Viktor (Anatolyevich) Shenderovich (born August 15, 1958; listed in the registry of foreign agents) is a Russian people's (or anti-people's, depending on one's point of view) satirical writer, theater figure, and showman. He lives in Moscow. Owing to his complete expulsion from central television, he travels widely around the world. He is a columnist for various independent newspapers and magazines. Since 2008 he has moved away from regular journalism as a TV and radio analyst and turned to dramaturgy in not-so-small forms. Over the past two years he has written 5 novellas and 3 plays, one of which has been staged at O. Tabakov's theater-studio.
The Essence of the Phenomenon
Shenderovich steadily and, as a rule, accessibly, in good literary Russian, debunks the cult of the Great Pipe along with all its derivatives, from the concept of the power vertical to its foundation: homegrown oil-tanker glamour.
For this, in the 2000s the writer fell out of favor with all regional authorities (except the Nizhny Novgorod ones). Social functionaries ostentatiously skip his lectures, and the more far-sighted ones close the venues where Shenderovich's concerts and public lectures are scheduled, for preventive repairs.
Biography
Born on August 15, 1958, in Moscow.
In 1980 he graduated from the Moscow State Institute of Culture with a degree in "director of amateur theater groups," and in 1988 completed an internship at the Shchukin Theater School, specializing as a "stage movement instructor."
For seven years he taught stage movement at GITIS.
He has worked in television since 1992 (as a documentary screenwriter). Since 1995 he has been a writer for the program "Kukly" ("Puppets") on the NTV television company.
Since 1997 he has been the artistic director and host of the political commentary program "Itogo" ("In Sum"), as well as of many other television and radio projects.
Awards and Titles
Member of the Writers' Union of Russia since 1992. Winner of many literary prizes in the field of humor. Winner of the "TEFI-96" television award in the "Event of the Year" category. Winner of the "Golden Ostap" prize (1996).
Samples of His Work. Aphorisms
What, Romans, is a loaf of bread not yet a spectacle for you?
There are many gods, but we are alone.
The end of the world has the most sponsors.
There are times when one can only dream of the whims of fate.
They exist: in a cassock, but with horns...
The oxen have no idea what is permitted to Jupiter...
He was so gloomy that even thoughts stopped visiting him.
In wartime, nothing is valued as highly as flat feet...
An entire few generations can fall into the gap between two eras.
The contented mug of the fisherman was reflected in the mirror carp.
Every sanatorium has two or three retired Batus.[1]
In the unequal struggle of the hammer versus the television...
Elderberries in the garden, but hunger is no aunt.
In Russia, the cup of patience is measured in glasses.
What is the strength of mosquitoes? In their overwhelming majority!
Your agony does not suit me from an aesthetic point of view!
There is room for elegance everywhere. Even an alarm can be airy.
The wind of change should not whistle in your ears.
The war veteran dreamed of taking a prisoner at the store and bringing him back to his own.
The eternal assortment: the stale bread of truth, and the poppy-seed bun of lies...
Power of the people? Please specify: over whom?
Soldiers are supposed to march in step, but they often aim much higher.
He led a Brownian movement...
The air of freedom is sometimes used to inflate things.
Near the man struck with a dusty sack, forty people suffocated.
Here is my hand: you have twisted it!
When the master comes, the master will show you... (from Nekrasov's drafts)
You can survive anything. Even death.
We're beggars anyway, so we might as well go begging!
All fur coats could fit into a single moth.
To draw the sound back into the fanfare!
Those fired as train drivers are itching for the emergency brake.
A genealogical miracle: the son of a lawyer and the Kuzka's mother.
The general sprinkled his head with p-e-p-l-o-s.
A gynecological observation: the efforts of prophets are barren, because history develops in a spiral...
The main thing is to feed the ideologues! The rest will make do.
Those who speak of unity sometimes mean a mass grave.
"Lord, save me!" exclaimed the atheist. "And have you seen this?" the Lord replied.
The state is as simple as a bicycle: handlebars on top, chains below...
The state has choked on a military bone.
The border of slavery cannot be crossed illegally.
Let the bat come to power, and the sun will be outlawed!
The children of the bent grow up hunchbacked.
I can imagine a shortage of gingerbread. I can't imagine a shortage of whips.
