Sean Kent is a

stand-up comic Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

who stars on A&E's unscripted comedy ''Modern Dads''. He won the 2011 San Francisco International Comedy Competition and the 2009

Seattle International Comedy Competition The Seattle International Comedy Competition is a month-long stand-up comedy competition held at various venues throughout Washington State. It has been held every year since 1980 until 2020, when the competition was not run due to pandemic restric ...

. Originally from

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, Kent resided in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

during his development as a comic, moving back to his hometown in 2011 with his partner, Rachel Dory, and their two daughters. He is also known for his stand-up comedy appearances on Showtime and

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

, and as a series regular on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

show ''

Last Comic Standing ''Last Comic Standing'' was an American reality television talent competition show on NBC that aired from June 1, 2003, to August 9, 2010, then again in 2014 and 2015. The goal of the program was to select a comedian from an initially large group ...

'' (seasons 1 & 3). His comedy has been critically acclaimed by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' and

XM Radio XM Satellite Radio (XM) was one of the three satellite radio ( SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable television. Its s ...

, who called his debut CD "An instant classic".

Early years

Kent attended Hyde Park Baptist Private School in Austin, where he lettered in Varsity Basketball and Cross Country. He was almost molested several times but graduated in 1992. After high school, Kent attended the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

but dropped out in 1994 to move to

and pursue stand-up comedy.

Cancer battle

In 2003 Kent landed his first staff writing job on ''

The Best Damn Sports Show Period ''The Best Damn Sports Show Period'' was an American sports television show that aired on Fox Sports Net and Comcast SportsNet. The show regularly featured irreverent and opinionated interviews with top athletes, coaches, celebrities, and entertai ...

''. While writing for ''Best Damn'', he was diagnosed with stage III

Hodgkin's lymphoma Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma, in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the patient's lymph nodes. The condition w ...

. He began undergoing

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

one day a week while continuing to work. After three months of chemotherapy and 35 days of

radiation therapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radi ...

Kent was pronounced in remission. Shortly after finishing treatment, he auditioned and was subsequently chosen as a series regular for ''Last Comic Standing'' Season One. Almost immediately after ''Last Comic Standing'' wrapped, Kent received news that his cancer had recurred. Facing a grim prognosis, he opted to undergo an intensive chemotherapeutic procedure known as an autologous bone marrow transplant which involved radically high doses of chemotherapy and long stays in the hospital. During one stay at

City of Hope National Medical Center City of Hope is a private, not-for-profit clinical research center, hospital and graduate school located in Duarte, California, United States. The center's main campus resides on of land adjacent to the boundaries of Duarte and Irwindale, with ...

Kent developed an infection in his chest port and lost over 90 pounds. His doctors told him he had a 50% chance to live a year if he survived treatment, and he was released from the hospital in October 2003, returning to stand-up soon after.

Later career

Kent was the first person voted off on Season 1 of ''

''. Kent competed on season 3 as well, advancing through 6 of 8 total episodes. In 2005, two years after his treatment, Kent was asked to give the keynote address at the 29th Annual City of Hope Bone Marrow Transplant Reunion. Since then he has regularly spoken and performed at cancer fundraisers, and in 2011 shared a bill with

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show '' Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 2 ...

at the Cancer for College Fundraiser. In 2009 Kent won the 30th annual Seattle International Comedy Competition and appeared on Showtime's ''Green Collar Comedy Slam''. In 2010 Kent toured the UK, appearing at The Stand and other clubs throughout

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

. In 2011 Kent won the 36th annual San Francisco International Comedy Competition In 2013 Kent * headlined the Operation Laughter tour for Armed Forces Entertainment to entertain American troops in the Middle East. * was chosen to throw the ceremonial

first pitch The ceremonial first pitch is a longstanding ritual of baseball in which a guest of honor throws a ball to mark the end of pregame festivities and the start of the game. Originally, the guest threw a ball from their seat in the grandstand to ...

for the

Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

as part of their Think Cure cancer fundraising campaign. * was cast to star on A&E's new unscripted series, ''Modern Dads'', which premiered on August 21, 2013.

Recordings

In August 2005 he recorded and released his first hour-long comedy CD, ''Sex, Drugs, and Love'', about pop-culture, politics, drug laws, and attitudes about sex in the U.S. It includes an outtake track of Kent battling a drunk woman in the audience plus the song ''Your Genitals are Evil'', co-written with Tom Von Doom, formerly of the band Cycle Sluts From Hell. In 2010 Kent released his second CD, ''Waiting for the Rapture'' for Uproar Entertainment. ''The Laugh Button'' has called it "... a jolt of hilarious though sometimes painful honesty. Tackling topics of 21st Century America, such as politics, Wal-Mart, hippies, recycling, Anderson Cooper and fundamentalist Christians. His appeal is to anyone who’s ever felt themselves an outcast, rebel, or dissatisfied with the world, while trying to figure out where it all went wrong."Review of "Waiting for the Rapture"
thelaughbutton.com

References

External links

Kent's official homepage
(includes audio, video, essays, etc.)
Media articles about Kent

Video of live shows and audio tracks from "Sex, Drugs, and Politics", Kent's first CD

San Francisco International Comedy Competition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kent, Sean American male comedians 21st-century American comedians Last Comic Standing contestants Living people People from Austin, Texas Year of birth missing (living people)