Kanan Gill

He was one of the main personalities behind the YouTube Comedy Hunt and also co-hosted the YouTube FanFest India. In 2017, he released his own one-hour comedy special, Keep It Real on Amazon Prime Video. He made his debut on the big screen with the film Noor, alongside Sonakshi Sinha. In 2018, he was also a judge on Comicstaan, a comedic reality TV show, on Amazon Prime Video. He released his new special Is This It? On YouTube in 2024.

• Name — Kanan Gill • Born — 24 December 1989 • Birthplace — Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India • Height — 175 cm • Education — MSRIT (B.E.) • Occupation — Comedian actor youtuber • Years Active — 2013–present

Kanan was born in Bareilly to a Sikh family and spent his early years in Dehradun and Delhi. His father Charanjit Singh Gill, an officer with the Indian Army was also the principal of Rashtriya Military School, Bangalore. At an early age, he moved to Bengaluru with his family. He did his schooling at Ahlcon Public School, New Delhi, and The Frank Anthony Public School, Bengaluru. He pursued a B.E. degree in Computer Science at MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology. He was a part of a band where he later became the lead singer when he started writing humorous songs.

Kanan worked as a software engineer at Exeter Group, Inc., for three years. In the meantime, he participated in and won a competition called Punchline Bangalore, followed by another win at the Comedy Store in Mumbai. He then quit his job to pursue a career in comedy. He gained popularity with a YouTube series, Pretentious Movie Reviews. He reviewed critically panned Hindi movies along with Biswa Kalyan Rath. Kanan also worked in an improvised sketch comedy show, The Living Room, on Comedy Central. Gill made his acting debut in Sunhil Sippy's Noor in 2017, alongside Sonakshi Sinha. The same year, Gill launched his special Keep It Real on Amazon Prime Video. In 2020, his special Yours Sincerely was released on Netflix. He released two more specials, Is This It? (2023) and What Is This? (2025), directly on YouTube, and is currently touring with a show named "Not This Again". In 2023, he also starred in the Norwegian romantic comedy called Christmas As Usual alongside Ida Ursin-Holm. In 2024, HarperCollins released Acts of God, Gill's debut novel. It is a comedy-science fiction story based on a short story that he wrote in 2016–17.

• Year — Name — Platform — Notes • 2017 — Keep It Real — Amazon Prime Video — Stand-Up Comedy Special • 2016–2019 — Better Life Foundation — YouTube — Produced by Them Boxer Shorts Released by All India Bakchod • 2014–present — Pretentious Movie Reviews • I Can Do That • How Insensitive • 2014–2017 — Son of Abish — Season 1 • Season 2 with Biswa Kalyan Rath • Season 3 with Sonakshi Sinha • 2018 — The Improvisers: Something From Nothing — Amazon Prime Video — Alongside Kenny Sebastian, Abish Mathew, Kaneez Surka • 2018-2019 — Comicstaan — Judge • 2019 — Sketchy Behaviour • 2020 — Yours Sincerely, Kanan Gill — Netflix — Stand-Up Comedy Special • 2023 — Is This It? — Paytm Insider, YouTube — Stand-Up Comedy Special • 2024 — Dil Dosti Dilemma — Amazon Prime Video — Role: Nasir Akhtar Episode 4: Keeping Secrets Episode 6: The Celebration • 2026 — What is this? — YouTube — Stand-Up Comedy Special