Brett worked as a standup comic from 1983 until 1997 when he began working as a sitdown standup comic. In 1998, he started to work also as a funny motivational speaker adding to his standup act, personal stories and what have been called ‘philosophic lecturettes’, that address using humor as a problem-solving device, and as a means to get more out of life. He's performed at the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center, and Wolftrap. Corporate clients include IBM, Toyota, and Ford.

Brett has facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. In 1991, he became the first comedian with a physical disability to appear on NBC’s The Tonight Show about which Jay Leno said, “He broke up the whole room. People realized here’s a man with a disability and he’s not gonna’ let it bother him.” Other television appearances include Entertainment Tonight and the American Comedy Awards. In 2003, public broadcasting stations around the country began running his hour-long comedy special “Laughing Matters with Brett Leake.”

His interests include geology, natural history, and the American Civil War. He enjoys visiting battlefields with his brother, Derek, birding and ‘treeing’ with his mother in the Shenandoah Valley, and watching his nephew, Philip, grow up.

Brett resides in Central Virginia.

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