Semyon Slepakov is a former participant of KVN and Comedy Club, as well as a producer and screenwriter of the Our Russia project, the TV series Interns and Univer, which was broadcast on Federal Channel One and TNT. He is also known for his satirical songs, including songs that deal with political topics. After the start of the major war between Russia and Ukraine, Slipakov published a video message to Vladimir Putin calling on him to stop the war. Soon the comedian left Russia. In 2023, the Russian Ministry of Justice declared Slipakov a “foreign agent.” The reason for this, in particular, was his song “lullaby” – About a mother of three children, one of whom died in the war.
On March 11, I Great interview Semyon Slipakov from 2022. In it he talks for the first time about how he left the country, as well as about how humor has changed in emigration and in Russia today, and about how the war has changed him. Here are some quotes from this interview.
attention. There are expletives in the text.
On the attitude of the Russians to the work of Slipakov
There are people who laugh and enjoy it. There are angry people. If it’s about 50/50, that’s great for me. I understand that I did not leave people indifferent. This is amazing [негативная] Reaction is also a reaction when someone is dissatisfied and offended. But if I seriously offend everyone, I won’t feel comfortable.
A very large portion of the audience is now afraid to like, forward and leave a comment, even if they like it. if [выпускаю] Something is hot, then it has fewer attackers and likes. If someone is jailed or fined for liking and commenting, it makes you think twice about whether it is worth showing your approval. Furthermore, I think some of those who show disapproval do so so everyone can see it [их реакцию].
On humor in immigration
I’m still trying to convey everything I feel. It is difficult for me now to attribute myself to any specific audience. If I can do something that is close to those who live in Russia and those who live outside Russia and speak Russian, that makes me happy. I never want to lose my audience in Russia. Another thing is that a lot of topics are automatically cut off when you don’t live in the country. If you are inside the situation, you can respond to some of the things that are happening inside without offending those who are also in the country. But when you start joking about it from the outside, you look a little scary.
About humor in Russia today
This is the hopelessness of the situation. If you are indoors [России]Either sit or be silent. And if you’re out there, you’re already experiencing everything we talked about. This is the victorious position of those who built this coordinate system.
This is a specific story – how humor is developing in Russia now. I don’t have the exact wording. There are just some places no one goes. These rooms are dusty. There are incredibly clean and decorated rooms where everything shines. The doors of those rooms do not open, they are closed.
Even if we assume this situation [с юмором в России] They’ll be frozen, and obviously they’ll do metaphorical things.
About leaving Russia
When this whole story started on February 24th, I had no idea I was leaving. This fermentation of minds began: “Leave, leave.” And I think: “Why? Why am I leaving? I talked to my friends. We are with them.” [Александром] Nazlobin was imprisoned…it was two days later [после начала войны] He traveled to America on the last direct flight to New York. I said to him: “Please, are you crazy? Are you an idiot? Where are you going?”
And then somehow it all started to cling together. I wrote this appeal for the first time. For some reason she turned to Putin. Then I was bullied from my previous job because of this request (Apparently, we are talking about Gazprom Media,” approx. “Jellyfish”). My contract has just expired. I had six projects in development and a TV series. At first they covered everything for me, then they entered into a dialogue with me. There was also a story that the war would now be over – well, three more days, well, another week, well, May 9th.
But then I suddenly realized that nothing was holding me back except close people. And then they [руководство «Газпром-Медиа»] They opened everything to me at once and said: “This is the green light for everything, Semyon.” Then I realized that I had to make a serious decision, because if I started doing this [проекты]I won’t move anywhere. That is, I left not because someone prevented me from doing anything, but because everyone allowed me to do everything.
I also came up with songs and poems that, to put it mildly, do not fit into everything that the people who lead the country would like to hear. Both then and now. I thought I should shut up. And so I will sit with money and projects, but I understand that tomorrow they will come to me and tell me what I should do and what I should not do.
About the reaction of officials to his songs
He allowed me [критиковать власть]. They looked at me like I was their man. Because that is the case. I have never wished any harm to Russia, and have never called for the overthrow of the government. I’ve always thought it was necessary to give assholes a go [чиновникам]So they don’t feel comfortable there. If such people [как я] If it doesn’t, that’s bad. But getting my ass kicked was inherently therapeutic. They did not view me as their enemy. And now they accept it.
About the beginning of the war
This was a before and after moment. It broke me, it really broke me. I didn’t think it (war) maybe. And all my songs (prewar) It’s arguably a friendly tease. How a satirist works: He finds weaknesses and directs his sarcastic sting at them. And after February 24, 2022, there is no more sarcasm at all. I was just trying to express in a humorous way what was hurting me.
About the song “Tahleel”
I don’t want to lead some kind of resistance front. I don’t get involved in politics. I have some feelings boiling over. This “lullaby”, which everyone was so excited about, came out because I had just watched the news and it shocked me.
About the march in support of Navalny
This was a difficult case for me. During that period, I used to write one poem a day. I wrote – and everyone laughed, and everyone reacted. Then I wrote this. You have finished registering. I didn’t think it would have this effect. Against the backdrop of the story of Navalny’s arrest, this poem may not have been timely. I didn’t think about that. But I thought that if I felt that way and wrote about it honestly, there would be nothing terrible about it. I do not wish to apologize to anyone or retract my words.
I’m always for everything (In this case, there are political differences between the Russian authorities and their opponents) to be resolved peacefully. Although I understand the absurdity of what I’m saying now. Because there was only one peaceful path: all the people who were against it were simply bowed down, mocked, someone was imprisoned, someone was killed, someone was expelled. This is a wonderful peaceful path. But I still do not feel responsible in myself to say that there is a need for a non-peaceful path.
On television’s responsibility for advertising
I don’t think we were promoting anything in the humor industry. In humor, you can show people a distorted mirror in which they are reflected. Then they must draw their own conclusions. If they find it funny, they ask themselves why we find it funny. We had deputies in “Our Russia” who constantly indulged in some kind of entertainment in the style of Rabelais and talked about how they thought about Russia. I don’t feel like it [ответственность].