After ‘Latent’ backlash, Samay Raina embarks on ‘Unfiltered’ world tour

New Delhi: Stand-up comedian Samay Raina is taking his jokes, unapologetically "Unfiltered", across continents, announcing a new global tour that kicks off in Koln, Germany on June 5 and wraps up in Sydney on July 20.

This globe-trotting comedy sprint comes after a rocky patch back home, where Raina found himself in the eye of the "India's Got Latent" storm, a YouTube show he co-hosted that ran into serious flak for offensive content. 

The show, now scrubbed from the internet, led to multiple police complaints, a Maharashtra Cyber inquiry, and, more recently, a Supreme Court directive to Raina and four other influencers to show up in person or face coercive action.

But the comic isn't retreating, he's rerouting.

“The most testing time of my life makes for the best comedy. I’ll see you on tour,” Raina wrote in a not-so-subtle Instagram Story, hinting that the punchlines may just be sharper than the controversies.

Raina rose to fame as the co-winner of Comicstaan Season 2, riding high on observational humour and crowd-pleasing timing. But it was India’s Got Latent, a show that featured YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia, that temporarily turned the laughter into legal paperwork. 

The outrage snowballed after Allahbadia’s vulgar remarks surfaced.

At the time, Raina was in the middle of his North American leg of the Unfiltered tour. Now, he’s picking up where he left off, this time, with more countries, likely more disclaimers, and definitely more material.

Stops on the tour include London, Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna, Zurich, Melbourne, and Auckland. The title Unfiltered feels almost poetic now, given that it’s exactly what landed him in hot water, and now what’s bringing him back to the stage.

It’s clear that Samay Raina isn’t pressing pause, he’s just changing platforms.