Brilliantly Written, 'Yours Sincerely, Kanan Gill' Falls Short Of Its Main Motive - Having Considerable Laughs

The ultimate goal of the education system is to replace your heart with a textbook… so that you can never die. Because you’ve never lived.

Mouthing these lines, Kanan Gill is at Netflix now. So we finally have a stand-up special to talk about that is not from Amazon Prime Video. Yes! After multiple bombardments of Prime Video’s specials, here’s one to look and talk about from Netflix. However, it isn’t just who has shifted per se, but it is the man in question Kanan Gill too. After doing one special and multiple other projects, Gill has come to Netflix with his new stand-up special, Yours Sincerely, Kanan Gill. Here is what I think about the special and key points to derive.

Clocking at a rather long 70 plus minutes, the special first and foremost seems too long. Even with hour-long specials, if and when the content and humor varies too much, the attention span of a viewer gets limited. Here, with over 70 minutes of Gill talking without too many moments, the special does seem stretched.

It is unfortunate to start with a negative point but Gill’s special has plenty. The premise is promising and to an extent, Gill manages to weave a great story around it too. All surrounding a letter about his goals in life, Gill manages to write the act far better than he is able to deliver it. There are several instances throughout the runtime, where you even lose a smile, and when that happens for an extended amount of time in a comedy special, nothing can be worse.

To his credit, Gill maintains his charm, abilities, and performance well. He has always been a natural when it comes to his presence, command over vocabulary, and great enunciation. One might wonder how is any of this relevant to making the people laugh? It is. Even if a certain joke may not land as well as it is supposed to, the manner, tone, and language that it is being said in can still bring a smile.

Just like any other special, Gill’s act most definitely has its moments. Callbacks work wonders in a comedy act if done well and Gill uses them with perfection. His joke about having a friend setting an alarm to drink enough water is referenced by him throughout the whole special in a witty and hilarious manner. Gill also uses self-deprecating humor well where he talks about his increased weight (100 kgs) is great. What Gill also does really well is seamlessly switching into topics that can be a huge concern otherwise. His whole bit about going to a doctor for a checkup of his groin area encapsulates the best minutes of the entire special.

However, as mentioned above, Yours Sincerely, Kanan Gill remains the kind of special which is brilliantly written and denotes the man’s intelligence in the best possible way – but falls short of its core motive – generating considerable laughs. Apart from Gill writing, performing and even lending music to the special; the direction of the same is also done well by another fellow comedian Neville Shah. Gill does have an audience and even if not everyone, many will still enjoy these minutes but in intervals.

Rating - ** (2/5)

Did you watch the special yet? What did you think about it? Leave in your comments below.