Vir Das: Fool Volume

The way he's pulled off three completely different shows across three continents (New York, London, Delhi) and yet it feels like one coherent narrative? That's master-level writing, editing and performance.

The transitions? Seamless. The humour? Sharp as ever. And the themes? Personal, political, global. All tied up without feeling preachy.

It's not just stand-up, it's a storytelling masterclass in structure and craft.

The shift between cultural contexts while keeping the audience anchored in his world is insane. It's like watching someone write three books at once and finish all of them with the same final sentence.

Vir Das been promoting the show very smartly over the last few weeks and I have been a fan of his work for many years. So the moment this special came out today, it started streaming it.

It started on a decent note, with interwoven jokes that featured his signature smart satire and social and political commentary. But as the special progressed, I found the jokes or their context less and less funny. We associate his work with smartly written socio-political commentary, but here the jokes simply don't land!! Even in the wide shots of the audience, multiple times you can sense that large sections of the audience aren't laughing hard or completely into their splits!!

Maybe this had to do with the 3-city shoot (which I felt is a novel and great concept in theory) but maybe the constant shift of venue, lighting and even vibe disrupted the flow for us (the Netflix audience).

I was rooting for the show and will definitely root for Vir's future content also but I wish this one was funnier and sharper.

PS Once an artist sets the bar high for the audience, sometimes its hard to match it consistently in spite of best efforts. His Hindi counterpart, Zakir's last couple of specials on Amazon Prime, also fell quite flat and repetitive in nature.

I have no idea how much he was paid for this special by Netflix, but it was not enough. Piecing together three shows, from three very different places, and it was brilliant. I even got choked up a bit at the end. Anyone can make art, but not everyone can make fine art. This was fine art. This was my first exposure to his work.

This standup is hands down the best stand up comedy somebody might have seen till date. It feels personal. At the same time you feel a gush of emotions, you laugh; smile; get emotional and reflect upon yourselves a bit. Amazing work done by Vir Das. 👏🏻 Making the audience shake hands with reality with humour and slapstick.

Definitely one of the best things I've watched in the past few months. You might think he's funny, you might also think that he's not. But this is something that will definitely stay with you for a long time. The nuanced jokes, carefully woven political commentary, and the entire set was just phenomenal. Had been waiting for this to come out for weeks and watched it the moment it came out. One of my favourite things about Vir's comedy has always been how all of the things he says come back at the end of the show and end up becoming a beautiful culmination of little inside jokes between him and the audience. Will forever be a fan of him. Wonderfully executed.