Jak Knight, a stand-up comic, writer, and actor with film, cable and streaming credits, died last night in Los Angeles at 28. His family confirmed the death but did not provide details on the circumstances.
Knight most recently co-created and starred alongside Chris Redd, Sam Jay, and Langston Kerman in the Peacock original series Bust Down. A co-executive producer on Pause with Sam Jay for HBO, Knight had recently wrapped filming Chelsea Peretti’s feature directorial debut, First Time Female Director.
Prior to “Bust Down,” Knight worked as a writer on the 2013 Fox animated series “Lucas Bros. Moving Company,” and as an executive story editor on a season of “Black-ish.” He wrote for Bill Burr’s Roku Channel sketch comedy series “Immoral Compass,” and began working as a writer and producer on “Big Mouth” in 2018, for which he also voiced the character of DeVon, an arthritic 13-year-old. Starting in 2021, Knight was a producer and regular performer on “Pause With Sam Jay,” a late night show hosted by his fellow comedian Jay. He was also credited as a writer on seven episodes of the show’s second season, which aired this May.
As a stand-up, Knight was named a 2014 Comedy Central Comic to Watch and a 2015 New Face at the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival. He performed at the 2015 Oddball Comedy Festival, and opened for comedians such as Dave Chappelle, Joel McHale, Eric Andre, Moshe Kasher, and Aziz Ansari. On television, he performed on shows such as “The Meltdown With Jonah and Kumail,” “Adam Devine’s House Party” and “@Midnight.” His half-hour stand-up special premiered on Netflix in 2018 as part of the streamer’s “Comedy Lineup” series.
No details on survivors or memorial plans have been released.
