Tanmay Bhat has become India’s richest YouTuber, leaving behind Samay Raina and CarryMinati, with an astounding net worth of Rs 665 crore, according to data tracking platform Tech Informer's latest rankings based on insights from fintech app MyJar Blog.

Co-founder and former CEO of the creative agency All India Bakchod (AIB), Bhat made his debut with UTV Bindass' flagship show, Hass Ley India, in 2006. The 38-year-old comedian-YouTuber went on to write for MTV India's Wassup (2008-2010) and Nachle Ve with Saroj Khan (2008-2011).

Bhat ventured into story, screenplay and dialogue writing for Disney India's comedies Kya Mast Hai Life (2009-2010), The Suite Life of Karan & Kabir (2012-2013) and NDTV Imagine's Oye! It's Friday! (2008-2009) with Farhan Akhtar.

He founded All India Bakchod as a YouTube channel with Gursimran Khamba, Rohan Joshi and Ashish Shakya in 2013.

In 2018, Bhat served as the judge on Season 1 of Amazon Prime Video’s Comicstaan, a stand-up comedy competition. In 2020, Netflix India started a series with Bhat — Tanmay Reacts, which showed him reacting to various movies and TV shows on Netflix. More recently, Bhat appeared as the guest judge for two episodes on Samay Raina’s comedy show, India's Got Latent.

However, Bhat has often found himself mired in controversies, which also led to the fall of his comedy show AIB, with many FIRs being registered against the show’s creators for its ‘explicit’ content.

AIB Knockout roast featuring Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh (2014)

The comic event featured Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar and a panel of comedians who "grilled" actors Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor over their personal and professional lives. However, AIB and its then CEO, Bhat, faced legal troubles and backlash after members of the Christian community alleged that the show had hurt religious sentiments. Team AIB issued an apology to the Christian community of Mumbai and the videos were later taken down.

Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar parody (2016)

Bhat's sketch of Sachin Tendulkar and late singer Lata Mangeshkar conversing went viral for all the wrong reasons, with social media users debating if Bhat had crossed the line in terms of free speech.

Bhat had used Snapchat's face swap feature to stage an argument between the two Indian icons. In the video, Bhat, posing as Tendulkar, says Lata Mangeshkar is "5,000-year-old" and her face "looks like it has been kept in water for eight days".

This outraged netizens and Bhat drew flak for having humiliated Tendulkar and Mangeshkar.

Meme featuring PM Narendra Modi lookalike with a Snapchat dog filter (2017)

A year later, AIB and Bhat landed in trouble when AIB’s social media handle posted a meme featuring a lookalike of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a Snapchat dog filter. The post was captioned, “#Wanderlust”. However, AIB deleted the meme after facing severe criticism for having allegedly ‘hurt national sentiment’ by insulting the Prime Minister.

Fallout with fellow comedian Aditi Mittal over claims of battling depression (2019)

In October 2018, writer-comedian Mahima Kukreja accused YouTuber Utsav Chakraborty, who worked as a freelancer with AIB, of sending her and other women lewd messages and photos via social messaging apps. Within days AIB announced that Bhat would immediately "be stepping away from his association with AIB " for the time being. Bhat was also removed from the panel of judges for the second season of Amazon Prime Video’s Comicstaan in the wake of the allegations.

In May 2019, AIB announced that Bhat was no longer suspended but removed from the CEO post. A few weeks later, Bhat posted a series of Instagram videos in which he claimed that he suffered from clinical depression. However, comedians Mahima Kukreja and Aditi Mittal accused Bhat of using depression as an excuse for his inappropriate behaviour on AIB.

Bhat’s reaction to the India’s Got Latent controversy (2025):

Earlier this year, the controversial India’s Got Latent episode, featuring Samay Raina, Ranveer Allahbadia, Mukhija, Jaspreet Singh and Ashish Chanchlani, sparked social media outrage following Allahbadia’s distasteful comments about parental sex. Multiple FIRs and complaints were lodged against all the judges.

Addressing the issue subtly in a YouTube video, Bhat said, “Whenever someone in your family falls sick, especially with a rather rare illness that no one has had before, you always remember this one uncle who had the same condition seven years ago. You call him and ask about what should be done next. Well… I am comedy’s patient zero.”