Samay Raina podcast: For the first time since the controversy surrounding India’s Got Latent, stand-up comedian Samay Raina has opened up about the emotional aftermath and how it led to his stand-up special Still Alive.
Speaking on Vaibhav Munjal’s podcast, Samay Raina detailed how the backlash – triggered after Ranveer Allahbadia’s controversial remark on the show –snowballed into FIRs and intense public scrutiny, pushing him into one of the darkest phases of his life. He revealed that the special was born directly out of that pain. Samay began writing during the peak of the controversy, testing fragments as surprise sets at Habitat Comedy Club, owned by his close friend Balraj Ghai. Over time, those pieces evolved into a full-fledged set that he later took on tour.
“People stood up, they had tears in their eyes. I had tears in my eyes. I knew I have done something magical when I performed the special. I have taken my pain and put it down on paper and showed it to the world as it is and helped them through it, helped myself through it. This is the best piece of work I have done so far. And then I went on tour with it and it kept getting better and better on tour and I kept getting all the love everywhere I did it. So that’s how I wrote it. I wrote it in two months and it was the fastest thing I have ever written because itna pain tha, itna kuch tha. Warna special likhne mein toh bhai saal do saal lagte hain. Do mahine mein likh ke ready karke tight karke tour kar diya."
Opening up on how he healed himself, Samay Raina said, “I am like this today because of that. I was like a dead body. I have videos from that time when I am just like, I was just zoned out. I am just looking around. Just depersonalized, detached from the world. Just looking at people smiling and feeling like s**t. Bajraj used to try to take me out. He would say chalna yaar, chal. Main kaha, nahi yaar, I just wanna be here. Beech mein toh inke paas Canada visa nahi tha. Those 10 days I have been so lonely because he was with me in US and he didn’t have Canada visa. Toh 10 days, 10 shows and it was minus 27 degrees Celsius bahar. We were in Edmonton, Calgary and I was dead at that time. I was just crying all the time. I was just f****ng demotivated. Kamre mein leta pada rehta tha."
Taking a dig at Ranveer Allahbadia’s now-infamous joke, Samay added, “Bahar minus 27 hai, andar akela hoon. The worst ‘would you rather’ situation!"
Despite all the chaos, Samay confirmed that India’s Got Latent is returning with a second season. Currently in Italy, Samay Raina is taking a short break before heading to Amsterdam, where he is set to perform a trial show.
