From Sharon Verma to Samay Raina: Stand-up comedians rising as top brand picks this season

Stand-up comedians are fast becoming the most sought-after influencers for brands, as humour-led content is proving to deliver higher engagement and stronger recall than traditional campaigns. From product launches to festive promotions, marketing teams across categories — beauty, food, fintech, consumer durables and e-commerce — are increasingly banking on comics and stand-up comedy creators to tell their stories.

This season, data from multiple collaborations shows that comedians are fronting more campaigns than ever before. Several of them are managing back-to-back partnerships with big-ticket names, delivering not just likes but also comments, shares and reposts, a key indicator of cultural relevance. Industry executives say the appeal lies in relatability: stand-up comedians connect by poking fun at everyday life, which allows products to slip naturally into the narrative without breaking audience trust.

The model also offers brands cost efficiency compared to A-list celebrities, while generating high resonance online. This has turned comics into reliable partners during the peak festive ad cycle, where attention spans are limited and the need for memorability is high.

Read On: The Rise of Unseen Creators: Animation-led artists are becoming brand favourites

Viral Reels Set the Pace

One of the strongest examples this month came from Candyman’s collaboration with Sukhumi Suresh. The brand converted her live-event clips into a reel focusing on Gen Z boundaries and office culture, ending with a PS5 giveaway prompt. The campaign drew 574,000 likes and 287 comments, underscoring the reach of humour-led advertising when backed with strong calls to action.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ITC Candyman (@itc.candyman)

Lakmé also tapped into the comedy format with Sharon Verma and Naman Arora. Their podcast-style skit tackled age and height insecurities under the theme “Men will be Men,” pulling in 321,000 likes.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sharon (@sharonverma)

Flipkart and Cultstore brought in Kullubazzi for Big Billion Days, where he humorously tied cricket recovery to the Cult Pulse Foot Massager with the line, “Agar pehle milta toh mai bhi Indian cricket team ka sabse fast bowler hota.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Aaditya Kulshreshth (@kullubaaazi)

Meanwhile, Tanmay Bhat delivered a high-engagement CRED collaboration by asking viewers to comment with emojis for a chance to have their last bill refunded. The reel clocked 19,300 likes but drove unusually high interactivity with around 4,000 comments.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tanmay Bhat (@tanmaybhat)

RJ Dheeraj, who built his profile on mimicry, partnered with clothing label Vastrado. His reel, borrowing from Samay Raina’s comic style and adding a Ranveer Allahbadia podcast twist, achieved 31,900 likes, 317 comments and 76 reposts.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by RJ Dheeraj (@rjdheerajj)

Read On: Aura Farming: The meme dance that's powering global brand collabs and Gen Z cool

Stand-Up Credibility Meets Product Recall

Biswa Kalyan Rath extended his stage jokes into advertising once again, this time with Bosch hair dryers. Referring back to his earlier “wet clothes” gag, the Mad Influence-executed campaign delivered 50,000 likes, 952 comments, 214 reposts and 21,200 shares. His self-aware caption — “can’t believe I have to say this” — struck audiences as authentic, strengthening product trust.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Biswa Kalyan Rath (@biswakalyanrath)

Shreeja Chaturvedi’s Barbeque Nation tie-up was smaller in scale but stood out for its virality factor. Her one-line comic about dragging friends to a lunch date generated 6,000 likes and 377 shares during the brand’s “Kahu Gaali Festival.”

Static posts, however, underperformed compared to reels. Kullubazzi’s Hajmola India collaboration as jury for “India’s no 1 chatkarebaaz” managed only 692 likes and 93 comments, highlighting the limits of non-video integrations in today’s ecosystem.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Aaditya Kulshreshth (@kullubaaazi)

New Favourites: Samay Raina and Ravi Gupta

Beyond these campaigns, two names have emerged as consistent favourites for brands this year — Samay Raina and Ravi Gupta. Both stand-up comedians have managed to convert their distinctive styles into repeat brand deals, often executing multiple collaborations within short timeframes.

Raina, who first rose to prominence with live-streamed comedy and chess collaborations, has adopted a rare posting strategy. By keeping his feed largely inactive and then returning with select campaigns, he has made each new upload an event in itself. This scarcity model has drawn not just audience anticipation but also brand interest. Within a 20-day stretch, Raina fronted more than five collaborations, including with boAt and Boldcare. His ability to generate cultural buzz each time he reappears has made him one of the rarest yet most bankable stand-up comedians for marketing teams.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Samay Raina (@maisamayhoon)

Gupta, on the other hand, has built his brand on relatability and recall. Over the past month, he signed multiple simultaneous deals with companies such as Bosch, Flipkart, CRED, Motorola, Cadbury 5 Star, Foxtail Skin and more. His strength lies in turning each branded sketch into the kind of everyday humour audiences already associate with his stand-up. Executives say this has given his campaigns “second recall value” — people not only remember the joke but also the brand attached to it, ensuring stronger ROI.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ravi Gupta (@shudhdesicomic)

Read On: Reach no longer guarantees influencer collaborations—Here’s why

A Shift in Brand Strategy

Industry analysts note that the willingness to grant comedians full creative freedom has been central to this wave of successful collaborations. Unlike scripted celebrity endorsements, comics are encouraged to adapt the product to their own material — whether through cricket anecdotes, mimicry, podcast formats or single-line punchers. This has translated into campaigns that feel authentic, a critical factor for younger digital audiences.

At the same time, the high variability between reels and static posts suggests that format continues to determine impact. With reels offering sound, humour cues and shareability, they are consistently outperforming images or text-driven integrations. For brands planning festive campaigns, the choice of creator and format could determine overall success.

From Samay Raina’s rare but highly anticipated uploads to Ravi Gupta’s stream of relatable sketches, stand-up comedians are showing why they have become brand favourites in influencer marketing. Alongside big names like Tanmay Bhat and Biswa Kalyan Rath, newer faces such as RJ Dheeraj and Sharon Verma are also finding space in brand line-ups.