Meeting comedian Andriy Molochny in person is a rather disheartening experience. The larger-than-life character, whose humor and quick wit have made him one of Ukraine’s most popular comedians, turns out to be serious, prickly and unwilling to joke.
Molochny, 32, gave a polite welcome to the Kyiv Post in his simple, white-walled office.
But when questions turned to his timidity in joking about politicians – some of whom he calls friends – he began to snap. Even English humor – famed for its darkness and complexity – didn’t escape his sharp tongue.
Molochny, one half of the popular comedy pair Chekhov’s Duo, is a regular fixture on Ukrainian and Russian television. His start came in KVN, a popular Russian TV show where student teams compete in making jokes. In 2006 he launched “Comedy Club UA,” a Ukrainian version of Russian popular stand-up comedy show.
“More than 10 years spent in KVN gave me almost no money. I did have a pair of pants, shoes and a white starched shirt, but nothing more,” Molochniy said.
After that evening I changed my mind about him [Yanukovych] and said to myself I wanted this man to become country’s president. I was not paid for that, it’s my personal point of view,” – said Andriy Molochny
“I thought it would be good to do something similar, but in another format.” A performance by Chekhov’s Duo now commands a $10,000 fee.
“Comedy Club UA,” which is now known as “Real Comedy,” is a raucous weekly show where comedians joke with each other in front of a star-studded audience at Kyiv’s Arena City.
Molochny and his comedy partner Anton Lirnyk began by doing parodies of top Ukrainian officials, such as President Viktor Yanukovych, former President Viktor Yushchenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. His mocking of Yanukovych is now an old joke.
But now, political humor finds no place in the shows.
(Courtesy)
Andriy Molochny dressed as a cleaner working in Ukrainian parliament in television comedy series “Faina Ukraina” on Oct. 19, 2008 (Courtesy)
Many think that the comic’s friendship with politicians, such as Yanukovych and Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky, may have something to do with this self-censorship.
Molochny performed at Yanukovych’s 59th birthday party last year, before the presidential election. He is clearly an admirer.
“I’ve done many numbers about him, imitated his voice, made some parodies, and he was laughing at it all with the rest of his guests,” Molochny said.
“After that evening I changed my mind about him and said to myself I wanted this man to become country’s president. I was not paid for that, it’s my personal point of view.”
Molochny became friends with Chernovetsky three years ago. He insisted that the eccentric former banker wears a mask in public.
“If I didn’t know Leonid Mykhailovych [Chernovetsky] in person, I’d think he is a space cadet and has probably used some drugs.
But he understands all our jokes about him, can stand up and joke himself in his turn. He is absolutely different from what we can see him on TV,” Molochny insisted.
If I didn’t know Leonid Mykhailovych [Chernovetsky] in person, I’d think he is a space cadet and has probably used some drugs”, – said Andriy Molochny.
Molochny denied that his friendships have affected his comedy routines. He said that politically neutral jokes in Ukraine are part of a general apathy toward politics.
“More everyday life jokes are welcome today. Ukrainians are fed up with politics. I don’t find it funny myself either. Moreover, it’s been a year since I have watched any news. I’m done with it,” Molochny snapped.
He also appears once per month in Russia on the original “Comedy Club” show. Politics is certainly off the menu there.
“Politics in Russia is not laughed at. Not because it is forbidden, as many may think,” Molochny said.
“The Russians just respect their government rather than make fun of it. Really important things are being done there, and there is nothing funny either in [Russian Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin’s or [Russian President Dmitry] Medvedev’s speeches.”
Dmytro Chekalkin, the founder of the comedy website “Merry Eggs” after Yanukovych was comically felled by a single egg in an incident in 2004, thinks differently.
“There is a renaissance of political jokes in Russia now, which could not be imagined a year ago,” Chekalkin said.
“What we had in Ukraine in 2004-2005 is in Moscow today. Every second joke is on politics. Not on major TV channels, of course, but the majority of Internet sites has rather sharp content regarding the Russian government.”
But whatever his comic material and political views, Molochny is succeeding with audiences.
Apart from the Russian and Ukrainian Comedy Clubs, Molochny launched another television comedy series called “Faina Ukraina” in 2008. Since mid-September, a new season of the “Real Comedy” show has been showing at Arena City.
He is clearly in his element in the Slavic world. Western humor remains a mystery to him.
Speaking of the humor in England, where he once worked as a manual laborer, Molochny said: “Their jokes are poor and narrow. They read too little, are interested in too little and are too serious about everything. If something is out of their control, they immediately call the police.”
For more information on “Real Comedy” comedy shows, see:
