From stand-up to ‘soft sci-fi’: Kanan Gill on Acts of God

Immersed in the vibrant atmosphere of the Front Lawn at Hotel Clarks Amer, Kanan Gill, renowned comedian and author, shared insights into his latest literary venture, Acts of God. He engaged the audience in a conversation that transcended the realms of stand-up comedy and novel writing.

With candour and humour, he drew comparisons between the two creative processes, highlighting the distinct challenges and joys each presented. Gill was in conversation with music programming consultant Sarthak Kaushik, who asked him about the difference between the process of writing for stand-up and a novel. 

“There are two different generative mechanisms at play for stand-up and for the written word. Stand-up must be immediate, and it is predicated on the illusion of spontaneity. When performing a stand-up, I need to know what I’m talking about because you (the audience) deserve to have a good time. However, there’s a different mechanism at play when you write the written word. When you say stand-up, it’s best if it comes out as speech. A joke is given best birth to on stage while saying it. If you write it down, you’ve lost some of the magic already. You can create stand-up on stage and refine stand-up on stage,” Gill responded. 

Stand-up must be immediate, and it is predicated on the illusion of spontaneity. When performing a stand-up, I need to know what I’m talking about because you deserve to have a good time.

Kannan Gill on writing for stand-up versus fiction

“The editing process is live, and the feedback process is also live with stand-up. For the written word, when you start writing, a different voice gives birth to these. I believe it’s a different neural circuit. It also seems true because I write very differently than how I speak,” Gill insisted. “It is the rhythm of the written language and how a joke plays out in text is entirely different from how it plays out when you say it to someone,” he added. Stand-up, as he puts it, is a high-risk, high-reward process – you know immediately if it is good or bad but with a novel, you receive feedback after the book comes out. 

Gill offered a unique perspective on his venture into comedic science fiction that he explores in Acts of God. With an untraditional approach to drawing inspiration, he shared that he doesn’t adhere to a specific source or indulge in extensive readings of science fiction. Instead, his creative process is more of a 1:1 relationship — he reads one book, and he writes one book. This method allows him to infuse his work with distinct, unfiltered creativity, unbound by the conventions of the genre. He described the novel as soft sci-fi, acknowledging a narrative that is more character-driven than rooted in complex scientific concepts. 

In the realm of a novel, experimentation takes flight — form becomes a playground for comedy just as much as content. He quipped, “The written word allows witty wordplay while stand-up has to be quick and immediate.” Yet, brevity remains key; a laugh every 7-10 seconds sets the rhythm for him. As for the process of creating this novel, he religiously wrote 1000 words every day, no matter what.