'Pit Stop Tonight' with Kareem Rahma Toyota Subway Takes host Kareem Rahma is trading public transportation for a studio set in his latest YouTube talk show. The catch? It’s a branded program that Rahma is hosting for Toyota: Pit Stop Tonight.
Rahma, of course, is no stranger to conducting hot-button interviews: Subway Takes has attracted the likes of Cate Blanchett, Woody Harrelson and Halsey. His latest original series Keep the Meter Running sees him hop into a cab, ask the cabbie to take him to their favorite place, and, yes, keep the meter running in the process.
Pit Stop Tonight shares some connective tissue with those shows, but it is also its own thing (and, Rahma notes, it is the only talk show with a pit crew, who build the set each episode in mere seconds). Each episode features Rahma interviewing and playing games with Toyota drivers like Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, Jade Avedisian, and Chase Briscoe.
“When they asked me to do it, I said, respectfully, ‘I know nothing about NASCAR,’ and they were like, that’s actually great, because we’re looking for someone who can be the conduit to people that aren’t necessarily interested in NASCAR,” Rahma says in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“It just sounded like a fun, interesting idea that I would actually be good at, I hadn’t ever had the chance to sit behind a desk and do my job, I’m always in the backseat of a car or on a literal subway bench,” Rahma adds. “So doing it in a studio, I said, ‘you know, this will be nice to get a feel for what it feels like to be a late-night host.'”
The show also epitomizes the new normal for branded content and the creator economy. Last month Rahma was on stage at Lincoln Center with Trevor Noah, pitching media buyers on Keep the Meter Running, now he is launching another show that was a collaboration from the start with Toyota and its partners at Portal A, Saatchi & Saatchi and YouTube Creative Works. In addition to the full episodes on YouTube, Toyota will release other clips and content on its social platforms everywhere.
“From the get, the Toyota team and the agency team at Portal A were both really fun. Like, we hit it off on the calls, we hit it off on the Zooms, we collaborated on the segments and the games, there was no arguments or disagreements,” Rahma says, adding that he and his team put in the work needed to create a fun environment in a more controlled setting than where he normally shoots his episodes. “In a studio setting, you have to manufacture that vulnerability and that openness. So, it was really challenging and fun to try to develop these games with the agency and the brand that would get the drivers to open up.”
The end result is a show that Rahma says is actually worth watching, in a world with no shortage of options.
“I wouldn’t call it good, I would call it great. I really genuinely believe that it’s a great show, and I’ve had friends that have texted me and been like, ‘holy shit, this is some of your best work, and I don’t even like Nascar,'” he says.
Pit Stop Tonight is launching with four episodes, thugh Rahma says that he is open to making more if Toyota is happy with the result.
“If the idea is great, it will find an audience, and I think that that’s the show that we made together with Pit Stop Tonight,” he says.
Watch the first episode of Pit Stop Tonight below:
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