Sean Kent doesn’t have to be reminded that he’s no Superman. Oh, sometimes he feels bulletproof — like when he’s on stage and the stand-up comedy act is going particularly well. That’s a powerful feeling.

But no one knows better than he that fame, like life itself, can be fleeting. Kent was diagnosed with Stage III Hodgkin’s Disease in 2002, and while the cancer is in full retreat now, he can’t help but look back on how a thing like that gives you a unique window to the important things in life.

“I’d be pretty unique if I said that a thing like that doesn’t change you,” said Kent, who was in Hollywood writing for Fox Sports Net’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period” when he was diagnosed. “You take a hard look at the way you live your life, and it definitely makes you a proactive person. I think that experience has made me work harder for what I want in life, for sure.”

For Kent, the unexamined life has never been worth living anyway. His comedy has always offered a large nod to the ironies that govern our existence, and with that in mind he took a negative and tried to make it into a positive. He never quit his comedy career while undergoing chemotherapy; sometimes working 50 hours a week. After three months of chemotherapy and a month of radiation therapy, he was pronounced in remission. The cancer has not come back, and he feels healthy. And more than a little blessed.

“Hey, carpe diem, and all of that,” he said. “I’ve learned how important it is to seize the day. I’m in my 30s, and these are the good years for a person artistically, so I want to take advantage of that.”

These days that means hitting the road with his stand-up act. Kent doesn’t brag about beating cancer; it’s not something he discusses much. He’d rather talk about growing up in Texas during the Reagan era, and how he new he had to get out or go crazy. His first notion was to become an actor.

“Acting was an outlet,” he said. “Just like it is for a lot of people who go into this business. I was always attracted to the arts, and what they illuminate about life. After a while I kind of lost my reverence for acting, and gradually made a transition to comedy. I make my living as a stand up now, and that’s great.”

Kent’s act is opinion driven, topical, and often wanders into politics, technology and religion. But nothing is off topic — not even the story of how he was pulled over while driving in Nebraska while smoking pot.

“There was one of those drug sniffing police dogs in the police car, and it was just going crazy,” he said. “But the cop had no clue. The dog was coming right up to me and just going nuts, smelling the pot. So I say to the cop “I think he smells my dog.”

Of President Bush, he says: “Hey, I like Bush supporters. These are people who are easy to lie to. Like when I’ve been out all night, and my wife demands, ‘Where have you been all night?’ And I tell her ‘I was out fighting terror.’ She says ‘Well, you smell like a hooker!’ and I say ‘I smell like freedom!’ ”

Kent’s comedy writing career is on hold at the moment, due mainly to the writers’ strike.

“It’s a tough business to begin with, and now there’s virtually nothing in production,” he said. “A couple of guys have crossed the picket line and are doing their shows, such as Carson Daily. But most shows are shut down.”

The big issue is the fact that production studios aren’t compensating writers for their work that shows up on the Internet. The studios say that, since the technology is so new, they aren’t going to pay until they understand it better.

“That’s total bull####,” Kent said. “The studios know exactly what they’re doing. People don’t understand that writers have a really short window. There aren’t many jobs; these days reality shows are so much cheaper to produce, and they don’t need writers. The studios are making money every time a show is shown on the Internet, and the writers are entitled to a piece of that. They’re not asking for very much.”

So Kent is going full ahead with his stand up — after Tahoe (he’ll be at The Improv at Harveys with Max Alexander through Sunday), he’s in Las Vegas next week, then on to Shreveport, La., and then Wisconsin. One can check out his act at http://www.seankent.com, or at http://www.youtube.com/seankentcomedy.

Also there’s the movie that he’s working on, about a gay fish. “I’m calling it ‘Rainbow Trout,’ ” Kent says. “OK, not really. But I probably should. That’s a good idea.”

— Rick Chandler is the associate editor of http://Deadspin.com. Contact him at RickChand@GMail.com