Samay Raina | ||||||||||
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Born | ||||||||||
Occupations | ||||||||||
Years active | 2017–present | |||||||||
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YouTube information | ||||||||||
Channel | ||||||||||
Years active | 2017–present | |||||||||
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Subscribers | 6.92 million [1] | |||||||||
Total views | 966.72 million [1] | |||||||||
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Last updated: 21 January 2025 |
Samay Raina is an Indian stand-up comedian, printing engineer, YouTuber, and chess enthusiast. He was the co-winner of the second season of the stand-up comedy contest Comicstaan. [2] During the COVID-19 pandemic, he began streaming chess games along with multiple comedians and chess masters. He has raised substantial amounts of money for various causes through his YouTube channel, including help for waste pickers, [3] and relief for West Bengal and Assam flood victims. [4] [5]
Raina was born in the Jammu city of the erstwhile Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir into a conservative Kashmiri Pandit family. He enrolled in a print engineering course at PVG's COET in Pune, Maharashtra which he said was a waste of time, and started doing open mic events and eventually became a regular in the local comedy scene. [6]
After performing at multiple open mics since 27 August 2017, Raina began opening for well-known comedians like Anirban Dasgupta and Abhishek Upmanyu in Pune. As he gained recognition, he moved to Mumbai to pursue a career in stand-up comedy and gave several successful shows in Mumbai and several cities across the nation.[ citation needed ]
Eventually, he joined Comicstaan 2 from a suggestion from his co-winner Aakash Gupta. Later, he became the joint winner of Comicstaan 2 with Aakash Gupta, aired on Amazon Prime Video. [7] [8]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government cancelled all outdoor events, and thus, Raina could no longer perform stand-up comedy. He then began streaming chess games on his YouTube channel at the fellow comedian Tanmay Bhat's suggestion. [9] His viewership boosted when he invited YouTuber Antonio Radić, popularly known as Agadmator, to his channel. In response to this, Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi tweeted that he would like to join Raina on his track. Eventually, Gujrathi appeared on Raina's channel, giving another boost to Raina's viewership. Since then, the two have fostered a strong relationship and frequently feature on each other's channels. Gujrathi attributes his moving from Twitch to YouTube to Raina's suggestion.[ citation needed ]
According to many chess proponents, including GMs Viswanathan Anand, Vidit Gujrathi, Anish Giri, Teimour Radjabov, Baskaran Adhiban, Emil Sutovsky and IMs Tania Sachdev and Sagar Shah, Raina has been instrumental in popularising chess in India through his channel. [10] Raina tries to make the game of chess more appealing to the masses through his humour which, according to many, has helped him reach a larger audience. [9]
Several well-known chess personalities like Pentala Harikrishna, Judit Polgár, former world chess champions Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen have appeared on Raina's channel. [11] [12] He also organised chess tournaments featuring Indian celebrities such as cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal. [13] [14]
In addition to chess, he also live streams many other games on his YouTube channel.
Samay plays on Chess.com as samayraina. As of 6 December 2024 [update] , Raina has a rating of 1621 at rapid chess on chess.com, while the highest recorded rating was 1942 on 3 August 2023. [15] On 5 May 2021, Raina won the $10,000 Botez Bullet Invitational, a one-hour amateur bullet arena tournament sponsored by Chess.com and hosted by the Botez sisters. He was the only Indian streamer competing among some of the top international Twitch streamers and earned $4000. [16]
He started organising online chess tournaments on his channel to attract the online audience to chess, called Comedians On Board (COB), inviting many of his comedian friends and other celebrities.
Season | Dates | Winner | Runner-up 1 | Runner-up 2 |
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Comedians on Board (COB) #1 [17] | 29 March-2 Apr 2020 | Aakash Mehta | Kunal Rao | |
Comedians on Board (COB) #2 [18] | 1-3 July 2020 | Anirban DasGupta | Samay Raina | Biswa Kalyan Rath |
Comedians on Board (COB) #3 [19] | 19-21 Nov 2020 | Joel Dsouza | Vaibhav Sethia | Samay Raina |
Comedians on Board All Stars #4 [20] | 22-30 March 2021 | Samay Raina | Biswa Kalyan Rath | |
Comedians on Board All In #5 [21] | 11-14 Aug 2021 | Samay Raina | Joel Dsouza | Prakhar Gupta |
Comedians on Board Gang War (Team Event) [22] | 21-27 March 2022 | Susha Squad (Team Owner- Suhani Shah) | Wazir-e-Vaibhav (Team Owner- Vaibhav Sethia) | Bot Army (Team Owner- Tanmay Bhat) |
Raina with ChessBase India and Nodwin Gaming organised an online chess league called Chess Super League consisting of some of the Top International and Indian Grandmasters, International Masters and Indian Junior Players, competing in six teams of six players each. For the prize pool of ₹40 lakh (US$46,000). The entire event was streamed on Raina's YouTube Channel. [23]
In June 2024, Samay Raina launched India's Got Latent, a reality show focused on uncovering hidden talents. The show, which blends comedy and performance, features a unique format where participants are evaluated not only on their talents but also on their self-awareness, with comedic commentary and celebrity guest judges contributing to the evaluation process. Hosted on Raina's YouTube channel, the show quickly garnered attention and positive reception, particularly among younger audiences, for its distinctive, humour-driven approach to talent discovery. [24] [25] [26]
The show marks Raina's continued efforts to explore creative formats that merge comedy with interactive entertainment, following his previous successful ventures in stand-up and online content creation. [25]
He then ventured into the tech and entertainment space with the launch of his app India’s Got Latent. The app, inspired by his YouTube show, offers unfiltered and uncensored content, paving the way for creators to explore their talents without restrictions. He aims to eventually transition the platform into a full-fledged OTT service, featuring shows across genres such as poetry, rap, and reality TV. Within hours of launch, the app reached top of the charts on Apple App Store and Google Play Store. [27]
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
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2019 | Comicstaan 2 | Contestant | Winner | [28] |
2021 | Comedy Premium League | Contestant | Winner | [29] |
2021 | One Mic Stand | Himself | Season 2; Episode 5 | [30] |
2024–present | India's Got Latent | Presenter | [31] |
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