Pavel Dedishchev takes the stage of a trendy Moscow bar, grabs the microphone and launches a joke on Putin.
“I have seven antibodies to the coronavirus.
Of course, they are provided by the government, Vladimir Vladimirovich gave them to me!
He gave them to me before the election, okay?
He gave twelve to the security services! ”
Laughs this bearded thirty-year-old to the laughter of the public, about fifty people, mostly young people.
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Comedian Pavel Dedichtchev mocks the one-off financial aid offered by the Russian president to the police and the military before the September legislative elections, which the opposition deemed rigged.
In his 40-minute stand-up, he jokes about corruption, the powerful Orthodox Church and the National Guard, at the forefront of suppressing protests.
These types of shows are in turmoil in Moscow, and skit videos garner millions of views on YouTube.
A phenomenon which illustrates the appetite of the Russians for a caustic and uncensored humor, unlike that broadcast on television.
Shows under surveillance
But since the imprisonment of the main critic of the Kremlin, Alexeï Navalny, and the crackdown on the opposition and the independent press that followed, it is the turn of comedians to be in the sights of the authorities.
The latter began to take a close interest in their jokes.
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The actors concerned promise not to back down, believing that their work fills a cruel lack of critical voices in the country. "
Either you are angry, or you improve your repertoire,
" says Pavel Dedichtchev. He and his colleagues started spotting members of the security services at their shows and watching them filming this year. “
We can't tell them to leave, so we accepted them as our most loyal spectators
,” he jokes.
Because of the growing number of restrictive laws, such as the one against “offending believers” or against “homosexual propaganda,” comedians often check their jokes with their lawyers to make sure they won't have any complaints. problems.
According to Tomas Gaisanov, an organizer of stand-up shows, it has become common for comedians to receive threats.
This is particularly the case for jokes about different ethnic groups in Russia, a
"sensitive subject" he
underlines.
"It's one of the last places where you can say what you want"
Kirill Sietlov, comedian who identifies incidents with Russian authorities
Russian authorities in August expelled Belarusian-Azerbaijani comedian Idrak Mirzalizadé, accused of inciting hatred for a joke about the difficulty of non-Slavic people in finding an apartment in Moscow.
Another comedian, Ariana Lolaeva, recently posted a filmed and crying apology after being criticized on social media for a joke about the cuisine of her home region of Ossetia, a Russian republic in the Caucasus.
"Relax"
With incidents of the genre increasing, comedian Kirill Sietlov created a Telegram channel documenting the phenomenon. “
I have something to write about every week,
” he says. After Vladimir Putin came to power in 1999, serious political satire was gradually phased out from television, until it disappeared. The shows in Muscovite bars keep this scathing humor alive. “
It's one of the last places where you can say whatever you want,
” says Kirill Sietlov. The comedian Vera Kotelnikova thus claims to be able to joke about almost everything, in this “democratic” context. “
It's unlikely to end up in jail. Although it remains a possibility,
”she reveals.
The actors interviewed by AFP believe that the authorities will increase their pressure, without completely banning standups.
“
They want people to decompress somewhere and not by
putting
up barricades,
” explains Pavel Dedishchev.
In his show, he imitates a policeman who fines the metro for not wearing a mask.
The "
policeman
" ends up pointing to the smiling spectators.
“
If you want to smile in this country, put on a mask!
"