Mumbai: After being questioned by the Maharashtra Cyber Cell over his show India’s Got Latent, comedian Samay Raina sprinkled laughter to his past run-ins with them as he has been felicitated by the cyber cell for promoting awareness.
Samay was being felicitated for participating in an awareness film about cybercrimes by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at an event, where Maharashtra Cyber unveiled its cyber-awareness short film Digital Arrest and the 1930 Maharashtra Cyber Anthem.
Raina, who contributed to both projects, went on to speak about the time when the cyber cell unit had registered complaints related to controversial comments made on his YouTube show India’s Got Latent.
“Maharashtra cyber and I go way back,” Raina said leaving Fadnavis and other entertainment personalities in splits.
He then quipped about how the Cyber Cell is very active.
“The Maharashtra Cyber Cell is very active. I can tell you this for sure Today, for the first time a cyber cell officer picked up a comedian from his home only to felicitate him,” said Samay.
This comment left Fadnavis bursting out in laughter.
Samay also joked about how he already had Maharashtra Cyber’s number saved because he often got calls from them during his India’s Got Latent controversy.
“Thank you for the felicitation, sir. My association with Maha Cyber has been going on for a very long time. 1930 is really a great number. I have actually saved it because I often get calls from there,” he said.
Samay first performed at multiple open mics since 2017. He began opening for well-known comedians like Anirban Dasgupta and Abhishek Upmanyu in Pune. In 2019, he participated in Comicstaan 2 due to a suggestion from comedian Aakash Gupta. Later, he became the joint winner of Comicstaan 2.
In 2025, he announced a nationwide tour across India, “Still Alive And Unfiltered”, which was touted as a comeback, following the controversy surrounding his show, India’s Got Latent. The tour commenced in Bengaluru on 15 August and ended in Delhi on 5 October.
In 2026, he released his debut comedy special, Still Alive, on YouTube, after almost a year of hiatus from the platform, which became the most viewed stand-up comedy special on YouTube.
He later announced two collaborations with Netflix India; the first being the second season of his show India’s Got Latent, which would be streaming on Netflix as well as YouTube, and the second being a new stand-up special.
(IANS)
