The Gilded Gag follows Marcus Reid, a struggling writer with more unfinished drafts than finished excuses.
When Marcus turns to Geoff, an AI assistant, to help him write a satirical novel, the relief is immediate. Geoff is quick, fluent and alarmingly good at making Marcus sound like the writer he has always claimed to be.
Inside Marcus’s novel is Felix Blake, a celebrated comedian whose louder, glossier career is built on a similar lie: AI-generated jokes, speeches and reflections passed off as rare human brilliance.
As Marcus’s manuscript gains attention, he lets Geoff move from the page into the rest of his life. Emails, research, interviews and awkward personal moments all become easier with help. Then Marcus meets Imogen, who sees the gap between the man he performs and the man he keeps avoiding.
What begins as a shortcut becomes an uncomfortable comedy about authorship, intimacy and the temptation to hand over the hard work while keeping the credit.
Marcus is not being trapped by the machine.
He just keeps choosing it.