Kanan Gill’s meteoric rise to the top echelons of Indian comedy has been nothing short of spectacular, though five minutes into his comedy will clear any doubts of the praise that comes his way.
Kanan announced himself onto the Indian comedy scene in 2014 with Pretentious Movie Reviews, a YouTube series where he and fellow comic Biswa Kalyan Rath panned Bollywood movies. Solo stand-up material followed, culminating in two critically-acclaimed stand-up specials – 2017’s Keep It Real on Amazon Prime Video, and 2020’s Yours Sincerely, Kanan Gill on Netflix. In 2019, he embarked on an ambitious 19-city tour of North America, called Teetar. He has also taken this show to Australia, Singapore, UK, and the Middle East.
Along the way, he has performed sketch comedy in his own How Insensitive! YouTube series, and acted in the mockumentary Better Life Foundation by Them Boxer Shorts. Apart from his solo special, his work dots Amazon Prime Video – he co-stars in the sketch comedy special Sketchy Behaviour with Kenny Sebastian, is a judge and mentor on the comedy hunt series Comicstaan, and appears on the improvised comedy special, The Improvisers: Something From Nothing, the titular group of which is is a part of, along with Abish Mathew, Kenny Sebastian and Kaneez Surka.
There’s more! In 2019, he did a five-city tour of India with a popular pop-rock band When Chai Met Toast. He remains one of the few Indian comics to have a Bollywood credit to his name, debuting in the 2017 Sonakshi Sinha-starrer, Noor. He has lent his chops to content for brands including OnePlus, Cadbury 5Star, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Dewar’s. For example, for Dewar’s, Kanan starred in a (hilarious) five-part YouTube series called I Can Do That, showcasing him learning new skills from experts – chef Kelvin Cheung, DJ Arjun Vagale, dancer Mukti Mohan, mixologist Kara Anderson, and filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor.
Often praised for his razor-sharp observations and delivery, Kanan remains one of the country’s most-loved comedians.
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