Brent Butt's debut novel HUGE is a psychological thriller inspired by his life as a touring stand-up comedian
The prolific comedian, actor and screenwriter spoke to The Next Chapter about writing a debut novel
Originally published on Oct. 6, 2023
Brent Butt transports readers into a fictional world of stand-up comedians in his unexpectedly dark and chilling thriller titled HUGE.
Set in the 1990s, the novel follows three stand-up comedians who embark on a tour across the rural Canadian countryside, each from varying degrees of fame. Dale is a 40-something comic from Chicago who has had a mediocre career, while Rynn is a young and rising star from Dublin with a big Hollywood break on her horizon.
The brutally unfunny third comedian, Hobie, does not seem to possess any comedic gift — and the others soon discover what his terrifying talents truly are. The tour takes a turn for the worse and Dale and Rynn become determined to make it off the road alive.
Butt is a Canadian comedian, actor and screenwriter. His stand-up comedy career has spanned over five decades and he created and starred in Canadian sitcoms Corner Gas and Hiccups. Born and raised in Tisdale, Sask., he now resides in Vancouver. HUGE is his first novel.
Butt spoke with Ali Hassan on The Next Chapter about how his career in stand-up comedy and life on the road helped inspire HUGE.
You spent many years as a comedian, actor and screenwriter. Was there always a thriller writer in there screaming to be let out?
I always knew that I was going to attempt to write a novel. When I was very young, I made a list of things that I wanted to write in my life at some professional capacity. And I've fortunately been able to do almost all of them. There's only one left. But a novel was the second-to-last thing on that list, and so I knew I was going to try.
The idea that I had been percolating for some years was of a dark psychological thriller. That's what I like to read as well. So I think it was natural that the first book that I came out with isn't a comedy, but rather a dark and somewhat violent thriller.
It's interesting, these long car rides that you describe on the road, on the comedy circuit. When did you realize that the comedy world and particularly this smaller town circuit would be a great place to set a thriller?
Well, the basic premise that I thought could potentially be interesting [was] the notion of three comedians on the road, one of whom has a tremendous capacity for violence. One of the very gratifying things that I've heard from people who've read the first draft and throughout multiple iterations of the book is [they've] really learned a lot about stand-up and what it's like on the road.
I wanted to plant that seed with people to peel the curtain back a little bit and show them exactly how unglamorous life on the road is.
You centre the book on three characters. Two are real comedians, one is a wannabe comedian. Dale is the veteran journeyman. Did you envision what that career trajectory would be?
Dale is a good stand-up comedian, but for one reason or another, things just didn't click. He didn't get the breaks. It's clearly not working out and he's thinking about getting out of the business and taking a day job which has been offered to him. So Dale sort of represents that person who's on the precipice of deciding "Do I stop living my dream?".
I always knew that I was going to attempt to write a novel. When I was very young, I made a list of things that I wanted to write in my life at some professional capacity.- Brent Butt
And then Rynn, she's on the other side of the coin. She's much younger than Dale. She's been doing it for a while and she's very, very good and the industry knows it. She has some attention and heat from Los Angeles management and production companies who are looking at her to possibly host a network television show.
She's potentially poised for very big things if she can just get through this tour and get back to where she needs to be in order to audition for this.
The stuff I loved reading the most was the dialogue with Dale and Rynn. They both have this great quick-witted dialogue. What was it like to write that?
I just let it flow, you know? A lot of those dialogue moments were just me going back and forth between the two characters and going through that process, finding little nuggets and picking the best moments.
Some of the funniest lines I've ever heard in my life came from in the car on the way to the gig as opposed to on the show at the gig. And they're often lines that would never really translate to stage. You couldn't maybe feather them into a stand-up act.
They lived in that moment specifically in this circumstance and you got yourself laughing. And it's a moment in time that wouldn't have happened if you weren't sequestered with this other like-minded misfit in the middle of Canada on the highway.
The third character, Hobie Huge, he's the villain. He's not in tune with his ability to be funny. What creates a character like that, somebody who gets on stage and doesn't really have the best self-assessment of their skills?
Comedy attracts funny people and it also attracts people who think they're funny. It's like Charlie Demers said, because he read an early version of this book, he said this is a clever tribute to the craft of comedy and the eerie itches it's used to scratch. Because that is the case, a lot of people come into comedy for the wrong reason and they're using comedy to scratch some psychological itch that they have.
Some of the funniest lines I've ever heard in my life came from in the car on the way to the gig as opposed to on the show at the gig.- Brent Butt
Hobie Huge is not Hobie's real name. That's his stage name and I decided to call the book HUGE when I realized that "huge" represents 3 different things with the book. It represents the antagonist Hobie Huge. It represents the desire by comedians to make it big – to make it huge. And the third element of this is driving across this huge, vast, open swath of nothingness. There, Rynn and Dale find themselves with this questionable individual. They're between Manitoba and Ontario and it's nothing but open farmland and dense bush.
There's nowhere to go, nowhere to turn to. And you know your only ally and your main enemy are both in the same van as you.
You mentioned that you had one thing left to complete in your list of professional goals. Are you comfortable talking about what that is?
Yeah, it's to write a play that gets staged professionally and I can just go sit in the back and watch the play unfold. I remember in high school I wasn't in the plays that I wrote. I was acting in other plays, but I wrote a play that was put on by other people.
To sit in the back and hear your words being said by an actor on stage and getting a reaction from the crowd, that was very intoxicating. One of the things that really drew me to writing for television was when you write a script and then you have these amazing actors. I got so blessed to work with these incredible actors on Corner Gas and later Hiccups.
You come up with something, a scene at your kitchen table or in your bedroom when you're writing in the dark, and then to see it brought to life by these talented actors and directors — it's hard to beat that.
Interview produced by Jacqueline Kirk. This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
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