Belarusian Stand-Up Comics: The Love for Dark Humor and the Path to Success

We decided to delve into the world of stand-up culture in Belarus, which seems to be somewhat overlooked but undeservedly so. Our guests this time are those who make our everyday lives funnier. Stand-up comedians shared their insights with “City of Women” magazine about how stand-up works in Belarus and what it takes to succeed in this field.

Alexey Likhovets: “Audiences Are Tired of Ordinary Jokes”

Alexey Likhovets has been drawn to public performances since childhood. He initially wanted to sing, but his parents sent him to dance classes and a theater club. As a teenager, his creative self-expression led him to form a band with childhood friends. However, this ended with parties in a bunker and his first trip to the police station.

The mother of their drummer forbade him from pursuing rock ‘n’ roll, and rehearsals stopped. At that time, Alexey enrolled in MSLU and began participating in all university events, eventually joining KVN. This is where he realized that humor was his most comfortable and interesting niche. However, the KVN format seemed outdated, and after a little over a year, his team stopped participating.

Alexey discovered that there was stand-up in Minsk and that anyone could sign up for an “open mic.” He realized that this was the most suitable format for him, where he could set his own schedule for writing material and be responsible only to himself. The range of available topics was also wider.

According to Alexey, there are no specific criteria or qualities that make a comic successful right away. Everyone starts with different abilities. However, with hard work and skill development, as well as networking, success is achievable.

Over time, every stand-up comedian accumulates a certain number of unfinished bits that they later develop and test at “open mics.” These events are not always very funny, as many beginners perform there. Even experienced comedians can fail when trying out new material.

However, this format is necessary because there is almost no editing in this genre. Once the material is tested, the comedian can perform it at paid events, where the audience expects to laugh.

The writing of jokes follows specific formulas that make them funnier. However, humor is called a sense for a reason. Simply knowing the formulas and techniques does not guarantee that a comedian will avoid banal, vulgar, or weak material.

Filling the structure with interesting ideas, presentation, new findings, and the ability to present everyday things from a new perspective make the material worthy. Audiences are already tired of ordinary jokes.

The audience varies depending on the region. For example, in a small town where people are not spoiled by such events, the audience will laugh at jokes on simpler and more everyday topics such as relationships, sex, alcohol, etc. In Minsk, there are “regulars” who attend shows regularly and may expect more sophisticated formulations and possibly deeper topics.

Pavel Rodevich: “The More You Write and Perform, the Better You Become”

Pavel Rodevich has always had a sense of humor. He knew how to say something at the right moment to make people laugh. His acquaintance with stand-up as a genre began in the 2010s when the first translations of concerts by foreign comedians appeared.

These were George Carlin, Eddie Murphy, Louis C.K., Bill Burr, Dave Chappelle, and others. A little later, Stand Up appeared on TNT. The fact that the genre could be adapted to our cultural field greatly inspired Pavel. In early 2016, he learned that there was an “open mic” in Minsk where anyone could perform. He wrote jokes, performed, and that’s how it all started.

Success is a very vague concept. It’s hard to say what qualities lead to it. If “success” equals “money,” then, as in any business, a person needs to be communicative, persistent, and cunning. You can be a mediocre comedian, but with a “commercial vein,” you can build a career.

If success is measured by large concerts after which people say “Wow!” and quote your material for a long time, then you need intelligence, a sense of humor, and extensive performance experience. The more you write material and perform with it, the better you become.

Personally, Pavel simply finds a topic that seems funny or strange to him and then writes about it. There are no secrets. It’s not as difficult to write a joke as it is to find a topic you want to talk about.

Our audience responds well to jokes about relationships, everyday life, nostalgic things, such as how we used to change clothes on a piece of cardboard at the market as children, and more. They also love dark humor. They don’t admit it themselves, but if a comedian touches on such topics, they laugh with the look of “I hope no one finds out that I laughed at this.”

Daria Punia: “Every Comedian Has Their Audience”

Daria Punia, a future doctor by education, never seriously considered stand-up. Her experience was limited to watching videos on Instagram and a couple of performances by Vanya Usovich. How she ended up in this field is a rather strange story.

It all started on the eve of the summer session when, after a sleepless night and a can of energy drink, she began telling her friends a story about a spider that had settled on her balcony. One friend said, “You should be on stage!” and Daria thought, “Why not?”

As a true student, instead of preparing for the exam, she conducted an investigation online and found out that there was a stand-up club in Minsk. So, her summer to-do list included performing at an “open mic.” She wrote the material in one night, performed, and immediately got hooked on the process.

For a comedian, hard work, perseverance, and willpower to overcome self-doubt are most important. However, character and worldview can be anything, from which jokes arise: some have complete darkness, others have something kind, good, and positive.

It’s important to remember that every comedian has their audience. In this business, the most important thing is to write and be on stage as often as possible. One of her colleagues said that performances are like sports: if you do it once a week, there will be no result.

For Daria, it’s extremely important to feel the mood of the audience, know the age category, whether they are liberally minded, and clearly understand where she is performing. For example, guys from Novopolotsk will not be interested in hearing about how bad the Minsk metro is, and an adult audience will definitely not appreciate jokes about Cardi B.