Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema. He is also a jazz clarinetist who performs regularly at small venues in Manhattan.
A staff writer for The New Yorker for decades, Liebling wrote stylishly and authoratatively on an enormous range of subjects: "Between Meals" (food), "The Road Back to Paris" (war), "Earl of Louisiana" (political biography), "The Press", along with books on New York and Chicago. "The Sweet Science", on boxing, is a classic of sports literature.