Jewish Americans. From your standpoint, professionally or personally, have you yourself ever dealt with anti-Semitism in your own life?
Allen Covert:
Yes. My dad was a Jew in Louisiana in the 1950s. I never heard him complain. He just had to learn how to fight. I grew up in Florida in the redneck part of the area, but it was weird. It was never like there were burning crosses or things until I got to the big cities. That’s when you notice that temples have armed guards. My kids have never gone to a temple that didn’t have an armed guard, ever. When my daughter was in preschool, someone tried to light a fire at her temple preschool. There are always armed guards. That’s just a fact of life for Jews in big cities in America. No one talks about it. They just go about their business. I think more Jews should be Republicans.
Washington Reporter:
You’ve also talked about Jews not only becoming Republicans, but Jews becoming gun owners.
Allen Covert:
I won’t go to a temple unless they have an NRA chapter there. Why aren’t you arming yourselves and training? I say that to every Jew I know whenever I’m on Twitter or in person, I say it constantly. If you’re a Jew, you need to have some protection and know how to use it.
Washington Reporter:
Was this inspired by the events of October 7th?
Allen Covert:
This dates back to growing up in redneck part of Florida. My mother was not a Jew. A lot of people don’t consider me a Jew, but I go by if someone’s going to kill me for being a Jew, based on who my father is, then I am a Jew. My dad’s a Jew, I’m a Jew, if they’re going to kill me, I’m going to fight back. I grew up surrounded by rednecks. We had the greatest life. I remember my uncle coming over one morning, I was up early, and he’s like, ‘what are you doing?’ I said, ‘nothing.’ He goes, ‘come on, let’s go shoot.’ You could just drive out into the woods and shoot. I grew up in North Palm Beach, Florida, but it used to be a lot swampier than it is now. But this isn’t a backwards area. People had guns, there were no mass shootings at schools. People had guns. There was a hunting club at our school, I think. I know for a fact that everybody had guns, same as everybody had fishing poles, same as everybody had whatever. No one cared. I grew up around guns, and I grew up around people who used them responsibly and were legal gun owners. I think more people should have guns.
Washington Reporter:
Is this something that’s found more purchase for since October 7th? Obviously, it’s worth noting that Jews stabbed to death in Manchester.
Allen Covert:
I’m a terrible Jew. I’m not kosher. I forget the holidays. I don’t go to temple, but I pray every day, and on Friday night, I light the Shabbat candles. I became really close to God since October 7th, I will tell you that. And as I’ve watched, I don’t know what else to call it, because I always sound like I’m a religious nut, but as I’ve watched the evil grow, it’s appalling to me, and I’ve got to tell you, since I started praying more, my life has gotten 100 percent better. According to the laws and the rules, I’m a terrible Jew, and I admit that, and when I pray to God, I admit that every day. But that’s the difference between Judaism and Christianity: Judaism is literally about arguing with God.
Washington Reporter:
He’s a formidable debate partner. One of the things you’ve talked about in a similar but opposite vein is what you call the moral rot within secular Judaism.
Allen Covert:
I got a Star of David tattoo in Hebrew on my forearm. I’ve got a lot of tattoos. This was the first visible one that I ever put on my body. And I did it after October 7th, two years ago, and people would ask ‘why would you do that?’ I go, ‘because I want people to know exactly where I’m coming from, and I don’t need any tap dancing around where I stand.’ I have a Star of David, and above it in Hebrew, it says, ‘never again.’ And it gets a lot of people to go, ‘what does that Hebrew say?’ And I say, ‘never again.’ And they all go, yep. And they get it. So as I said, I’m a terrible Jew.
Washington Reporter:
That’s very Jewish to keep insisting that you’re a terrible Jew, and then go into the reasons why you’re a great Jew.
Washington Reporter:
I’m disgusted by Hollywood, which is supposedly run by Jews, because it isn’t. It’s run by secular Jews, and it’s not even run by them anymore. If you look at who really is running Hollywood, is Sony’s leadership Jewish? Donna Langley has run Universal forever. She’s not Jewish. Ted Sarandos? I don’t even know if they have any Jews at Netflix, and I’m not saying that the Jews would be doing anything different or better. I’m saying that to say that Hollywood is run by Jews is wrong. If you look at who the most powerful people actually running Hollywood are right now, it’s Mike DeLuca who’s the head of Warner Entertainment. I’ve known him forever. He’s Italian, definitely not a Jew. It’s important to ask why there has not been a drum beat for two years about the hostages from the Jews of Hollywood? Why are Patricia Heaton and John Ondrasik the loudest supporting voices for Israel and the Jews? These are two Christians. Patty Heaton has done more for the Jews over the last two years than a single big time Jew in Hollywood has. Why aren’t there 25 movies about the horror of October 7th? You know how many anti-Iraq War movies there were in the first year of the war? Why are people allowed to publicly write a letter saying they refuse to work with a country that is defending itself against the exact people they think Israelis are? Where are the Jews?
