Every episode opens the same as the one before it. A man with short curly hair, outfitted in an almost comically large suit, turns to the commuter sitting next to him and asks: So, what's your take? What follows is a snappy minute of delightful chaos, offering viewers an unfiltered (and often unhinged) look into the mind of a complete stranger. The show is Subway Takes, and the man in the big suit is New York-based comedian Kareem Rahma. When he launched the web series on Instagram earlier this year, it was just one of the several projects he was juggling—including his stand-up, his music, and his Bourdain-esque TikTok series Keep the Meter Running. Rahma didn't think much of his newest project until he started posting the clips, and the response was too big to deny. Not unlike the slouchy suit he dons in every episode.
"I was super hesitant to do it,” he says. “I was busy enough already, but the reception was so warm. People love the show. Then I fell in love with the format, fell in love with the attention, fell in love with the guests, fell in love with the takes, and fell in love with the audience—they're so funny. It just became way bigger than I expected it to be."
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The takes range from "people shouldn't wear shorts" to "normalize bidets" and can run off the rails into a completely out-there opinion about rapper Jack Harlow. "Part of the show's absurdity is that my two lanes are a hundred percent agree or a hundred percent disagree," Rahma says. The only real constant across every episode? Rahma's signature outfit: a charmingly enormous double-breasted suit.
"I'm a big dude with broad shoulders and big thighs. Getting a big suit is hard," Rahma says. “I like a lot of vintage clothes because they're for big boys.” He stumbled upon what became the Subway Takes ensemble while browsing eBay for slightly slouchy suit to wear in his personal life. It was a vintage two-piece, double-breasted suit made by the storied English label Bower Roebuck, and Rahma purchased it for $89.
When the suit arrived on Rahma's doorstep, it turned out to be one of the weirdest-fitting garments he had ever encountered—way too baggy in some places, way too tight in others. He brought it to his tailor, who told him there wasn't much room to open the jacket up further. They decided to add two panels of green velvet fabric, but the two men ended up slouching too close to the sun. "He made it humongous," Rahma recalls. "I was like, 'I don't know what I'm going to do with this suit. This is too big now.' It just sat in my house." And then Subway Takes came along.
The show starts with the traditional talk show format, a guest and host sitting side by side, but quickly revs up into chaos. Much like Rahma's suit, the looseness works to its advantage. The underground tunnels flash behind Rahma and his guests; the other riders' chatter hums in the background. The bing bong of the subway doors closing acts as the house band. "In the tradition of talk shows, I was like, 'Alright, I'll wear the suit,'" he says. "The thing I like about suits is you look like an adult, and I like looking like an adult because I live a very childish, expression-filled life. I'm a clown, literally. To wear a suit allows you to command a bit more seriousness." Each episode delivers absurdity and delusion, but also flashes of real wisdom and tenderness. The enormous suit, just as Rahma hoped, reflects that duality.
Since its launch, Subway Takes has picked up some high-profile fans. You can spot director Ruben Östlund and musician Dev Hynes in the comment section. A few months ago, actress and filmmaker Olivia Wilde messaged Rahma and his crew via DM to tell them she was a big fan—and that she would be in town for New York Fashion Week and wanted to appear on the show. "I just told her to meet us at this stop, and it'd take 20 minutes, and we'll do it," Rahma says. Today, Wilde makes her Subway Takes debut, the first bonafide celebrity to appear on the series. Having an A-list guest might've tempt a lesser host to put on airs, but not Rahma—he showed up wearing his signature suit and begins her episode with the same question as always.
Rahma recently read up about another iconic big suit wearer: Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. "[Byrne] met with some Japanese designer," the comedian recalls. "[The designer] told him, 'Well, in the movie theater, everything's big. The sound is bigger, the stage is bigger, and the suit should be bigger.' And David was like, Hell yeah." That idea resonated with Rahma. His big suit is as much a stage costume as it is an advanced-level fit. You won't catch him strolling around the city in it on his off day, but he pulls off the slouchy, vintage number with an ease that even Byrne would respect.
"I'm feeling myself in a totally different way when I'm wearing the big suit," Rahma says.