Kent Jones
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kent Jones (b.1964) is a writer and performer at Air America Radio. He currently appears on The Rachel Maddow Show airing live 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
[edit] Career
A Missouri native, Kent moved to New York 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. (From his bio at Kent Jones Now)
In 2004 Kent moved back to New York to become part of the launch of Air America Radio. He wrote for Unfiltered[1] with Lizz Winstead[2], Chuck D[3] and Rachel Maddow[4], where he delivered the "Unfiltered News." He also wrote extensively for Morning Sedition[5] 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[6] until its cancellation in July 2006. He currently appears 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 still makes "calls" to the Sam Seder Show and was on the Nov 7th live webcam election coverage with Rachel Maddow.
[edit] 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.")
