Kent Jones (writer)

Thomas Kenton "Kent" Jones (born June 12, 1964) is a writer and performer on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show. He is a comedy writer who also wrote and performed at Air America Radio.

Career

A Missouri native, Kent moved to New York City in 1986 and held a variety of journalism jobs working at InStyle and People and contributing freelance humor articles to various publications. In 1996, he discovered the 'far more legitimate field of fake news' at The Daily Show on Comedy Central, where he was a writer for five years. In 2000, Kent and his fellow writers won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy, Variety or Special, as well as the Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting. Kent then moved to Los Angeles and worked as a producer on shows at Oxygen and ABC.

In 2004 Kent moved back to New York to become part of the launch of Air America Radio. He wrote for Unfiltered with Lizz Winstead, Chuck D and Rachel Maddow where he delivered the "Unfiltered News." He also wrote extensively for Morning Sedition where he performed several characters including Foreign Correspondent Angus McFarquhar, Bill from Harlem and, most frequently, Planet Bush Bureau Chief Lawton Smalls. After the cancellation of Morning Sedition in December 2005, Kent continued to write and perform on The Marc Maron Show until its cancellation in July 2006. He appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show, with daily Sports and "Kent Jones Now" segments and additional co-hosting, especially during her "Ask Dr. Maddow" and "Pet Story" segments. The Lawton Smalls character made "calls" to The Sam Seder Show and was on the Nov 7th 2006 live webcam election coverage with Rachel Maddow. Jones left Air America on Friday, December 14, 2007, as a result of a "business decision" by the management.

He uses the phrase Sacajawea! When something shocks and surprises him.

Jones became a regular contributor to The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC in September 2008. His regular segment "Just Enough" aired for several years during the last few minutes of the show and focused on pop culture news, before being quietly dropped. He now serves as a producer for the show, appearing occasionally on air as correspondent and in other segments. He also contributes humor pieces to the show's blog, The Maddowblog.

The show and its entire staff won an Emmy award in 2011 for Outstanding news and discussion analysis.

Personal

Kent lives in New York City with his wife, Kelly.

He has also joked that he is the four-time winner of the Iditarod sled race in Alaska, though he disclaimed this on the March 16, 2007 Rachel Maddow Show, referencing the Wikipedia entry in the process ("It's false. It's funny, but it's wrong.")

He is a Kansas City Royals fan.

References

Kent is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism and a lifelong Mizzou football fan.

External links

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series (2000–2009)

Eddie Izzard (2000) Eric Drysdale, Jim Earl, Dan Goor, Charlie Grandy, J. R. Havlan, Tom Johnson, Kent Jones, Paul Mecurio, Chris Regan, Allison Silverman and Jon Stewart (2001) Doug Abeles, James Anderson, Max Brooks, James Downey, Tina Fey, Hugh Fink, Charlie Grandy, Jack Handey, Steve Higgins, Erik Kenward, Dennis McNicholas, Lorne Michaels, Matt Murray, Paula Pell, Matt Piedmont, Ken Scarborough, Michael Schur, Frank Sebastiano, T. Sean Shannon, Robert Smigel, Emily Spivey, Andrew Steele and Scott Wainio (2002) Rich Blomquist, Steve Bodow, Eric Drysdale, J. R. Havlan, Scott Jacobson, David Javerbaum, Tom Johnson, Ben Karlin, Rob Kutner, Chris Regan, Jason Reich, Jason Ross and Jon Stewart (2003) Rich Blomquist, Steve Bodow, Tim Carvell, Stephen Colbert, Eric Drysdale, J. R. Havlan, Scott Jacobson, David Javerbaum, Ben Karlin, Chris Regan, Jason Reich, Jason Ross and Jon Stewart (2004) Rich Blomquist, Steve Bodow, Tim Carvell, Stephen Colbert, Eric Drysdale, J. R. Havlan, Scott Jacobson, David Javerbaum, Ben Karlin, Rob Kutner, Chris Regan, Jason Reich, Jason Ross and Jon Stewart (2005) Rich Blomquist, Steve Bodow, Rachel Axler, Kevin Bleyer, Tim Carvell, Stephen Colbert, Eric Drysdale, J. R. Havlan, Scott Jacobson, David Javerbaum, Ben Karlin, Rob Kutner, Sam Means, Chris Regan, Jason Reich, Jason Ross and Jon Stewart (2006) Chris Albers, Jose Arroyo, Dan Cronin, Kevin Dorff, Dan Goor, Michael Gordon, Berkley Johnson, Brian Kiley, Michael Koman, Tim Harrod, Brian McCann, Guy Nicolucci, Conan O'Brien, Brian Stack, Mike Sweeney and Andrew Weinberg (2007) Bryan Adams, Michael Brumm, Stephen Colbert, Richard Dahm, Eric Drysdale, Rob Dubbin, Glenn Eichler, Peter Grosz, Peter Gwinn, Barry Julien, Laura Krafft, Jay Katsir, Frank Lesser, Tom Purcell, Meredith Scardino and Allison Silverman (2008) Rory Albanese, Rachel Axler, Kevin Bleyer, Rich Blomquist, Steve Bodow, Tim Carvell, Wyatt Cenac, J. R. Havlan, David Javerbaum, Elliott Kalan, Rob Kutner, Josh Lieb, Sam Means, John Oliver, Jason Ross and Jon Stewart (2009)

Complete list (1957–1969) (1970–1979) (1980–1989) (1990–1999) (2000–2009) (2010–2019)

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 41644241

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