[1] His maternal grandfather is former Rhode Island governor Frank Licht.
[2] Kanin worked as an assistant to The New Yorker's cartoons editor, Robert Mankoff for two years after college.
[1] The style of his cartoons was described by Richard Gehr of The Comics Journal as "a slightly surreal place where things have gone sometimes seriously awry.
[3] While working there he met fellow writer Tim Robinson and the two became writing partners.
[5] He was also a writer for Documentary Now!, The Characters, and Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special.