Photo: SubwayTakes with Kareem Rahma via YouTube

It takes an inordinate amount of wit and charm to best Conan O’Brien in a riff-off. The most an average comedian or host can hope for is not to embarrass themselves trying, which is largely how Kareem Rahma fared in a recent episode of his popular social-media series, SubwayTakes. But toward the end of the interview, Rahma and O’Brien were shown up by a stranger named Debbie who just so happened to be commuting on their train.

The interaction begins when Debbie gets permission from Rahma to walk through the shot and takes the opportunity to greet O’Brien in passing. “You guys know each other?” Rahma asks, semi-amused. If Rahma were speaking to anyone else, the interaction would die there, but O’Brien takes the opportunity to yes-and the premise. “We were married a long time ago,” he says. Debbie rises to the challenge. “We got two kids,” she adds. “One’s in medical school. The other one’s in jail, but he’ll be home soon.” O’Brien apologizes for never visiting or sending any money, to which Debbie, still unfazed, assures him the kids love him all the same. “Pictures are everywhere in the house,” she says to big laughs from Rahma and O’Brien.

Since the episode went live on October 20, Debbie’s interaction with O’Brien has gone viral, even getting picked up by news programs such as NBC’s Today show. It’s the last thing Debbie, full name Debbie Shields, was expecting when she made the impromptu decision to say “hi” to O’Brien. The 68-year-old native New Yorker didn’t know what SubwayTakes was or that she was about to get pulled into an improvisational-comedy bit, but thanks to a childhood spent performing in church and experience hosting comedy and karaoke nights at Confessions, the bar she owns in Brooklyn, she says her instincts kicked in immediately. This SubwayTakes appearance isn’t even the first time she has been put on the spot by someone with a huge comedy platform. Mo’Nique once pulled her onstage at Barclays Center to give marriage advice to the thousands of people in attendance. It’s the sort of “fluke” she encounters regularly, she says: “Everything just happens to me.”

Hi, Debbie! Thanks for taking the time to talk. How are you?
Everything is beautiful. How are you?

I’m great! You are a big star all of a sudden! How does it feel?
I’m ecstatic! I am a nervous wreck!

I would not have guessed you’re a person who gets nervous. You seemed so composed and assured with Conan.
When a mic hits me, it hits me. I was raised in church, singing in choirs and doing things like that, so my mom prepared me for the surprise interview. Boom! Here I am!

Were you familiar with SubwayTakes when you came across the show being filmed?
No. My friend and I got on the train together, and he pointed it out: “It’s Conan O’Brien!” I said, “Okay, well, I’m going to go over and say ‘hello’ to him!” And it went from there. 

Were you a big fan of Conan beforehand? 
Yes, from his television show!

Everyone online has been talking about how impressive it is that you kept up with him. Have people always told you that you’re funny?
Yes. I know how to make people laugh, that’s for sure. I laugh at funerals. I’m not in the casket, I’m good.

What kind of humor do you typically gravitate to?
Well, Conan is funny. I like Jimmy Kimmel, I love Saturday Night Live because it’s just crazy, and I love Madea. She’s out of control. I’ve been onstage with Mo’Nique at Barclays Center. I was sitting in the audience, and she was asking people how long they had been together. They were saying nine years or eight years, but they weren’t married. So then she said, “Well, you guys don’t know what you’re doing. I see Auntie has a wedding band on her finger, so she obviously knows what she’s doing. Come up here and show them what they should be doing.” That was really funny. I own a bar in Brooklyn, and I do a comedy show there every other Friday — we’re going to turn it up to every Friday. I have comedians come in and do the show, but I’m not a comedian. I just love to laugh. Laughing is good for the soul, and it’s good for the health.

It’s funny that Mo’Nique called you Auntie. I don’t think you’re that much older than she is. 
Well, you could be young at heart, and you could be young in your mind. But then you realize how really freaking old you are the next morning when you’re sore as hell. I say, “I used to drop it like it’s hot. Now I lay it down like it’s warm.”

That’s great! Is that an original joke of yours?
That’s mine. Definitely.

You say you’re not a comedian, but you clearly have a knack for it. Have you ever thought about going into performance? 
I’ve been told several times that I should, but I haven’t embarked on it. My thing is the spontaneous thing. Even at my comedy shows, I go onstage and host before the comics come on. I just ad lib, and the audience is cracking up laughing. I also host karaoke nights, and everybody who sings gets a gag prize and I insult every singer. I talk about how bad their breath smells on the mic, and they get a prize that might be breath spray, toothpaste, or mouthwash. I tell them, “The more you drink, the better you sound!”

Tell me about how you came to open your bar. 
It was a fluke! Everything just happens to me. It’s a blessing. I was going to open another business, but I decided it was too close to where I lived and I didn’t want to mix business with the community. So my friend said, “Why don’t you open a bar?” And I was like, “Okay, I guess I’ll try it!” And boom! Then I had to decide what to name the bar, and I thought and I thought and I thought. I called my son, and he said, “Why don’t you name it Confessions?”

So at Confessions Bar, we have a Confessions Box and people come in and write confessions. After they write the confession, they ring a bell that says “Ring for Oral.” The box is full of confessions, and as I do different shows, I pull the confessions out of the box and read them to the audience.

It sounds like a show that would do really well online. Have you ever thought about filming it for social media?
No, but everybody’s telling me that’s what I should do. I’m getting a lot of advice at this point.

With your newfound fame, if an opportunity came along to host a show of your own, is that something you’d be interested in?
Definitely.

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