Should Darwin answer for the bestialization of the masses?
A fool with a messianic bent.
A fool, and he doesn't lecture anyone. What a clever one!
Jews, assume the starting position!
His finest hour was the curfew.
The sled dog died of pride.
If humanity knew about its future, it wouldn't laugh so much while parting with its past.
If you strike a head with a tuning fork, the head is what will hum.
If a circus bear has raised its paw, that doesn't mean it is "in favor."
To live next to your own bust, you have to be not a twice-decorated Hero but a thrice-over cretin!
At the negotiating table, a few third countries were served for dessert...
A riddle. What is it that stands up when a woman walks in? Answer: a gentleman, you depraved idiots!
The smell of our foot wraps puts the West off its appetite for war.
A note from a hedgehog: "Gone into myself."
What does a butterfly need a five-year plan for?
Why fight me? I'll lie down on the floor and count to ten myself!
Land Partnership "Black Hundredth."
The banners are bloody, but the people are tame as silk!
The Golden Horde? Sorry, the color of the horde doesn't interest me.
Even among the dead there are lively ones!
Overheard in a saucepan: "We dumplings had better stick together!"
He who has ears, let him plug them!
Sometimes they even ask you to sign for receiving a slap in the face.
Non-Russians like fast driving too!
I wonder whose dreams are the ones coming true for us?
Judas did not hang himself. He changed his surname and turned professional.
The personnel officer died after reading the word "Republican" in the "party affiliation" box.
It seems the wheel of history wasn't designed for our roads.
It seems our past has a great future.
How tactless of the ashes of Claas to knock on one's heart!
How revolting! Wrap up five of them.
What sea, are you kidding? I get nauseous on dry land!
Who do you have to be to hypnotize a boa constrictor?
The good thing about a centaur is that he can justify the need for a stable all by himself.
The key question of mathematics: does it make any difference?
The oaths "may I never see freedom again" and "I'll be a bitch if I'm lying" can safely be sworn by anyone here.
When the state turned to face the individual, the individual screamed in horror.
If you chase a dog for long enough, you become a border guard.
When a truth is defended for too long, faith precipitates out as sediment.
When sons of bitches come to power, everyone ends up with a dog's life.
When he promised a good life, everyone went cold in advance.
When the country dreams of freedom, the border guards' barrier goes up.
When should a rat leave the ship if she is the captain?
When I hear the word "the people," my hand reaches for the validol.
The commission of Pilates issued a certificate of partial rehabilitation of Christ.
The commission for the approval of Newton's laws for the fourth quarter of the current year.
The escort guard is forced to retrace the prisoner's path.[1]
The mounted guardsman neighed in solidarity.
The emcee kept smiling until his face burst.
The cow studied the "Meat Quota" display with interest.
The Darwinist's nightmare: a locust capable of a qualitative leap...
The most eloquent thing is a gag.
History's list to one side comes from the imperative mood.
Night blindness on the eve of becoming broth is already political shortsightedness.
The Lefty shod the flea. Now it not only bites but also, the scoundrel, clicks its hooves.
It is easier to wait for the end of the world than for the end of the darkness.
The Leninist stage in the development of philosophy ended with the philosophers being sent off to prison camps.
The poet's lyre knew no wavering!
A lyrical drama: "Judas's First Kiss."
An elevator that breaks down twice a day and Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky are deeply national phenomena!
Slogan: "The decisions of the Congress — not on your life!"
A puddle can be located above sea level.
Love of the Motherland can be unhappy.
"So what if there's evolution," the mastodon kept saying as he trampled the Neanderthals.
It is not enough to come to power — you have to leave it alive.
It is not enough to break through the wall — you have to avoid dying under the rubble.
Little Skuratov and Neurasthenic Razin.
Mao gave humanity a sidelong look.
March: "Farewell of the Slavic Woman with a Foreigner."
A mathematical idea: change the degree of freedom at the root.
Mendeleev lived in an age when people still dreamed of periodic tables.
Measuring an inch by your own arshin is patriotic, but tiring.
Can a married man afford a cause-and-effect relationship?
Can someone exiled to the ends of the earth consider himself a resident agent of the Center?
