Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | News | February 17, 2026
I have a complicated relationship with Subway Takes. On the one hand, I think it's one of the coolest ideas for a show. The host, comedian and producer Kareem Rahma, sits on a subway train with a microphone clipped to a dearly departed Metrocard (RIP) and asks a guest, "So what's your take?" They give him an answer that can be serious or comical, and he either disagrees or agrees emphatically. It's a lot of fun, and can be dragged down by the fact that it got really big, really quickly.
It's hard to knock anyone for making money with their art, especially at a time when that is getting harder and harder to do. Still, Subway Takes quickly got caught up in branded posts, and what felt like an authentic conversation with New Yorkers turned into me getting catfished into watching a video of Rahma pitching some Google AI nonsense (I unfollowed the channel soon after). While the branded posts do feel icky, the celebrity ones do not.
Rahma has interviewed a host of celebrities on the show, and those interviews can be very fun and sometimes quite revealing. Michael Shannon has a fun and honest one with Rahma, where they pitched around the idea of a buddy comedy, and Kamala Harris did one that was allegedly so weird that her campaign and Rahma agreed not to air it (her take was that bacon is a spice). There is lots to be garnered from having famous folks on the show, and SNL star Veronika Slowikowska proved that recently.
Slowikowska has been incredible during her first season on Saturday Night Live, stealing practically every scene that she has lines in. She has a lot of energy and can be slotted into pretty much any scenario. While sitting with Kareem Rahma, she manages to deliver an episode of the viral show that is equal parts weird, hilarious, and genuine (in a weirdly hilarious way). She gives answers that feel like jokes (we should be mourning DVD special features), claims to be having a panic attack, and starts belting out a showtune and dancing at one point. Oh, and she starts by puking (so, trigger warning there).
Rahma is totally in on the gag (she likely put that fake puke in her mouth right before they started recording), but it still manages to take the piss out of the whole ordeal, and I respect him going along with that. It's not just that she isn't taking it seriously; she's going above and beyond to make it excruciatingly awkward. There's kind of a punk rock nature to her going on a show like this that has gotten so huge and not using it as a way to connect with people or promote a book or seem... human. She's just doing what she does best.
