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"I am a sad person
who makes people laugh"
Mikhail Zhvanetsky is truly a darling of the nation. He writes
and does readings of his comic short stories and monologues. In the Stagnating
Seventies, his satirical works were performed by star comedians Arkady
Raikin, Ilchenko and Kartsev and instantly became part and parcel of popular
folklore, with innumerable phrases turning into favourite sayings and proverbs
of the people. Long before Mikhail Gorbatchev's glasnost, Mikhail Zhvanetsky
went on stage with his aphoristic sketches, full of hidden meaning and
subtle but colorful allusions. On his 60th anniversary, another famous
satirist writer wrote in his letter of congratulations: "The nation needs
you, dear Mikhail, to add some photogenic "mocking wrinkles" to the serious
eyes in its official face".
Mr. Zhvanetsky's gift of a satirist was honed in the streets of Odessa, the city in Ukraine that gave us a host of comedians and satire writers. Mr. Zhvanetsky dedicated to his "alma mater" a whole book appropriately titled My Odessa. For many years now he has been the true king of the satirical stage, and was recently made President of the Golden Duke, an International Comedy Film Festival in Odessa. Zhvanetsky is the Honorary Citizen of his home town now. Dozens of cities in Russia and abroad have welcomed the "man with a portfolio" with standing ovations, be it Carnegie Hall in the New York City or numerous universities in the United States, Israel and other countries. In 1994 Mikhail Zhvanetsky was awarded the Order of the Friendship of People, one of the highest awards in the Russian Federation. |