Page 58 - Журнал «Русский Берег» #13-2022

ЛЮДИ | PEOPLE RUSSIAN COAST | № 5/13 2022

AL: I worry about criticism, of course, like any human being. I always see RC: Would you describe yourself as a
what can be improved, I consult with others, draw conclusions, and then it gets realised person, how would you like people to
better. talk about you?
When I was offered the role of "Muzchina naraskhvat" (TN: A man in great AL: Yes I can to a certain extent. I manage to do
demand) without any acting training or experience, I was very surprised at what I want to do. There are new opportunities and
first, but decided to give it a try. And it all worked out so that we did a hundred people, like in Alanya. The most important thing is that
plays. It's all thanks to openness to new opportunities, courage and constant I get to do what I love. And that's a great stroke of luck.
hard work. Because when I went to Alanya, I was willing to work
RC: What was the hardest thing about working at the Comedy Club? anything to support my family. In the end, it worked out
AL: The hardest thing was to gain the producers' confidence, to show that even better than I expected.
you could do the show at a high level, that you could be trusted with difficult I think I would like people to say that I have brought
projects. Our duo had been working towards this for several years. Personal positivity to their lives, more smiles, our communication
qualities such as discipline, hard work, diligence, working for results, planning, has inspired and motivated them to do good deeds.
willingness to redo things over and over again, trying new things are very That's good enough for me.
important to be successful in show business. RC: You do a lot of good deeds yourself. Tell
RC: These qualities are more consonant with a businessman than us about your charitable projects?
a creative person, aren't they... AL: In Alanya, I met Ukrainians from Childhood
AL: I can assure you that in entertainment such qualities are just as important Without War. I was asked to help the children. There
in order to get a quality show, a product that the audience will appreciate. And are about 1,500 Ukrainian children living in Turkey
that is the truest and most immediate assessment. The difference between an now, who were brought here because of the war. Some
entrepreneur and a stand-up comedian is that the former works for profit and of them are orphans, some need serious treatment.
the latter for self-fulfilment and trying to influence people's minds to change for It takes from fifty thousand dollars each month to
the better, for the emotion and recognition of the public. It is simply a different maintain them. My friends and I and volunteers try to
category – moral, not material. provide these funds, which go to pay for basic needs –
RС: Where did the name Chekhov duo come from? accommodation, food, clothing. Since the beginning
AL: When we started working at Comedy... it became a question of of the school year, we have been looking for ways
coming up with a creative pseudonym. I didn't want it to be a Western-style to provide the children with everything they need for
nickname. At first, we wanted to call it "Lenin Duo", as a "mocking" of the school. For example, online learning requires tablets.
Soviet habit of naming everything after Lenin - the metro, the factory, the And we are trying to buy at least part of it – we need
university, and so on. But then we decided that such a title would be too 700 tablets in total. This is what we send money for
pretentious and carry an unnecessary message. I wanted to reach for the from our performances. People tell me that, taking
classics, for a higher level of value. And going through famous people advantage of my fame and publicity, I can ask for it
we came up with Anton Chekhov. It was quite a courageous thing to do, and they will give it to me. But I can't do that. I feel that
because by taking the name of this great classicist, we had already set the I have to give people something in return. And I try to
bar high for our creativity in advance. Perhaps it worked in some mystical give them positive emotions, laughter, a chance to relax
way, and I really hope some of Anton Chekhov's genius was passed on to and feel a little happier at my concerts. And when one
our duo. Of course, with a name like that, we couldn't lower our creative is fulfilled, happy, it is easy to share positive emotions
bar. with others. And his whole 'little' world gets better.

He was born in Kirovograd. After finishing school, he entered Kirovograd State Pedagogical
University named after V. Vinnichenko at the Department of Journalism. After two years of study, he
transferred to the Department of Philology (the Department of Journalism was disbanded), from which
he was expelled. In Kirovograd, he was a member of the local KVN team Gulfstream (TN: KVN –
Klub Vesyólykh i Nakhódchivykh or Ka-Ve-En, "Club of the Funny and Inventive"). At the same time,
he worked for local TV channels and went to Kiev in 2000. He has worked at radio stations, hosted an
author's programme at the Inter TV channel and written scripts for feature films. Around 2003, Lirnik
became a member of the KVN team Alaska. The team has twice made it to the top league of KVN. In
this team he met Andrey Molotchny, a future partner in the comedy project Chekhov Duo.
In the winter of 2006, he took part in the creation of Comedy Club Ukraine. In the spring of 2006, the
Chekhov Duo was created.
Lirnik is one of the leaders and screenwriters of the creative association Empire of Kindness. He worked
on the scripts for the comedy series Taxi (ICTV, Ukraine) and acted as producer of the TV show. He
collaborated with the Inter TV channel as director and scriptwriter of the sitcom Swallow's Nest.
He is the author of the lyrics and frontman of the Lirnik Band.

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