John Brent
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.
John Brent
- Born
- 1938 · Madison.
- Died
- 1985 · Los Angeles.
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- actor · poet
- Languages
- English
In this article
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
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Madison.
Birth place
Los Angeles.
Death place
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article John Brent (comedian), revision 1370255690 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Film
Otherwise he recorded and published little, since he died at a relatively young age. He also appeared as an actor in such films as Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Catch-22, Steelyard Blues, and American Graffiti. Brent's son, Jeremy Paz, resides in San Francisco. He owns and operates Question Mark Tavern, which has a barroom called The Hip Pocket dedicated to his father and the How to Speak Hip album.
• 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
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 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.
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 31 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,185 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- John BradshawAuthor
- John BraineAuthor
- John BrandiAuthor
- John Brayshaw KayeAuthor
- John BrightAuthor
- John BrileyAuthor
- John BrinckmanAuthor
- John BrockmanAuthor
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