Kareem Rahma on treating ordinary people like celebrities and bypassing industry gatekeepers.
Aug 21, 2026 [[read-time]] minute read
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Producer, comedian, poet, indie rock musician: Kareem Rahma will try his hand at almost anything. Except, that is, chasing perfection. For Rahma, the solution to creative paralysis is moving fast and using what’s right there in front of you. As he explains it, “doing what’s right right now.”
That mindset was the foundation for creating SubwayTakes. Shot entirely on moving train cars with cinema-grade rigs, the popular comedy show puts everyday New Yorkers and A-list guests in the hot seat to argue their weirdest, most passionate takes.
Despite launching on YouTube without studio backing, Rahma recently earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Short Form Series — a landmark recognition for a creator-led show.
We caught up with Kareem to discuss creative constraints, legacy media and what, exactly, is right for him right now.
I have to ask, how often in these interviews are you asked ‘What’s your take?’
Kareem: 90% of the time, but I usually decline. That said, I have a good one today. They should standardize sizing across the board for clothes. I just bought something that's an XL, but it fits like a medium. It should be treated like a USB-C.
You have a real talent for striking up these kinds of conversations with anyone, anywhere. How much of that comes from your background growing up between Cairo and Minnesota?
Kareem: I've always been like a chameleon because when I'm in Egypt, I'm American and when I'm in the States, I'm Egyptian. Moving to New York made me feel really comfortable in my own skin and a lot less confused about who I was. Here, people don’t really care. They care out of this curiosity of, “Where are you from? This is my background.” Boom, move on. Everyone’s kind of the same.
And while SubwayTakes isn't actually about talking to total strangers since we book our guests, that background gave me the ability to make a lot of friends and make them quickly. That’s a strength that led to the success of the show: being able to text, call, run into people, and build a community. That’s really what living in New York is about, and that’s what the show is about.
You’ve worked across many mediums, including poetry, indie rock, sketch comedy, screenwriting. How did you navigate finding your voice across all those different outlets?
Kareem: I’ve kind of just always pursued what I want to do at that exact moment. I have the opposite of perfection syndrome. Nothing ever needs to be perfect, but I always need to get things out of my body. One day I woke up and was like, “I’m going to write a poem.” I wrote one poem, then started writing tons of poems, and published a book.
I have this mantra: do what’s right right now. It just means you’re never going to come up with the right answer, and the more you wait, the more time is wasted and the more confused you get. The answer will never appear unless you do something.
How do you make room for that exploratory approach now that you’ve found such success?
Kareem: Now my family's my priority, and I do find myself having a little less time to play. But in the process of having my daughter, I've explored and uncovered new parts of myself that will definitely affect my future work.
At the same time SubwayTakes got huge, I still couldn't stop thinking about Keep the Meter Running, which is my other show on YouTube with a totally different vibe. I have an amazing job that I love, but I’m also interested in this other job, so I do both. If there’s something I really want to do, I still do it. You just go with your gut and follow your heart.
Was that same "do what’s right right now" mindset what led to the concept for SubwayTakes?
Kareem: Yeah, although I was more reluctant because I was being lazy. I really didn’t want to fail and I had to tell myself, "You know what? I literally have nothing else to do right now."
The idea was to make the shortest interview show possible and treat regular people like celebrities without making it a bit — just, "Here’s your opportunity to be on a talk show. What do you want to say?"
I also wanted to prove that a show could be short-form, unscripted, vertical video and still be a show. It's not a clip from a show. It's not a screen lift for a show. It is the show. At that time, which was almost four years ago now, there were not a lot of people thinking that way about short-form vertical video entertainment.
Why did you decide to create SubwayTakes independently rather than with a studio?
Kareem: It wasn’t a decision — it was out of need. I wanted to make work, and I don't like asking for permission. I like to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible.
That’s one of the main reasons it’s shot on the subway: the subway is a free set. I didn’t have money to book a studio, but for $2.90, there was no hourly payment and we had our set. Some of the best creativity and ideas come out of creative constraints. Working within those containers makes the work more specific and gives it a sharper point of view.
Which early creative decisions shaped the series the most?
Kareem: Two major decisions shaped everything from day one. First was the choice to book the show. The first ten episodes were booked the exact same way as our most recent ones: friends, friends of friends, people I’ve met on the street. It’s always been an intentional mix. Second was going into it with a quality-first perspective, even if it was more expensive. Using Sony FX3s, Sennheiser mics and multiple cameras right away let us arrive as a fully formed project rather than a rough pilot.
What was awesome about that show and Keep the Meter Running is they both just ripped. They both did well out the gate, which is really rare. I was fortunate that SubwayTakes immediately was successful in my eyes. It wasn't an overnight massive show yet, but I was like, "Oh, this is enough for me to keep doing it.”
How do you know when somebody's going to make a great guest on SubwayTakes?
Kareem: I don't always know. Sometimes they suck. But I've never tried to convince anyone to come on the show. They've seen episodes, they're excited about doing it, and they have their take prepared. It's funny because a lot of people tell me they want to be on the show, but when I ask what the take is, they have no idea. I can tell who's been preparing, and those are the people that make the best guests.
With this Emmy nomination, how are you viewing the relationship between independent creators and the broader entertainment industry these days?
Kareem: I think it's amazing that traditional Hollywood is embracing creators. I'm super thankful to the Academy and humbled that they have decided to give SubwayTakes a nomination.
In the past, Hollywood was trying to throw creators with a big audience into a movie or a TV show, but that rarely worked. What does work is when you find creators that have talent in storytelling, and you let those people tell stories on different screens, whether that’s television or a movie theater.
There's a lesson being learned in real time, which is that creators are not just talent with numbers. These are people with real stories to tell. It's a really exciting time where we're finally learning to work with each other.
If somebody watches SubwayTakes 30, 40, 50 years from now, what do you hope it says about New York and culture in general in the 2020s?
Kareem: I want them to go, "Man, that was a fun time and a fun place to live."
Is it a fun time?
Kareem: Is the reality always fun? Maybe not, but that microcosm of life aka SubwayTakes is a fun time. The conversations are so absurd. I call it the most sophisticated show about the stupidest subjects, and that really captures the energy of the show. It feels like we're all in on the same joke together, and people just want to be entertained at the end of the day. That's what the show brings to the world.