Moses spent forty years leading the Jews around the occupied Palestinian territories.
It's a wet business, that sixth of the earth's land.
A swamp can hold up not only a city, but a state.
The state palette has no room for the color of shame.
The number pi does not apply to utter fools.
He answered the blows of fate with blows against it.
An inscription made with a royal staff on the gates of Novgorod: "Vanya was here!"
Those who soap up nooses later count themselves among the hygiene workers.
Don't hit him, grandmaster — it's not a surname!
Don't hit a man when he's down? And God forbid he gets up?
Can't see a way out? You're standing in it!
All that glitters is not gold, but what smells like crap is undoubtedly crap!
Don't give him a fulcrum, he wants to turn the world upside down!
Don't let dwarfs treat growing pains.
He couldn't commit hara-kiri — the fat on his belly got in the way.
Those who found no brothers in reason go looking for brothers in blood.
Don't tie up your hopes!
Don't spit even into dried-up wells — out of sheer delicacy, at least.
The executioner is not so terrible as the spectators are revolting.
"Don't touch me, I don't stink!" cried the crap as it made its way to power.
Don't tickle Atlas!
Some manage to gather a decent harvest even from the Garden of Gethsemane.
Some Prometheuses peck out their own livers.
I hate all systems except the Solar one!
There is no drumstick that doesn't dream of becoming a conductor's baton.
Fear nothing — it has all happened before.
The rhinoceros has poor eyesight, but at that weight it's no longer his problem.
At night, in a dead end, don't ask about Kant's ethics — they might make you a thing-in-itself.
What kind of terminology do we have: pioneer camp, recreation zone...
Ask those crushed by an epoch about its greatness.
We'll provide the cries in the wilderness with deserts!
One young man was not accepted as an artist. He became the Führer. We must be more attentive to talents.
He was a most worthy man, but the vicious times left their mark on his face (crossed out) mug.
Those drunk on power sober up with blood.
Caution: the army is restructuring!
Relative to a pendulum, the Universe keeps swinging back and forth all the time.
Commemorative medal "Thirtieth Anniversary of the Pyrrhic Victory".
Parties grow like stubble on a corpse.
Primitive censorship: Glavpaleolith!
A pointing finger is useful for scratching the back of one's head.
Floating with the current, it is pleasant to row everything toward oneself.
Bare kings are good for studying the anatomy of power.
According to the latest data, the boy who exposed the naked king had been planted by the opposition.
No one tells fortunes from severed palms.
The fireman discovered with horror a spark of talent within himself.
Allow me to smirk crookedly with all frankness.
They caught the cannibal — and ate him!
While the cook was learning to run the state, the food ran out.
While some bear their cross, others become the nails of the season.
A politician scratches where the people itch.
Political chess: for how many years checkmate has been everywhere, yet the party won't surrender!
The political corpse decomposed in great comfort.
It's time to put a cross on Golgotha!
A tailor's view of life: sure, it's a bit short, but if you let it out a little...
Portraits of the people's leaders prove useful in the later search for bloodthirsty tyrants.
He looked the bird-troika in the mouth...
Why is the lowest scoundrel always in the front rows?
The government tried to avoid resonance so as not to fall.
A presentation of the end of the world.
He despised the ocean for lacking a false bottom.
At the words "father of the bride" he thought of Pavlik Morozov.
Ghosts exist. Some of them have even run the state.
One can come to power on all fours, too.
An example of inflation: fate is a turkey, and life is a kopeck!
Dreamed of Peter the First trimming the beards of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
Conductors of light are always in isolation...
Those being exterminated are kindly requested not to disturb public order!
A marionette's plea: "Don't yank me over trifles!"
Rubbed his eyes and stopped seeing altogether.
The gas mask may become the face of an era.
The gingerbread has gone stale, but the whip is well soaked!
The bullet is a fool, and this often reflects on commanders-in-chief.
The bullet is a fool, the bayonet is an idiot!
The size of our pride is determined by the scale of our misfortunes.
Revolutions are called Great depending on the number of casualties.
While requisitioning Oblomov's sofa, they shot Stolz as well.
For a Jew, the homeland is the place where he was first called a kike.
A homeland can become merely a country of residence.
Russia is a zone of risky democracy.
