DiasporaNEXT

I Am Indian American – by Rajiv Satyal

February 1, 2025

The role of Indian Americans in the United States has captured national attention recently, as debates about H-1B visa holders have spiraled into a broader discussion about America’s receptiveness to Indian immigrants and Indian Americans. While many voices have strongly advocated for these skilled workers, particularly those from India, the community has also faced an alarming surge in racist attacks targeting both H-1B holders and the broader Indian American population.

Despite these challenges, Indian Americans continue to take pride in their significant contributions to American society, enriching our communities, strengthening our economy, and enhancing our cultural fabric. Their impact is perhaps best illustrated through the lens of Rajiv Satyal, known professionally as “The Funny Indian.” Satyal’s “I Am Indian” video resonated deeply with audiences, accumulating over 100 million views online. Building on this success, he partnered with Indiaspora to create “I Am Indian American,” a new short video highlighting the community’s service and contributions to the United States. Rajiv was also featured on Indiaspora’s Inspiring Icons series in conjunction with our Impact Report with Boston Consulting group in 2024.

The video is available to share on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.

A note from the creator, Rajiv Satyal:

I’m honored that Indiaspora trusted me with its compelling Impact Report. The assignment was to create a video in a similar vein as I AM INDIAN and I AM AMERICAN: funny and insightful, but most importantly, inspirational and anthemic. The strategy was to appeal to Indian Americans’ hearts, minds, and souls, not simply to list a bunch of facts and figures. It’s challenging to thread the needle: celebrating our achievements without alienating other races or even non-American Indians who’ve supported I AM INDIAN. I believe we did it. Personally, I love writing and performing this sort of thing. Mostly because I’m so hilarious and engaging myself. (See? It’s tough to find the right tone.)

Kudos to my mom and wife for spending two hours with me as I found the perfect outfit: blending red, white, and blue with saffron, white, and green (matching the whites was easy.) Finding a musician in India was the final flourish: “The Star-Spangled Banner” on a sitar brought it together. And luck was on our side: just a few days ago, Instagram increased its Reels from 90 seconds to three minutes, which is driving the video’s virality:  we dropped it on a Wednesday and we hit 100K views by Thursday — and remember there’s no counter on that online mela known as WhatsApp. Several weeks ago, I released an Instagram Story asking about common objects in Indian Americans’ homes, I received nearly 200 DMs. That immediately told me there’s a market for this. Placing all of those objects in the background, with an eye on including items representing our many faiths (notice the yoga mat and prayer rug), took us hours. Massive shout-out to my director and editor.

As the script ballooned in size (thanks to all our accomplishments), we decided to focus on the superlatives: not what we’re good at but what we’re best at. The highest compliment I’ve received over the years has been from parents who say something like, “My kids weren’t proud of their heritage till they saw your video.” If we can positively influence people’s self-perception, that’s a huge win; collectively, that’ll lead us to even higher heights. Higher heights?  Not my best writing. But I’m tired now and so I’m gonna take a break. Maybe my next video can be I AM EXHAUSTED.

About Rajiv Satyal

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 has been seen over 100 million times, shared by Bollywood stars, and used to introduce the Indian Prime Minister in Shanghai and Dubai. He was the first person to perform an hour of standup comedy anywhere in India. He has opened for Russell Peters more than any other Indian comedian. Rajiv has opened multiple times for Tim Allen, Sebastian Maniscalco, Jo Koy, Kevin Nealon, and Dave Chappelle, and even opened Chappelle’s very first show after his much-publicized African hiatus. One night in New York City, Satyal closed the show at Gotham Comedy Club, following one of his heroes, Jerry Seinfeld.

Satyal has 13 videos with over 100,000 YouTube views each, and been featured by Amazon, NPR, Nickelodeon, Netflix, GQ, Bob & Tom, Times Now, The New York TimesThe Wall Street Journal, Advertising Age, The Times of India, The LA Times, and The Washington Post.

Rajiv is the only person ever to perform standup comedy on all seven 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 mater’s online radio station “Bearcast,” launched/managed a Miss India America’s career, and has spoken to audiences from Fortune 500 companies to NFL players on innovation, DE&I, and personal branding. His corporate clients include P&G (14 times), GE (8 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.”

Satyal has acted in national commercials and TV shows. He recorded 130 episodes of his podcast, The TanGent Show, and has interviewed everyone from Deepak Chopra to Malala Yousafzai to Marisa Tomei to Paul Reiser to Seth Godin to Preity Zinta. In his spare time, Rajiv writes TV ads, performs improv, and produces sketches. His writings have made the front page of Medium and received hundreds of thousands of views on Quora. And yes, he has a Wikipedia page.

In 2018, Satyal ran a Kickstarter — 100% funded in one day and exceeded 2x its goal ($56K total) in one month — to launch his own talk show, What Do You Bring to The Table? Guests include everyone from Hasan Minhaj (Satyal’s old roommate) to Lilly Singh to Dr. Vivek Murthy, the first Indian U.S. Surgeon General.

Rajiv has written and performed three 100-minute one-person shows, each one with a different theme. In 2019, the subject was politics, culminating in a performance at the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2017, Taking a Stand, all about music, led him to become the first standup comic to perform at Spotify.

And back in 2013, Rajiv wrote No Man’s Land, a show about his dating life that sold out all performances from LA to NY to San Francisco to Cincinnati. This show actually led to Satyal’s 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.

Learn more at https://rajivsatyal.com/.