''SubwayTakes'', also ''Subway Takes,'' is an internet talk show hosted by comedian and media personality

Kareem Rahma Kareem Rahma is an Egyptian-American comedian, artist, and media entrepreneur. He is one of the founders of Nameless Network, a media company started by a group of former Vice employees. Rahma is a senior advisor to XTR, a community of documentar ...

. Similar to the "

man on the street ( ) is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase (originally ''Vox populi, vox Dei'' – "The voice of the people is the voice of God") that literally means "voice of the people." It is used in English in the meaning "the opinion of the majority of ...

" style of video,'''' the show features interviews by Rahma of civilians and celebrities in the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

, using a microphone clipped to a

MetroCard metroCARD is a contactless smartcard ticketing system for public transport services in the city (and surrounding suburbs) of Adelaide, South Australia. The system is managed by Adelaide Metro and is usable on their bus, train and tram services ...

Background

SubwayTakes is an internet talk show co-founded by

and Andrew Kuo. The show is hosted by Rahma, who uses a MetroCard with a microphone clipped to it to interview people on a subway. Rahma prompts the interviewee with "So what's your take?", after which they must "defend" their take in the face of Rahma's agreement or disagreement. Rahma and his guests have had brands including H&M,

Urban Outfitters Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) is a multinational lifestyle retail corporation headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Operating in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, select Western European countries, Poland, the United Arab Em ...

, KOTN, and

J. Crew J.Crew Group, Inc., is an American multi-brand, multi-channel, specialty retailer. The company offers an assortment of women's, men's, and children's apparel and accessories, including swimwear, outerwear, lounge-wear, bags, sweaters, denim, dre ...

sponsor their outfits and has had

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

sponsor an interview. SubwayTakes has expanded to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

with their series, L Takes.

History

SubwayTakes began in 2023. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Rahma and Kuo created the show "almost as a whim", but it also served as a gamble to "need to turn this into something that might actually inanciallybenefit

hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the ga ...

SubwayTakes doubled the number of episodes that they produced from 2 to 4 in early 2024. In August 2024, SubwayTakes was invited to interview

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

and

Tim Walz Timothy James Walz (; born April 6, 1964) is an American politician who has served since 2019 as the 41st governor of Minnesota. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States, vice pre ...

. During Rahma's interview of Harris, Harris surprised Rahma when she diverted from the pre-approved take against removing shoes on airplanes to a "

Bacon Bacon is a type of Curing (food preservation), salt-cured pork made from various cuts of meat, cuts, typically the pork belly, belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central in ...

is a spice" take. This take offended Rahma's

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

beliefs, causing Rahma to ask to do the pre-approved take. But, after being advised by a staffer, Harris moved to a pro-

anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

-on-pizza take. This caused Rahma to quickly end the video. After Walz's interview was published, Harris's campaign apologized for the bacon take and offered to do a reshoot, which Rahma denied. SubwayTakes partnered with Talkhouse Network to release a long-form version of SubwayTakes in February 2025. The

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

was named SubwayTakes Uncut.

References

{{reflist Talk show podcasts