Tanmay Bhat

Tanmay Bhat (Marathi and Hindi: ; born: ) is an Indian YouTuber, stand-up comedian, scriptwriter, performer, producer and co-founder of the Indian creative agency All India Bakchod, along with Gursimranjeet Singh Khamba.
Tanmay is one of the earliest Indian YouTubers, having created his account in November 2006. After creating his YouTube channel, he posted two videos of the first Cutting Chai festival at his college in 2007, and then did not upload again until 2017.
== Career ==
=== All India Bakchod ===
In 2013, Tanmay co-founded the comedy brand All India Bakchodi, along with Gursimran Khamba, and Ashish Shakya. They filmed sketches, performed stand-up comedy, and co-wrote shows as a comedy company.
By early 2015, the comedy group became a creative agency, making branded content for corporate clients. AIB's first foray into YouTube consisted of short spoofs and mimicry-based sketches. Song parodies continued to feature stereotypical situations and play on heavy nostalgia in their work. They popularised a satirical trope, "Honest Indian...", which they applied to various situations. Their podcast guests and work collaborators included Bollywood celebrities, global and Indian comedians and filmmakers.
In October 2018, the company halted operation and fired its entire staff, after Bhat and Khamba were implicated in two separate sexual harassment allegations. No formal charges were made but the company dissolved in May 2019.
=== Film and television ===
Tanmay Bhat had his debut with UTV Bindass' flagship show, Hass Ley India. He wrote for MTV India's Wassup and Nachle Ve with Saroj Khan. He ventured into story, screenplay and dialogue writing for Disney India's daily comedies Kya Mast Hai Life and NDTV Imagine's Oye! It's Friday! with Farhan Akhtar.
He was the writer and producer for India's More Talent, a subsidiary comedy show spawning from Not true, and has scripted TV award shows, including the Filmfare Awards, Star Parivaar Awards, Balaji Awards, Big TV Awards and Stardust Awards.
He had a brief cameo appearance in and appeared in .
=== YouTube ===
After the October 2018 MeToo controversy, Bhat returned to YouTube in November 2019 . He also launched a second channel, 'Honestly by Tanmay Bhat', where he hosts 'learning streams' and videos featuring experts in various topics.
He teamed up with Saiman Says in January 2020 and brought in several comedians, including , CarryMinati, and , for the "TreeMathon 2020" live stream. The stream was an 8 hour-long livestream with people playing the game to support the Mission Green Mumbai and raise funds to plant as many trees as possible in response to the deforestation drive at .
In 2020, Netflix India started a series with Bhat reacting to various movies & TV shows on Netflix, called "Tanmay Reacts". Tanmay also reacts on the memes and videos on his own channel, majorly with his "OG gang" — a group of four people with their own aliases — Aditya Kulshrestha (Writer OP), (Rider OP), Rohan Joshi (Prisoner OP) and Vishal Dayama (Shauhar OP).
== Controversies ==
During his careers as a comedian and YouTuber, Tanmay has been subject to many controversies.
In May 2016 Bhat uploaded a Snapchat video mimicking and , arguing about who is a better player. The video generated heated controversy over their portrayal, which some deemed offensive and appalling, while others found it hilarious and witty. Following this, an FIR was registered by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena against him and Mumbai police wrote to Google and YouTube requesting the video be deleted.
In 2017 the comedian was booked and an FIR was filed against him for posting a meme of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Snapchat.
===Me Too Controversy===
In October 2018, writer and comedian Mahima Kukreja accused the YouTuber , who worked as a freelancer with All India Bakchod, of sending her and other women lewd messages and photos via social messaging apps. At the time, Bhat was the CEO of AIB. Several comedians within Chakraborty's circle, including Tanmay Bhat, knew about the allegations of harassment but opted to keep quiet and work with him. On 8 October 2018, AIB announced that Bhat would immediately "be stepping away from his association with AIB" for the time being. Prime Video removed Bhat from the panel of judges for the second season of Comicstaan due to the allegations.
In May 2019, AIB announced that Bhat was no longer suspended but removed from the CEO post. A few weeks later, Bhat stated in videos posted to Instagram that he suffered from clinical depression, drawing criticism from Mahima Kukreja and fellow comedian , both of whom accused Bhat of using depression as a good and characterised his claims as insincere.
== References ==
Category:Users who joined in 2006
Category:Indian YouTubers
Category:Reaction YouTubers
Category:Vlogging YouTubers
Category:Commentary YouTubers
Category:Gaming YouTubers
Category:One million subscribers
Category:Two million subscribers
Category:Three million subscribers
Category:Four million subscribers