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Comedian and Russophile Viv Groskop explores how a century of revolutionary comedy shaped Russia's national psyche.

The Russian Revolution unleashed a brand of humour that continues to this day. In this two-part series, comedian and Russophile Viv Groskop explores a century of revolutionary comedy and asks how it continues to shape the national psyche.

The series will rediscover comedy of the Revolution: Bolshevik satire, early Communist cartoons and jokes about Lenin, as writers, satirists and comedians recall the jokes and cartoons shared by their parents and grandparents.

Viv will investigate the birth of the 'anekdot' and trace the development of dark humour through the purges. She will look at how dissident humour in the late 1950s influenced comedy in London and New York, and meet contemporary comedians to gain an understanding of the shape and sound of the comedy circuit in Russia today.

Producer: Georgia Catt.

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Mon 15 Jan 2018 16:00

Broadcasts

  • Tue 3 Oct 2017 11:30
  • Mon 15 Jan 2018 16:00

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