Samay Raina is an Indian stand-up comedian and YouTuber. He has won many awards in the comic genre. He was the co-winner of the stand-up comedy contest Comicstaan 2, which came in the year 2019. He is also a successful YouTuber with huge followers. 

Samay Raina's Early Life

Samay Raina was born in 1997 in Jammu city to a conservative Kashmiri Pandit family. He enrolled in a print engineering course at Vidhyarthi Griha's College of Engineering and Technology in Pune, Maharashtra. During this time, he began participating in open mic events and, over time, became a regular in the local comedy scene.

Samay Raina Career

Samay Raina began his comedy career with open mics in 2017 and performed as an opening act for established comedians like Anirban Dasgupta and Abhishek Upmanyu in Pune. He joined Comicstaan 2 after getting a suggestion from Aakash Gupta, and both became the joint winners of Comicstaan 2. During the COVID pandemic, he was unable to do standup comedy and then began streaming chess games on his YouTube channel. Samay Raina's viewership increased when he invited YouTuber Antonio Radić to his channel. Many chess game winners praised him for popularising chess in India through his channel. Samay Raina also started organising online chess tournaments on his channel named Comedians On Board (COB). The idea behind the same was to attract the online audience to chess. Samay Raina, with ChessBase India and Nodwin Gaming, also organised an online chess league called Chess Super League. It consists of some of the Top International and Indian Grandmasters, International Masters and Indian Junior Players. 

During June 2024, Samay Raina launched India's Got Latent, a reality show which aims to search some hidden talents in India. He through to change the platform into a full-fledged OTT service, featuring shows across genres such as poetry, rap, and reality TV. The show was also involved in controversy due to Ranveer Allahbadia's controversial remark.