Last Things First: Subhah Agarwal

Episode #408

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Subhah Agarwalis a bicoastal writer and stand-up comedian who grew up outside of Chicago, where she first started hitting open mics while still in high school. Subhah has written for Comedy Knockout on TruTV, The Jim Jefferies Show on Comedy Central, and Arsenio Hall’s live 2022 talk show for Netflix. She made her late-night TV debut telling jokes on NBC’s A Little Late with Lilly Singh, and acted in shows such as Westworld and General Hospital. She has released her first comedy album, “Dog Show,” via Blonde Medicine, and sat with me to talk about explaining her comedy career to her immigrant parents, breaking out of the open mic scene, writing for other comedians, and finding her own voice.

Here’s a track from “Dog Show” to set the scene for you!

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I don’t know what to congratulate you on first: Your comedy album, “Dog Show,” or your upcoming nuptials?

Thank you. The wedding is definitely more stressful. So I'll take it.

Is it because, you know, the album came out a week ago as we're speaking right now. And I know for some comedians, releasing an album even in 2022 is super stressful because there's this push — that you’ve gotta market it, that you’ve got to hit a certain number on the Apple charts, so you can screenshot it and all that stuff. Did you stress out about that, or no?