Russian parliamentarism: Stenka against Stenka...
The fish rotted from the head long ago, but would not let itself be taken by the gills.
It is hard to explain to a fish what "balyk" is.
Arquebus in hand, I look upon our generation...
One should take fingerprints from the levers of power.
A letter fell from the banner. It killed many.
The most frightening thing is seven spans in the forehead of brass.
The quietest morning is the one after St. Bartholomew's night.
He made his dream a reality, and now he doesn't know where to hide from it.
So many lovers of discussing the cut of a straitjacket!
So many prejudices have been eradicated, yet reason is still nowhere to be found.
A blind man came out of the metro, tapping the pavement with an emergency brake handle.
The stinking were cautiously called strong in spirit.
Death is only a special case of non-being.
The assembly of dinosaurs decided not to recognize evolution.
Your own profile must not become a bargaining chip.
The Nightingale was, on the side, an old hand — a tough old bird who couldn't be caught with chaff.
The salt of the earth — for the wounds of the people!
The human factor kicked in, and the sheep picked themselves a goat.
Among those walking over corpses, watching your step is considered bad manners.
Old age is no joy, of course, but some deaths are a national holiday.
The starter used to be a sniper, and the runners knew it...
No sooner had Yemelya climbed down from the stove than it turned out his surname was Pugachev.
Is it worth seeing the light in this landscape?
A country that sprawls so widely provokes its rapists...
Strange — how do Newton's laws still operate here?
The construction of oneself is complete. Commissioned.
Does it count as rape when an idea seizes the masses?
He died the way he lived, believing "Cambridge" to be a bourgeois curse word.
Tattoo: "I will not forget my dear mother, the Party and the government."
Those who lead us into war then go and, the bastards, campaign for peace!
The body — bury it; the doctrine — embalm it!
What is clear to a fool is still a question to a wise man.
What has set your teeth on edge will yet stick in your throat!
What stands apart is harder to bear — and harder to knock down.
Comrade Iceberg, it seems you're not entirely on the surface...
Some scare — the Loch Ness Monster... Now if the Party Central Committee surfaced there!
The current of hatred comes from a difference in potential!
The ax pleaded that everything is in God's hands...
Cod shouldn't advertise their liver.
The hardest thing is to grovel before one born to crawl.
Moles have a score to settle with the solar system.
The boa constrictor was drawn to rabbits.
Russia cannot be understood with the mind, and with other parts it hurts a great deal!
Those who wash their hands of things are well fed.
The physics teacher drank himself to ruin explaining the right-hand rule.
The pharaoh squeezed the slave out of himself drop by drop.
The flagpole wasn't standing, so there was nothing to hang the banner on.
The weathervane was nailed down for good, and the wind blew, resigned, in the indicated direction.
Regular idiots are entitled to boots as well.
Führers — or maybe just skip ahead: get married, and then the poison?
Want to be a noun? Decline!
Want to see people on their knees? Scatter some money.
Want to take shelter from the rain? Rise above the clouds!
Caesar can take pride in slaves who take pride in the plumbing!
A chained dog is loyal only to its doghouse.
The Church has turned God's providence on its head.
Frequent recantations by Galileos can stop the planet.
Man is the blacksmith of his own happiness and the carpenter of his own coffin.
"Man" — it sounds proud, but looks disgusting!
Man descended from the monkey. But with God's help.
The suitcase wouldn't close until a hundred rubles were put into it.
The worm felt sick at the words "sportsman angler".
Vera Pavlovna's fourth dream is not for Freud...
What could be more beautiful than a woman? Her girlfriend.
What is the Hound of the Baskervilles? It's Mumu, who managed to swim out.
What is man from the monkey's point of view? An example of what hard labor can lead to!
What kind of prestige is it if you have to maintain it?
To understand the rustle of leaves, you have to forget the language of military regulations...
To build yourself a pyramid, you need a foundation!
He felt like a savage among Miklukho-Maklays.
Blinders focus attention on a bright future.
Evolution spent millions of years straightening man up, yet never made him unbending.
Evolution began when the monkey felt like a man.
Einstein with a buzz cut can be considered Einstein only relatively.
Ah, to Canossa — and in a tank!
Jupiter, you've turned bullish!
I know their fists like the back of my hand...
