Earlier this year, the comedian and media personality Kareem Rahma decided to double the output of his internet talk show, “Subway Takes,” from two episodes per week to four. What he couldn’t remember was why.

“Ummm, I kind of was like …” Rahma said, trailing off during an interview at his home in Brooklyn this summer. “I don’t know,” he concluded with a laugh.

In his defense, it was a busy time. Including “Subway Takes,” a series of train-car conversations about people’s peculiar personal beliefs, Rahma, 38, is the creator and host of three web series, fronts a rock band and stars in, co-wrote and co-produced a feature film that premiered last month. In March, he welcomed his first child — a daughter — which, now that he thinks of it, had been the motivation for doubling down on “Subway Takes.”

“I thought, ‘I need to turn this into something that might actually benefit me,” he said. “Both financially and in terms of, like, a proper career.”

The gambit paid off. In May, “Subway Takes” was a moderately successful but niche production, with about 300,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram. Now that following has more than tripled — over 928,000 — and both the show and Rahma have entered a new stratum of viral fame.

New Yorkers can be heard on the street and in bars auditioning their own “Subway Takes.” Brands including H & M, Urban Outfitters, KOTN and J. Crew have paid to outfit Rahma and his guests. And the status symbol of the season came in August — an invitation to interview both Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.