The Olivier Show (Оливье Шоу) is an annual variety show broadcast on Channel One Russia on New Year’s Eve. It premiered in 2010 and was originally based on the Soviet classic holiday program, The Little Blue Light which featured popular Soviet artists and figures, including Heroes of Socialist Labor and cosmonauts, all of whom gathered at TV […]

Let’s Eat at Home! (Едим дома!) is a Russian culinary TV show. Led by Yulia Vysotskaya (Юлия Высоцкая), it is “a culinary documentary show from the life of a young woman”: Vysotskaya finds herself in various situations in which food is required (e.g. her child invites a bunch of guests over; a friend stops by […]

Star Factory (Фабрика Звёзд) is a Russian music-competition TV show in which teams compete to become the new hit act in Russian pop music. The show has created such stars as Fabrika, Korni, and Polina Gagarina. It aired from 2002 to 2007 in Russia, with a triumphant return for one season in 2011. There are also […]

Comedy Woman (title originally in English) is a Russian sketch/standup comedy show—sort of the female version of Comedy Club, in which women barely take part. The show started in 2008, and there are now nearly 200 episodes. The show grew out of the comedy club/cabaret show Made in Woman. It was founded in 2006 by Natalya Yeprikyan (Наталья […]

Comedy Club (no Russian title) is a highly popular Russian stand-up comedy show. The show began airing in 2005 and surpassed its 500th episode in December 2016; as of this writing, there are almost 530. According to the show’s website on TV channel TNT, “The residents’ jokes live in our consciousnesses … they are called […]

Uralskie Pelmeni (Уральские пельмены; “pelmeni from the Urals”) is a Russian sketch comedy group originally from Ekaterinburg. They started out as a KVN team in 1993, winning the Highest League (Высшая лига) of KVN in 2000. As a result of their KVN popularity, they were able to start their own sketch comedy show in 2009, […]

KVN (КВН; Клуб весёлых и находчивых, or “Club of funny and inventive people”) is a famous Russian sketch-comedy show and game show. It’s been running on and off (mostly on) since 1961—it barely even skipped a beat during the fall of the Soviet Union. For its humor, mentality, popularity, and long-running-ness (and its three-letter title), […]

I was lucky enough to get invited to this cultural event by my Russian friend, Lena, who had acquired some tickets through work. Like most Americans, I assume, I had never heard of КВН and all I knew about it was that it was some sort of comedy show. I went in thinking that I […]