Scott Kennedy (July 7, 1965 – March 14, 2013)"OBITUARY: Scott Kennedy brought laughter to troops overseas"
''The River Cities Daily Tribune'', March 18, 2013. was an American stand-up comedian.

Early life and education

Kennedy was born in

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

,William Kerns
"Comedian Kennedy entertains servicemen, women in Afghanistan"
''

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal ''Lubbock Avalanche-Journal'' is a newspaper based in Lubbock, Texas, United States. It is owned by Gannett. History ''The Lubbock Avalanche'' was founded in 1900 by John James Dillard and Thad Tubbs. According to Dillard, the name "Avalanche" ...

'', November 20, 2005. and raised in

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. He attended

New Mexico Military Institute New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI) is a public military junior college and high school in Roswell, New Mexico. Founded in 1891, NMMI operates under the auspices of the State of New Mexico, under a dedicated Board of Regents that reports t ...

and graduated from Monterey High School in

Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, after his family moved there. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the

College of Santa Fe A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary education, tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding academic degree, degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further educatio ...

.Howie Nave
"From Johnny Carson to The Improv, here's John Henton "
, ''Tahoe Daily Tribune'', March 27, 2007.

Career

He got his start in comedy in 1986 at an open mic night at the Froggy Bottoms Comedy Club in Lubbock, where a friend had entered him in a comedy contest.Renee Westbrook

''The Record'' (Stockton, California), January 26, 2006 He moved to

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

and then in 1999 to Los Angeles. He had a successful stand-up career, performing at clubs throughout the country. He was featured performer at

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's US Comedy Arts Festival in

Aspen, Colorado Aspen is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city that is the county seat and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population ...

, and on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

was so successful on ''

Premium Blend ''Premium Blend'' was a stand-up comedy series created and directed by Paul Miller that aired on the American cable television channel Comedy Central from 1997 to 2005. In 2005 the show was changed, and now known as " Live at Gotham". The show ...

'' that he was given a half-hour special in 2004. Kennedy was openly gay, and appeared in Jason Stuart's 2004 improvised comedy film about gay dating, '' 10 Attitudes''. In 1994, with his partner Kevin Maye, he co-founded the Gay Comedy Jam, which toured over 150 cities in the U.S. and Canada.Gerald M. Gay
"The Score: Five shows Friday, from comedy to reggae"
''

Arizona Daily Star The ''Arizona Daily Star'' is an American daily newspaper based in Tucson, Arizona, and owned by Lee Enterprises. It serves Tucson and surrounding districts of Southern Arizona in the United States. History 1877–1925 L. C. Hughes was the ...

'', October 15, 2009. In the mid-2000s, Kennedy began touring extensively to entertain American troops on active duty, starting with

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

tours in Afghanistan with

Dave Attell David Attell (born January 18, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer best known as the host of Comedy Central's '' Insomniac with Dave Attell.'' Early life Attell was born in the New York City borough of Queens to a Jewish fa ...

. He formed his own touring company, Comics Ready to Entertain, to go to more dangerous places than the USO was willing to send him to, performing up to five times a day on over 50 tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.Dave Holmes
"Scott Kennedy Death: Last Week America Lost a Real, Live Hero"
Blogs, ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'', March 22, 2013. A documentary about Scott's life, work, and legacy is currently in production. It is being produced by Simon Thompson and Matty Kirsch.

Personal life

Kennedy was openly gay. He was found dead on March 14, 2013, evidently having died in his sleep.

References

External links

*
Scott Kennedy
at Comedy Central {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Scott People from Lubbock, Texas American male comedians American stand-up comedians 1965 births 2013 deaths Gay comedians LGBTQ people from New Mexico 21st-century American comedians American gay entertainers American LGBTQ comedians Comedians from New Mexico Comedians from Texas