New Delhi: Tanmay Bhat is an Indian comedian, influencer, writer, and producer who made it big by being a co-founder of the comedy group All India Bakchod (AIB). Born on 23 June 1987 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Tanmay built up an outstanding career in content generation in stand-up comedy to become one of India’s top influencers in the digital space. Year after year, he demonstrates a keen knack for reaching out to people through humor, content, and now investments. Tanmay was born in a middle class Kannada-speaking family in Mumbai. Tanmay did his schooling from the Cosmopolitan Education Society in Andheri followed by R. D. National College and Jai Hind College. As a student, Tanmay was also a huge comedy enthusiast and creative writer.
He started his career as a writer for popular TV shows such as MTV India’s “Wassup” and Disney’s “Kya Mast Hai Life.” All these were kind of early experiences in creating comedy and other content. AIB was founded in 2013 by Gursimran Khamba, Rohan Joshi, and Ashish Shakya with Tanmay, representing one of the most successful comedy groups to come out of a YouTube channel in India. Edgy yet often provocative content, sketches, parodies, and podcasts made AIB stand apart while sometimes caustically mocking different social issues. Their “Honest Indian” series catapulted them into the mainstream when millions of viewers entered the common world with relatable, humorous representations of everyday situations.
AIB’s original work-holding satire and social commentary made them distinctive in India’s growing digital space. They collaborated with Bollywood stars and comedians as well as other influencers to make them easily fall into the nerves of mass appeal. The group was more focused on pushing the envelope by talking about taboo subjects that made people listen and form a fan following.
However, AIB did not have a smooth ride. Several controversies engulfed it, and one of them was because of a video in which Tanmay mimicked Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar, which landed in legal complaints. In 2018, the #MeToo movement hit AIB hard as allegations about its collaborator, Utsav Chakraborty, surfaced against him for inappropriate behavior. Tanmay, though not directly accused, was criticized for not taking any stand against the accusations. As a result, he quit as the head of AIB and was dropped by Amazon Prime for judging Comicstaan.
After these incidents, Tanmay shared his depressive phase and discussed his phases of mental illness with the followers. Though it received mixed reviews, it created a stir as to how the public faces stress daily and thought it worthy to share its importance in society. In 2019, Tanmay was back very strongly on the YouTube channel “Tanmay Bhat”. He came out posting a lot of content in the form of vlogs, reaction videos, comedy sketches, and live streaming of games.
So as to regain popularity by his engaging personality, quick wit, and the relatability of humor in his content. His content is mainly collaborations with other top influencers like CarryMinati, Bhuvan Bam, and Zakir Khan to his credit, which also widens his reach. He has also been a part of charity live streams such as the “TreeMathon 2020,” in which he collaborated with several other comedians to generate funds for environment-related causes.
In addition to his success on YouTube, he has translated his fame into advertising. He co-created several popular ad campaigns for Cred, including taglines for Shah Rukh Khan, Rahul Dravid, and Kapil Dev. The ads were his ability to use humor along with branding messaging and, in so doing, create stories that go beyond typical content.