Washington Reporter:
You’re asking that as a rhetorical question, but I’m curious, what is your answer to that?
Allen Covert:
Hiding like cowards and praying it passes over. That’s where they are, and some of them are actively supporting the terrorists. Hollywood has decided that the internal politics are more important than human rights. It’s like high school. They’ve all bought into the cult. Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism, end of story.
Washington Reporter:
What you’re working on in Texas is obviously a shift to the other side of the poll on this, and I want to get there in one second. But I have to ask about a different war zone that you found yourself in. That’s how you and I became friends, which is the 100 suspended and unsuspended and resuspended Twitter accounts that you’ve had. As far as a way of being vocal in this era, that’s where you are, as long as your accounts are activated. Was there a moment where you decided, ‘okay, I’m just gonna let loose, regardless of how many times I need to appeal these suspensions’? You just got a new account recently.
Allen Covert:
I have about three people I usually talk to to get help with suspensions, and you’re one of them. I then go, ‘hey, here’s my new account.’ And then I hit up ebeth360, and she lets people know and puts the Bat Signal out to people I’m involved with that I’ll be like, ‘hey, this is Allen.’ I had a guy this morning go ‘wait a minute. Is this Covert?’ Basically, my new thing is that every account I usually get like 150 people that I know who immediately know where I’m at, and then I just let other people come back.
Washington Reporter:
What made you want to dive into head first to begin with when you started?
Allen Covert:
It was COVID. I had been on Twitter a long time. I actually got verified the day I signed up. So I had my name, my face, that was my first account, and I had about 13,000 to 15,000 people, I like to call them friends, even though I’ve never been on Facebook, and then that account got nuked, and I literally, just for a year, was like, ‘screw you.’ And then I was like, ‘I gotta get back on.’ And then I got kicked off a couple more times. I had to get reinstated for the election. I’d taken about six months off in 2020. But I don’t care; like I said, I’ll put my face on there. This account I have now is some Grandma’s Boy username with a bunch of numbers, because I’m not trying to be anybody out there. I’m just a dad and an aging Gen X guy who likes to have fun and mock people. It doesn’t have to be associated with what I do or for a living. But I don’t like anonymity. I like to be able to say what I think, so that’s why I put my face on my account and if anyone goes, ‘oh, you’re anonymous’ I go, ‘no, that’s my face, man.’ Grandma’s Boy was the name of what most people know me for. So it kind of makes sense.
Washington Reporter:
I want to shift to what you are doing now, and one of the things that you’re going to be known for as it’s getting released, which is your work with Roseanne Barr in Texas. Is she someone who you had worked with in your prior career in Hollywood? How’d you guys decide, ‘okay, we’re uprooting and moving to Texas, and we’re working on the show together?’
Allen Covert:
This is so crazy. This interview is going to take up way too much space, and you’re never going to be able to air it.
Washington Reporter:
You let me worry about that.
Allen Covert:
When Roseanne got canceled the first time for the National Anthem controversy, I used to run the showroom. I think I was 25 years old. I used to run the showroom at the Improv in Santa Monica. Now, at the time, Roseanne had a house in Malibu, and I did not know her at all. So after she gets canceled, literally just a week or two after that, I’m standing there at the entrance to the showroom, and one of my jobs was there’s a little light bulb, and you flick it on when to let the comic know you have five minutes left. I was in charge of making sure they got on and off, and that the MC was where he was supposed to be in touch. The one rule Budd Friedman had was that if a famous comedian walks in the door, your first question should be, ‘do you want to go on stage?’ So I turn around and there’s Roseanne and Tom Arnold. I’ve never met Roseanne. I think she’s the funniest. I even understood what she was doing at the National Anthem thing. And so I just was like, ‘hey, do you want to go on?’ And she goes, ‘no.’ She goes, ‘everybody hates me.’ I was like, ‘nobody hates you. Are you kidding me? If you went on, this place would go nuts.’ And Tom was like, ‘see, I told you, you should go on.’ And she went on stage, and the crowd went fucking apeshit. And she did 10 minutes and killed it and left, and that was it. Two weeks later, Tom was in, and he’s talking to one of the comedians, and the comedians thanked him for helping him get on the show. And I looked at him, I go, ‘dude, I’m an actor.’ He had thanked me earlier when he came in, and so he wrote down some numbers and told me to call this lady tomorrow and tell her that I said that you need to come in for the show. So next thing you know, I’m on The Roseanne Show, this is the number one show in the country. I’m on this episode called Vegas Interruptus, and I get one line. They gave me a dressing room. They treated me great. And then I never saw her again for 15 years. And then Adam Sandler and I ran into her once when were doing a press junket at some hotel, and when we were leaving, she and some of her friends were sitting in the hotel lounge, eating hors d’oeuvres and talking, and we went in and sat with them. And then about a year ago, someone DMed me on Twitter, and they said ‘thank God, I found you.’ And then a couple weeks later, they were like, ‘hey, I told Roseanne’s son that he should follow you’ or something. And then I tweeted something, and I noticed that Roseanne liked it, and that she started following me. And so then another friend DMed me, was like, ‘hey, can I give Roseanne’s son your phone number? He wants to ask you something.’ I said ‘yeah, sure.’ So the great Jake Pentland calls me, and he starts telling me about this new thing they’re getting set up. And there are a lot of opportunities for content, and all this is going to be announced soon. I’m not going to get specific about what the company is, because I don’t want to undercut their announcement. But anyway, they’re doing this thing, and this and that and we’re looking for content. And he mentioned some names. I’m like, ‘those are all funny people.’ And then he said something else. And I said that I’d have to meet someone before I would do a show with them. I like those people, but I don’t really know if I would want to work with them. And he goes ‘oh, I’m not calling you about that.’ He goes, ‘I’m calling you about my mom.’ And I went, ‘I’m in.’ I asked ‘your mom knows me?’ I want in.’ He goes, ‘at least read the pilot first.’ And so I said, ‘send it to me.’ He sent it to me. I read it 20 minutes later, I texted him ‘I’m definitely in, because it’s comedy.’ It’s pure comedy man, and she’s in charge, and I flew down to Texas to meet with her and hang out for three days, and we laughed for three days and just hit it off like we’ve worked together for years. That was me auditioning basically. I had worked at the same place for 35 years. Since I left college, I’ve had one job. Well, besides all the waiting tables and showroom running and stuff, but once I got started working, I’ve had one job. I worked at Happy Madison my whole life. And I had left there to take some time off to be with my family, and I just started deciding to get back into work when all this fell in my lap, but I hit it off with her, and then she goes, ‘well, I have a writing partner that I wrote the thing with, and next time you come out, he’s going to come and we’ll start working on the next couple episodes.’ His name is Alan Stevens. He’s a great writer, he’s so goddamn funny. He was one of Sam Kinison’s rock and roll outlaws. But he’s always been with Roseanne. He always writes with her, whether it’s stand up, the show, her talk show, and the three of us sat down to write. And it was just insane. It was like we’ve been writing together for 30 years. We have a crazy, funny show that we’re getting ready to start shooting.
Washington Reporter:
The show is going to cover fairly serious topics. We’ve got God, the Muslim Brotherhood, and life itself all come to mind. When you think about comedy, how do you approach serious topics while also being funny?
Allen Covert:
You don’t put it as a central part of anything. The main thing in writing is the characters and their character. So those things come up naturally because of the character we created that Roseanne plays. I wouldn’t even call this a political show. It’s no holds barred, pure comedy. Because it’s really about a person’s struggle with God, understanding what God wants them to do, begging God to give them or show them the way, and then ignoring every sign that God gives you, which is kind of what everyone in the world does.
Washington Reporter:
You know the joke about the guy who drowns?
Allen Covert:
Tell me.
Washington Reporter:
The guy is on a boat, and the boat is sinking, and he’s holding on to the boat, and a Navy ship comes up, and they offer him a life jacket. He says, ‘no, no, God will provide.’ And so the ship leaves. And then a helicopter comes in, and they offer him a rope. And he says, ‘no, no, God will provide.’ And then an airplane offers him a parachute. He says, ‘it’s okay, God will provide.’ He drowns, he dies, he goes up to heaven. And he says to God, ‘listen, I’ve got to ask you something. I thought I did a good job in life, and you didn’t look out for me.’ And then God said ‘who do you think sent the boat, the helicopter and the airplane?’ You can put me down as a writer’s credit. Before we wrap up, I have to ask one other question. We don’t normally take viewer questions, but your guardian angel, ebeth360 told me to ask you: you’re in Texas now, so when are you getting cowboy boots?
Allen Covert:
Oh God, I might get a cowboy hat first.
Washington Reporter:
What’s the time frame?
Allen Covert:
Let’s start with a cowboy hat. I’m too old to wear cowboy boots. But I would wear a bolo tie for you.
Washington Reporter:
We’ll start with cowboy hat, and we’ll work our way to boots. You’re never too old to wear cowboy boots. If you need me to, I’ll come down and I’ll dress you.