I Spent The Day With My Cab Driver At A Russian Bathhouse

TIP OUR DRIVERS! https://linktr.ee/ktmrshow In the season premiere of Keep The Meter Running, Kareem Rahma asks a retired New York taxi driver named Eugene to take him to his favorite place and ends up at a Russian banya in Brooklyn. Eugene has been a cab driver for 40 years. Originally from Russia, he came to New York on political asylum and spent decades behind the wheel. After losing his wife last year, Eugene tells Kareem he feels alone but says the banya is where he goes with friends to socialize, reset, and feel better. At the banya, Kareem meets Eugene’s longtime friend Igor, and the conversation turns from immigration to loneliness to New York politics. Then Rustam, the owner, takes Kareem back into the steam room for a full Russian sauna treatment with veniki (oak branches). By the end of it, Kareem is convinced the banya beat the depression out of him. There is Russian food, root beer, herring and potatoes, a toast to America, and one of the strangest cab stories ever told: the time Eugene picked up a circus bear in his taxi. Final meter: $390. Keep The Meter Running is a YouTube series created and hosted by Kareem Rahma. In each episode, Kareem asks a driver to take him to their favorite place — and keeps the meter running the whole time. Created by Kareem Rahma Produced by Adam Faze & Kareem Rahma Director of Photography: Bridget McQuillan B Camera Operator: Damion Bucenec 1st AC: Michael Morales Edited by Mark Harrison Post Producer: Dave Drusky Assistant Editor: Nick Cancelliere Online: Editor Cancelliere Colorist: Alexia Salingaros Associate Producer: Jack Fidler Casting Director: Harleigh Shaw Production Sound Mixer: Teresa-Esmeralda Sanchez Re-Recording Mix by Dean White Creative Direction by Everyone Lead Designer: Ted Childish Title Sequence & Graphic Design by Emily Chin-Longobardi Custom Typography by Amy Leung Additional Graphics by Martin Uhrecky B-Roll DP: Conner Schuurmans B-Roll Producer: Jordan Alexander Executive Assistant: Madyson Hearsh PA: Jonah Hartman Presented by AND Media Executive Producers: Kareem Rahma, Adam Faze, Aisha Shah, Christian Tom, Landon Morgado 00:00 Take Me to Your Favorite Place 00:53 Meet Eugene, the Retired Cab Driver 01:49 Eugene Escapes the Soviet Union 02:49 The Loneliness of Driving a Taxi 03:45 Grief, Loneliness & Healing 04:11 First Time at the Russian Banya 05:29 Meeting Eugene’s Old Taxi Friends 06:55 Inside the Steam Room 07:30 Politics in the Sauna 08:32 Ice Cold Plunge 09:20 Russian Vodka Rules 10:00 The Venik Massage Experience 12:22 “He Beat the Depression Out of Me” 12:47 Russian Food & Vodka Toasts 14:58 Eugene’s Craziest Taxi Story 15:40 A Bear Gets in the Cab 17:26 Leaving the Banya 18:00 What Eugene Taught Me About Life