# Samay Raina

Samay Raina (born 26 October 1997) is an Indian stand-up comedian and YouTuber. He was the co-winner of the stand-up comedy contest Comicstaan 2 (2019). Since 2024, he has hosted the comedy talent show India's Got Latent.

## Early life

Raina was born in 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 Vidhyarthi Griha's College of Engineering and Technology 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.

## Career
### Stand-up

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.

### Comicstaan 2

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.

### YouTube

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. 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.
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. 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.
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. He also organised chess tournaments featuring Indian celebrities such as cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal.
In addition to chess, he also live streams many other games on his YouTube channel.

### Chess

Samay plays on Chess.com as samayraina. As of 6 December 2024, Raina has a rating of 1621 at rapid chess on chess.com, while the highest recorded rating was 1942 on 3 August 2023. 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.

#### Comedians on Board (COB)

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.
Comedians on Board Tournament :
| Season | Dates | Winner | Runner-up 1 | Runner-up 2 |
| Comedians on Board (COB) #1 | 29 March-2 Apr 2020 | Aakash Mehta | Kunal Rao | |
| Comedians on Board (COB) #2 | 1-3 July 2020 | Anirban DasGupta | Samay Raina | Biswa Kalyan Rath |
| Comedians on Board (COB) #3 | 19-21 Nov 2020 | Joel Dsouza | Vaibhav Sethia | Samay Raina |
| Comedians on Board All Stars #4 | 22-30 March 2021 | Samay Raina | Biswa Kalyan Rath | |
| Comedians on Board All In #5 | 11-14 Aug 2021 | Samay Raina | Joel Dsouza | Prakhar Gupta |
| Comedians on Board Gang War (Team Event) | 21-27 March 2022 | Susha Squad (Team Owner- Suhani Shah) | Wazir-e-Vaibhav (Team Owner- Vaibhav Sethia) | Bot Army (Team Owner- Tanmay Bhat) |

#### Chess Super League (CSL)

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.
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, and relief for West Bengal and Assam flood victims.

## India’s Got Latent

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.
He then ventured into the tech and entertainment space with the launch of his app India’s Got Latent, inspired by his YouTube show. Raina said 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.

## Controversies
### Ranveer Allahbadia's controversial remark on India's Got Latent

On 10 February 2025, The Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted that the Guwahati Police had registered an FIR against Raina aswell as other YouTubers, including, Ashish Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh, Apoorva Makhija, Ranveer Allahbadia, for promoting obscenity and engaging in sexually explicit and vulgar discussions on India's Got Latent. Sarma also informed that the Guwahati Crime Branch had filed the case under various sections of BNS 2023, the IT Act, 2000, the Cinematograph Act, 1952, and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986. He added that the police investigation into the matter was ongoing. The issue was also raised in the Zero Hour of Parliament, with concerns raised about regulating platforms like YouTube. Later, the video was removed following objections from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis condemned the YouTuber's comment.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2019 | Comicstaan 2 | Contestant | Winner |
| 2021 | Comedy Premium League | Contestant | Winner |
| 2021 | One Mic Stand | Himself | Season 2; Episode 5 |
| 2022 | Bharwo ke Khiladi:Life is Unfair | Supreme Leader | Inspired by The Dictator and Khatron ke Khiladi |
| 2024–present | India's Got Latent | Presenter/Judge | |