Thomas Kenton Jones (born June 12, 1964) is an American writer and performer on

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

's '' The Rachel Maddow Show''. He is a comedy writer who also wrote and performed at Air America Radio.

Career

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

native, Kent moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1986 and held a variety of

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

jobs working at ''

InStyle ''InStyle'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine founded in 1994. It was published in the United States by Dotdash Meredith, and started originally as a brand extension of ''People (magazine), People'' before carving out its own ide ...

'' and ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'' and contributing freelance humor articles to various publications.

''The Daily Show''

In 1996, he discovered the 'far more legitimate field of fake news' at ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk show, late-night talk and news satire television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States, with extended episodes released shortly after on Paramount+ ...

'' 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 ...

, where he was a writer for five years. Around this time, Jones was a writer on the TV special Unauthorized Biography: Milo, Death of a Supermodel. In 2000, Kent and his fellow writers won the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy, Variety or Special, as well as the

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

for Excellence in Broadcasting. Kent then moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and worked as a producer on shows at

Oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

and ABC.

Air America and ''The Rachel Maddow Show''

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 Lizz Winstead (born July 5, 1961) is an American comedian, radio and television personality, abortion rights activist, and podcast host. A native of Minnesota, Winstead is the co-creator of ''The Daily Show'' along with Madeleine Smithberg, ...

Chuck D Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D is also a me ...

and

Rachel Maddow Rachel Anne Maddow ( ; born April 1, 1973) is an American television news program host and liberal political commentator. She hosts '' The Rachel Maddow Show'', a weekly television show on MSNBC, and serves as the cable network's special event ...

where he delivered the "Unfiltered News". He also wrote extensively for ''

Morning Sedition ''Morning Sedition'' was an American three-hour radio program that premiered April 1, 2004 and ran until December 16, 2005. It was hosted by comedian Marc Maron and New York radio veteran Mark Riley. Prior to June 2004, the show was also host ...

'' 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 ''The Marc Maron Show'' was a late night radio show produced in affiliation with the Air America Radio network and hosted by comedian Marc Maron. The show originated from KTLK 1150 AM in Los Angeles, California. The show was less politically ...

'' 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 November 7, 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. 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.

References

External links

The Rachel Maddow Show
*
Kent Jones archive at The Rachel Maddow Show
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Kent Living people 1964 births Writers from Missouri American television writers American male television writers American radio personalities News & Documentary Emmy Award winners Primetime Emmy Award winners