Meet Rajiv Satyal of FunnyIndian in Burbank

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rajiv Satyal.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story?
I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. I graduated with a degree in Materials Engineering from UC. (Out here, I have to specify that is University of Cincinnati and not University of California.) I worked for six years at P&G in Marketing. I started doing standup comedy on the side in 2002.

I tried it for the first time when my brother (Author Rakesh Satyal) saw an article in the paper about the Funniest Person in Cincinnati Contest. I entered it, made the semifinals, and the next year, I won it. Interestingly, two weeks before I was to appear onstage, I ended up doing my act for then-World No. 1 tennis player Pete Sampras in a locker room.

At the age of 30, I flipped out, realizing that I’d spent my entire life in one state. I got a job as Brand Manager of FIJI Water in the nebulous West LA area. I worked there for an entire 12 weeks before jumping ship to go into standup. I’ve been doing it full-time since October 2006.

I’ve been #blessed to have some interesting claims to fame: I opened for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in front of 17,000 people up in the SF Bay Area. I made the massively viral I AM INDIAN video, which has been seen over 50 million times, shared by Bollywood stars, and used to introduce the Indian Prime Minister in Shanghai and Dubai.

I have opened for Russell Peters more than any other Indian comedian. I opened for Dave Chappelle five times and even opened Chappelle’s very first show after his much-publicized African hiatus. And one night in New York City, I closed the show at Gotham Comedy Club, following one of my heroes, Jerry Seinfeld.

I perform regularly at all of the major comedy clubs in LA. I have 12 videos with over 100,000 YouTube views each and have been featured on/in Amazon, NPR, Netflix, GQ, Spotify, Pandora, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Variety, Advertising Age, The Huffington Post, and The LA Times.

I’ve performed on five continents. I co-created the world-touring Make Chai Not War, a Hindu/Muslim stand-up show. The U.S. State Dept. sponsored it, sending it to seven cities in India. The show became part of the Congressional Record after being mentioned on Capitol Hill to Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.

I have recorded 130 episodes of my podcast, The TanGent Show, and have had the pleasure of interviewing everyone from Deepak Chopra to Seth Godin. In my spare time, I like to write TV ads, perform improv, and produce sketches. I’ve been very lucky to have my stuff featured on the front page of Medium and receive hundreds of thousands of views on Quora.

In 2018, I ran a Kickstarter, which was 100% funded in one day and exceeded 2x its goal ($56K total) in one month. The purpose was launching my own talk show, What Do You Bring to The Table? Guests include everyone from Hasan Minhaj (my old roommate) to the first Indian Miss America to the first Indian U.S. Surgeon General.

Once upon a time, I wrote No Man’s Land, a 100-minute one-person show about my dating life that sold out all performances from LA to NY to San Francisco to Cincinnati.

This show actually led to my marriage, which itself had a comedic arc: I proposed to my girlfriend while opening for Kevin Nealon, and at my wedding, Russell Peters finally opened for me. 😉

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Most people seem to describe their journeys as ups-and-downs, but I’d venture to say mine has been a steady climb more than peaks-and-valleys. I’ve been pretty lucky to meet some fantastic people who have helped me along the way. I got a lot of advice and have done my best to implement it.

By far the most helpful has been to ensure I’m doing something for my craft every single day, without fail. I write everyday. I perform as much as I can. I’ve been pretty darned regimented and relentless about working on both what I do and who I am. The struggle is real, as they say. I’ve succeeded in ways I never thought I would, but I’ve also failed in ways I never thought I would. I haven’t really been on TV in as meaningful a way as I would’ve liked.

And it’s just difficult to book roles and to build an online following. These things are just tough to do. So, yes, I’d say it’s still a challenge/struggle. I wouldn’t say I try to be a little better everyday – I don’t know how one could do that. But I was at The Groundlings and Will Ferrell came in for a Q&A. I asked him some garbage question about the difference between standup and improv, just to say I talked to Will Ferrell.  Somebody else, however, asked him something truly insightful:  “How often do you evaluate yourself?  Ferrell said something to the effect of, “We all have bad days, bad weeks, and bad months.  But you shouldn’t be having a bad half-year. You should evaluate yourself every six months, and you should be able to do something today that you couldn’t have done six months ago.” That gets back to the idea of craft, and it’s one of the most helpful things I’ve ever heard.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about FunnyIndian – what should we know?
I’m a standup comedian and host. I’m also an actor, writer, and speaker. I’m good at all of those things, but I am truly great at hosting/emceeing events. I’d put my chops up against anybody. I’m throwing down the gauntlet. 😉

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I always credit honesty with why I am where I am. I’ve been very honest with people and they, in turn, have felt the ability to give it to me straight. “Man, that wasn’t your best show.” “People sorta weren’t feeling you tonight.” “That one bit you have just doesn’t seem to work.” I want the straight dope from everybody, and that has helped me improve.

I have the best family in the world. My wife, Harsha, is unbelievably supportive. My parents have done everything they can to help me succeed. And my two brothers have been there just about every step of the way. I am so fortunate to have some amazingly good friends on this-this crazy journey.

There’s a difference between supporters and believers. Supporters kinda have to support you, right? Your family and close friends have an obligation to do so. But belief is something that happens in their eyes over time. After many years, one of my brothers said to me, “Wow. You’re really doing it.” That was a moment he went from a Supporter to a Believer.

Contact Info:

• Website: FunnyIndian, Inc.
• Phone: 3109134905
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: funnyindian
• Facebook: funnyindian
• Twitter: funnyindian

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