John Brent (comedian)

John Brent (14 March 1938, in Madison, Connecticut – 16 August 1985, in Los Angeles) was an American comedian, actor and beat poet.

He was part of the Second City comedy club, and then later The Committee. He is mainly known for being half the duo behind the 1959 How To Speak Hip comedy album with Del Close. Otherwise he recorded and published little, since he died at a relatively young age.^[1][2][3] He also appeared as an actor in such films as Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Catch-22, Steelyard Blues, and American Graffiti.^[4]

Brent's son was Jeremy Paz, who resides in San Francisco.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	Greenwich Village Story	Poet
1969	Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice	Dave
1970	Catch-22	Cathcart's Receptionist
1972	The Candidate
1973	Steelyard Blues	Tattoo Parlor Man
1973	American Graffiti	Car Salesman
1979	More American Graffiti	Ralph
1980	Porklips Now	Head Butcher	Short Film
1980	First Family	U.N. Official #2

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	WKRP in Cincinnati	Buzzy	Episode: "Straight from the Heart"
1983	Laverne & Shirley	Shasta	Episode: "Defective Ballet"
1985	The History of White People in America		TV movie; final role

References

1. Paul Colby, Martin Fitzpatrick The Bitter End: Hanging Out at America's Nightclub 2002 p. 120 "There is little left of John Brent, who died at a very young age, very little written and nothing that..."
2. Penny Marshall - My Mother was Nuts: A Memoir - 2012 - Page 94 "They were all creative—and nuts! John, who had made the comedy album How to Speak Hip with Del Close, kept an array of pills in a large flashlight. Every so often he dumped them out on the coffee table and said, “Let's see, two of these are ..."
3. Kim Howard Johnson The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close 2008 "His drug intake began to increase around the same time, likely accelerated by the proximity of John Brent. In [Brent's] apartment above mine on Hudson St., we'd get high after the Second City show—him on junk and me on speed—and he "
4. "John Brent". IMDb.