April 29, 2023

The Jokes That Flew Under The Radar


The Jokes That Flew Under The Radar
"National Team of the Moscow Aviation Insitute", one of the contestants in the humor TV show KVN. Ofitsialny Kanal KVN, Youtube

In a rare expression of public dissent, the comedy competition show KVN aired a team's sketch that joked about the draft, the economy, and the persecution of journalists on Pervy Kanal (Channel One), the most influential state-owned propaganda channel. 

Among the many comedy groups representing cities, universities, and schools in the competition was the National Team of the MAI (Moscow Aviation Institute). The group began their sketch with an announcement from a flight attendant: "For your safety, please(...) turn [your] roubles into Yuans."

Then, one of the actors nervously threw away his phone after receiving a notification, implying he was just called up. Afterward, MAI had more to say on their national currency's devaluation: "Don't be upset. I'm sure everything will be fine for us, just like the Russian rouble," raising eyebrows from fellow teammates.

Then, a group member asked: 

"- Who are we fighting against?

- Journalists

- No, I'm [talking] about [here in] KVN."

One teammate asked another to "not make up excuses like Iosif Prigozhin," alluding to a Russian music producer whose private conversation criticizing Vladimir Putin was leaked in late March. 

The team got a near-perfect score from the judges, except for one. Actor Dmitry Dyuzhev has openly supported the invasion of Ukraine, even holding a pro-Putin concert shortly after February 24. Another judge, Valdis Pelsh, has held concerts in illegally annexed Crimea.

The National Team of MAI passed on to KVN's semifinals, which will be aired in September. 

 

 

You Might Also Like

Kara-Murza Sentenced to 25 Years
  • April 17, 2023

Kara-Murza Sentenced to 25 Years

Journalist and democratic activist Vladimir Kara-Murza has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for telling the truth.
A Sanctioned Flight
  • April 10, 2023

A Sanctioned Flight

Journalists discovered a scheme in which a Russian entrepreneur bought planes in the EU, bypassing sanctions.
Anything to Stop The Show
  • April 04, 2023

Anything to Stop The Show

Moscow police attempted to interrupt an anti-war pianist's concert, going so far as to call in a bomb threat.
Screws are Tightening
  • April 12, 2023

Screws are Tightening

March has seen a serious tightening of the screws of repression by the Russian regime.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

Steppe
July 15, 2022

Steppe

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Driving Down Russia's Spine
June 01, 2016

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955