Kareem Rahma has many inspiring traits, including his talent for reinvention. The 39-year-old Egyptian American studied journalism and business in college, was hired by Vice and the New York Times to grow their audiences, and then started his own content company. When he discovered he wasn’t cut out to be an entrepreneur, he tried on a new hat: comedian.
A TV producer caught some of Rahma's TikToks and asked him if he had any show ideas; Keep the Meter Running was soon born.
The show, airing on YouTube and social media, has Rahma hop in a cab and ask the driver to take him to their favorite place (with the meter running, of course). Adventure inevitably ensues, but so does camaraderie and representation of the rich culture of New York’s predominantly immigrant cab drivers.
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"One guy has a one-man show,” Rahma told the New Yorker. "One guy is a folksinger. One guy has a gold-mining operation in Ghana... They’re all incredible stories. And I’ve never cast one. I just hail the cab.”
From that show sprung his most successful endeavor, the lighthearted Subway Takes. Filmed on moving trains, the show has Rahma asking celebs and commuters to give a hot take, and Rahma either has to “a hundred percent agree” or “a hundred percent disagree.”
Rahma also found time to make a movie, Or Something, and performs in a band, Kareem Rahma & Tiny Gun. It all sounds exhausting, but when you love creating and talking as much as Rahma does, work is pleasure.
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