What was the king of satire when he descended from the stage: Post in memory of Mikhail Zhvanetsky

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The satirist has long ceased to doubt his right to be called a legend and said that he lived among his own heritage. And he also confessed with a sad smile: there were no optimists left, only him. Mikhail Zhvanetsky is a humorist whose jokes seemed to be born out of sadness, and sometimes out of outright hopelessness. Just a month ago, Mikhail Mikhailovich announced his final departure from the stage, deciding that because of his age he could no longer afford the luxury of appearing in front of the audience. As if he had a presentiment … On November 6, 2020, Mikhail Zhvanetsky was gone.

Eight years of loading and unloading

He was born and raised in Odessa, having absorbed the atmosphere and flavor of this city from the very birth. Later he became one of the most famous and respected residents of Odessa in the entire post-Soviet space. He seemed to be not going to make anyone laugh, he built his own life in accordance with the propriety of the times: he graduated from the Institute of Marine Engineers in his hometown, served as a mechanic in the port and an engineer at the plant " Prodmash ".

Initially, Mikhail Mikhailovich was going to enter the shipbuilding faculty, but, by his own admission, people like him were taken only to the mechanic department. In the footsteps of his parents, who devoted their whole life to medicine, he could not follow with all his desire: Zhvanetsky categorically could not stand the sight of blood. And death always caused him a feeling of panic and anger.

He began to write in his student years, but did not take his literary experiments seriously, although he did not abandon them even after graduation. After a hard day, he went to the club, where he read his miniatures from the stage with an imperturbable look, and the audience sobbed with laughter and applauded until it hurt their palms. Already at that time, Mikhail Zhvanetsky became a star in his native Odessa.

As Mikhail Mikhailovich said, work in the port and at the plant hardened him, there he matured and strengthened not so much in the physical sense as in the moral.

Indecision in character

Then Arkady Raikin came to Odessa, and the young comedian decided to show him his texts. Raikin was impressed, but a whole year had to pass from reading Zhvanetsky's miniatures to his invitation to Moscow. Raikin kept the theatrical pause, and Zhvanetsky did not dare to disturb the famous artist.

After several years of fruitful, I must say, cooperation, Arkady Raikin decided to part with Zhvanetsky and simply showed him the door. The satirist himself admits: at that time he was small and indecisive. However, as he remained until the last day. Once Mikhail Mikhailovich wrote: artists and women decide everything for him. And he himself retains "indecision in character."

Low self-esteem

Mikhail Mikhailovich, despite popular love and incredible popularity, always underestimated himself. When asked how he writes and where he gets inspiration for his creations, he just shrugged his shoulders vaguely. And he answered: if he knew how he wrote and could explain it, he would definitely start teaching. And about the sources of inspiration, the satirist was only surprised: does the questioner really go to other clinics?

Intolerance to lies

He never hated people, even if they offended him, but there was one human quality that he did not accept, did not understand, and truly hated. He himself did not know how to lie and did not understand why others were doing it. If he saw a lie, then he instantly began to feel antipathy towards the person who allowed himself to be deceived. Mikhail Mikhailovich could immediately turn around and leave, without explaining or proving anything to anyone. Even if the deception was completely innocent, for example, if the satirist was told that all his works were known by heart. Deception humiliated him and made him feel like a loser.

Everyday state

Who would have thought that a person who knew how to make a good thousand spectators laugh in a few words, in fact, considered sadness to be his everyday state and the constant companion of an intelligent person. Moreover, it was this state that Zhvanetsky called the basis of a good joke. And he said: if the basis is sadness and hopelessness, then humor will turn out.

Love is like misery

Mikhail Zhvanetsky was a surprisingly amorous person, but he always considered love a great misfortune. The satirist confessed: in a state of love, he could not write and generally ceased to be a man. A high feeling made him suffer, suffer, experience physical pain and be in a humiliated state all the time. Simply because love almost never meets reciprocity, and when it falls on another person, it causes fear and resistance. And what people usually call love was classified as affection, habit, marital fidelity and mutual respect.

How was he remembered

Mikhail Zhvanetsky treated himself with a fair amount of skepticism, but those who were lucky enough to know the humorist personally spoke about him invariably in an excellent way. They remembered him as talented, hardworking and purposeful, and also honest, open, strong. And who know how to be friends like no other. He is called the man who represented his time. Real.

As Alla Pugacheva wrote on her page on the social network: “That's all. You left us forever. An irreparable loss. My friend, you are unforgettable. You are always in my heart . And in the heart of everyone who managed to enjoy the work of the genius comedian.

Mikhail Zhvanetsky was one of the few authors who knew how to give thoughts a sarcastic, laconic and at the same time absolutely complete form. And the main feature of his satirical monologues is that everyone recognizes himself in them, although sometimes this is not very pleasant.