Putin the Sage and the Fools of the West: What Can You Laugh At in Russia?
In Putin's neo-totalitarian, warmongering state, humor is permitted today only if it serves those in power. Russian émigré humor, meanwhile, remains in the grip of nostalgia.
By Bartłomiej Mayer
After Putin struck Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the unwritten rules about what kind of humor was acceptable in public changed too.
That doesn't mean things were great before. To find bolder jokes, you'd have to dig deeper into the archives. Take, for example, a 2012 television show broadcast to mark the 50th anniversary of KVN, Russia's cult comedy competition. It was a time when Putin still kept up appearances: in May 2012 he ended his four-year term as prime minister and returned to the presidency, having spent those four years with Dmitry Medvedev standing in for him.
Two satirists wheel a tandem bicycle onto the stage. They walk, suddenly stop, look at each other in silence, and swap places: "Putin" grabs the front handlebars, "Medvedev" the rear. Interestingly, Putin himself was in the audience that night, and the camera caught him amused by the scene. He also laughed when someone on stage called him "prime-sident."
