Daniel Fernandes has been on tour with his comedy special Shadows for a whole year and a half across India, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore. A few days ago, he finally announced the online release: 1 November.

Since streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix have come in, comedians have been commissioned specials that have released within months of being on the road, often before they were truly ready. In his trailer for the special, Fernandes jokes that the response to his special has been fantastic, so much so that neither Netflix nor Amazon Prime have called. So he’s releasing his entire special on YouTube. No paid subscription needed.

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In the game for eight years now, Fernandes is known for taking risks—from his material (Shadows is one of the first Indian specials to dive deep into mental health, before it was a hot topic), to setting the record for India’s longest comedy show yet—a six-hour-long crowd work show he performed earlier this year in April, Talk to Me: Ironman. And now a YouTube special at a time when everyone else is clamouring to get on the watchlist of an OTT platform. Will this work in his favour? Well, one way to look at it is to remember that this is how Russell Peters shot to fame back in the day, with his special being cut up and released over the internet, turning Somebody Gonna Get-A Hurt Real Bad into a whole mood.

While the release was scheduled for 1 November according to his announcement on Instagram, it seems that someone has gotten a hold of an unlisted link of the entire thing. The team at DeadAnt has had a look, and it seems… legit. We’re not sure Fernandes is going to be thrilled about this, but if you’re a fan here’s a way to get in early and be “first to comment!”

Watch it here:

Excuse us as we go into hiding for a bit.