What do you get when you cross three young, hip, Armenians living in Moscow, grumpy communists and a new generation of Russians ready to get down in the gutter with the rest of us capitalist pigs? Welcome, the Comedy Club!
The Comedy Club is a Moscow based variety show that resembles our good old Saturday Night Live format. The show debuted on the Russian TNT television network in April 2005 to a very meager audience but then conquered the new generation in record time, where it quickly became so popular and profitable, that the show could afford to buy it’s own network and did.
It all started when a group of four “New Armenians” visited the United States and taking in the famous “Comedy Store” in Los Angeles. They decided to create a show of their own in Moscow that would combine stand up comedy, funny skits and monologues. What would probably earn them a bullet in the head in their native Armenia, suddenly produced quite a few laughs in “Mother” Russia and within its first season, “Comedy Club” had one of the highest ratings on national television.
But despite its popularity, the show was heavily criticized by holdover communist regime supporters. The people hiding behind the iron curtain accused the club of plagiarism and over-commercialized low quality entertainment. In an effort to stop the winds of change they blamed the club for letting “western hedonism and corruption” into the country and trying to be like “them”. Apparently, the new generation thought that that was not a bad thing. In light of the criticism, it just seemed to fuel more “western” behavior.
In what would historically be a major embarrassment to a show and network, many well known celebrities have stormed out of the middle of the show, offended by the sharp tongued comedians. Some equate the slang and biting political humor to the downfall of Eastern Civilization but who could stop them? Every generation finds a way to rebel and new Russians chose comedy with a twist instead of political rhetoric. Rather than standing in line for toilet paper, they now stand in line to hear more toilet humor.
So, could a U.S. comic be successful in the New Russia” of today? Maybe. If they used a lot of slang, threw in some “in your face” social bite and topped it off with a couple of jokes about how intricate the black market works. Wait, could Chris Rock be Russian by any chance?
Share