Rajiv Satyal is a Los Angeles-based comedian/host. His TV-clean act has made him one of the most versatile comedians working today. He began his career in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Rajiv had an unusual entry into standup, doing his act for then-World No. 1 tennis player Pete Sampras in a locker room. Satyal has some interesting claims to fame: he opened for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in front of 17,000 people. He made the massively viral I AM INDIAN video, which was shared by Bollywood stars and used to introduce the Indian Prime Minister in Shanghai and Dubai. He has opened for Russell Peters more than any other Indian comedian. Rajiv even hosted Dave Chappelles very first show after his much-publicized African hiatus.
Satyal performs weekly at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood. He has garnered 50 million+ online views and been featured on/in NBC, NPR, Nickelodeon, Fx, Netflix, Bob & Tom, Times Now, Zee TV, Pandora, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Variety, Advertising Age, The Times of India, The Huffington Post, and The LA Times.
Rajiv has performed on three continents. He co-created the world-touring Make Chai Not War, a Hindu/Muslim stand-up show. The U.S. State Dept. sponsored it, sending it to seven cities in India. The show became part of the Congressional Record after being mentioned on Capitol Hill to Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.
This University of Cincinnati engineer and former P&G marketer has done stand-up at more than 100 colleges. He named his alma maters online radio station Bearcast, launched/managed a Miss India Americas career, and has spoken to audiences from Fortune 500 companies to NFL players on innovation, diversity, and personal branding. His corporate clients include P&G (10 times), GE (7 times), Google, General Mills, Quaker, Toyota, Cisco and more. He runs a consulting business called the Standpoint Agency, which helps marketers generate insights for their brands. He gave a TEDx Talk, The Jester Is King, in March 2016.
Satyal has acted in national commercials and in TV shows. He has recorded 130 episodes of his podcast, The TanGent Show, and has interviewed everyone from Deepak Chopra to Seth Godin to Preity Zinta. In his spare time, Rajiv writes TV ads, performs improv, and produces sketches for Culture Machines #BeingIndian channel.
Rajiv wrote No Mans Land, a 100-minute one-person show about his dating life that sold out all performances from LA to NY to San Francisco to Cincinnati. This show actually led to Satyals marriage, which itself had a comedic arc: Rajiv proposed to his girlfriend while opening for Kevin Nealon, and at his wedding, Russell Peters finally opened for him.