I know why ostriches bury their heads in the sand. There are instructions down there!
I myself thought it was Hare Krishna, but it turned out to be Allahu Akbar!
Is the recognized necessity of going into slavery a form of freedom?
Activity in the Region
Besides his usual pursuits, in Nizhny Novgorod V. Shenderovich is an honored guest of the traditional theatrical sketch festival "Merry Goat" and an impromptu commentator on football championships.
Public and Political Influence
- Viktor Shenderovich is a fashionable author among the Russian elite, who like to demonstrate the independence of their views. Thus, at one of Shenderovich's concerts in London, he spotted the wife of Vladislav Yuryevich Surkov in the fifth row.
- In 2008–2009, Shenderovich was in litigation with Sergey Abeltsev, a State Duma deputy from the LDPR. Shenderovich had called Abeltsev a "Yahoo" for inciting an attack on human rights activists (the presidium was pelted with chicken eggs by LDPR members). The court, located on Zoologicheskaya Street, found no corpus delicti in Shenderovich's words, and the case was dropped. Based on materials from this trial, Shenderovich's book "The Case of the Yahoo and Other Stories from Our Zoo: My Encounters with Justice" was published in 2009.
The Commissioning of a Beating of V. Shenderovich
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I have received information about a threat of physical violence.
I was told that Deputy Abeltsev has ordered me beaten up. I cannot, of course, reveal my source: given the power and criminal connections of my opponents, this person is in far greater danger than I am.[1] The source will be revealed only in court, and only if I am convinced that the state is seriously concerned for his safety. Deputy Abeltsev already threatened me during the trial itself. I have already quoted his remark that in the "good old days" they would have "straightened out my head with a pipe in a stairwell." This was said in the presence of the judge, the lawyers, and the prosecutor, and it sounded like a direct threat; I drew the attention of the court and of Prosecutor Sycheva to it at the time. In court, Abeltsev declared that he had decided to pursue the legal route. On that route he suffered a complete fiasco, and I do not rule out at all that the deputy may have returned to the "good old" practice he himself described. The report of a planned attack, combined with Mr. Abeltsev's dark reputation and the repeated, never-solved cases of violence against his personal adversaries, compels me to take the threat voiced in the Presnensky Court courtroom with complete seriousness. I do not rule out that this may be a more complicated story, and that other people, agencies, and political combinations may stand behind this threat. But I want to separate theories from facts. The facts, I repeat, are these: Deputy Abeltsev painted a picture of physical violence against me in the courtroom, and after he lost that case twice, I received information about an attack being prepared. I am filing a complaint with law enforcement, asking them to take measures to protect me and to investigate this matter. I am ready to take a polygraph test, and I would like Deputy Abeltsev to take the same test. |
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Interesting facts
- Viktor Shenderovich calls himself the Knight of the Unprintable Image. He put this epithet in the heading of his personal website.
- Viktor Shenderovich can imitate the intonations and stage movement of Evgeniy Evstigneev, because he performed the role for him as a test during his studies at the Moscow Art Theatre School-Studio.
- He considers the most interesting fact of his theatrical career to be his work on the play "A Room in the Town of NN" as movement director. The play won the professional "Golden Mask" prize.
- During Shenderovich's performance at the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin in the early 2000s, the power went out in the building of the Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic.
Official resources
- Viktor Shenderovich's LiveJournal (archive) (closed after Mumugate)
See also
Viktor Shenderovich was added to the register of foreign agents by decision of the Ministry of Justice of Russia dated December 30, 2021, on the basis of Article 6 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On the Mass Media"[2].
Viktor Shenderovich has been entered into the register of foreign agents by decision of the Ministry of Justice of Russia dated 30 December 2021, under Article 6 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Mass Media"[3].
Sources
- web.archive.org — "Sarov" newspaper (Igor Makarov), quoting the report of Yu. M. Kaganovich at the 6th Gorky Regional Party Conference, July 4, 1938; web.archive.org archive — "Motya-militia," August 12, 2008 (archive)
- minjust.gov.ru — Register of Foreign Agents — Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, entry no. 327 (archive)
- minjust.gov.ru — Реестр иностранных агентов — Министерство юстиции Российской Федерации, запись № 327