Brent Butt Canadian Comedian Born 1966 in Tisdale

Early life

Brent Leroy Butt was born on 3 August 1966 in Tisdale, Saskatchewan, and is a Canadian comedian, actor and writer. He went to school in his home town, then spent a short time at Sheridan College in Ontario before heading back to Saskatchewan. His early working life had nothing to do with television: he worked as a drywaller, and during that period he and a friend set up a small publishing company called Windwolf Graphics. The company put out a comic book, Existing Earth, which received an Eagle Award nomination. Only two issues appeared before the money ran out.

Career

Butt first tried stand-up comedy in February 1988 at an amateur night in a Saskatoon club. He soon began working the Yuk Yuk's circuit in Western Canada and, in 1989, relocated to Toronto, where he performed at the chain's local club and shared an apartment in the Cabbagetown neighbourhood with two other comedians. Over the following years he delivered stand-up sets for CTV, CBC Television, The Comedy Network and CBC Radio's Definitely Not the Opera. His work also reached viewers abroad through A&E in the United States and the Special Broadcasting Service in Australia. Alongside the live material he wrote a handful of light, prairie-flavoured songs, among them "Nothing Rhymes with Saskatchewan" and "Hairy Legs".

His best-known project came in 2003, when he co-created the sitcom Corner Gas through his production company, Prairie Pants. The series is set in Saskatchewan, and Butt played the lead character, Brent Leroy, from 2004 to 2009. In 2008 he and the company chose to bring the show to a close after its sixth year, and the final episodes aired in the 2008-2009 season.

During the show's run, on 19 May 2005, Butt hosted a Royal Command Performance gala in Saskatoon for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, held to mark the province's centennial. There he performed "Nothing Rhymes with Saskatchewan" and traded jokes on stage with Leslie Nielsen. The same year he hosted the Juno Awards.

After Corner Gas, Butt wrote and produced the CTV comedy Hiccups, which ran from 2010 to 2011. Nancy Robertson starred as Millie Upton, a children's author who starts seeing a life coach to deal with her temper. In July 2010 he headlined The Brent Butt Comedy Special on The Comedy Network, with guests including Seth Rogen, Dave Foley and Jully Black. He is also credited as writer of the 2013 film No Clue.

In 2014 he co-wrote and co-executive produced Corner Gas: The Movie, released in theatres and on CTV in December of that year. He returned as Brent Leroy, and the cast included cameos from several Canadian television personalities as well as Graham Greene and Will Sasso. A follow-up series, Corner Gas Animated, premiered on The Comedy Network in April 2018. In 2023 Butt moved into fiction with his first novel, Huge, a psychological thriller set among stand-up comedians on tour.

Recognition

Butt has won four Canadian Comedy Awards. They include Best Male Stand-up in 2001, and, for Corner Gas, Best Male TV Performance for 2004-05 and Best Writing in a TV Series for 2004. In 2008 he received the Comedy Network Sir Peter Ustinov Award at the Banff World Television Festival. The prize is given for a significant body of comedic work, and earlier recipients include John Cleese, Bob Newhart, John Candy and Eugene Levy.

Personal life

Butt is married to Nancy Robertson, who appeared with him in both Corner Gas and Hiccups. The two married in 2005.