What is KVN? Club of cheerful and resourceful people. KVN creator Sergei Muratov: “Alexander Maslyakov made KVN a family business When KVN was founded

08.02.2012 - 15:09

Everyone knows that we cannot live without humor. On television, this truth was realized a long time ago, and every year more and more programs and series in this direction appear. Unfortunately, quantity does not always translate into quality, but there is a program that has been holding its own for many years and delights us with not just funny, but truly witty and intelligent jokes. It won't be difficult to guess what kind of transmission this is. Of course, this is KVN!

The beginning began

This game has existed for many years and is so popular that the International KVN Day, which, at the suggestion of the club president Alexander Maslyakov, has been celebrated since 2001, does not need official approval. The date of the holiday was November 8 - the day when the first game of the Merry and Resourceful Club took place in 1961.

The club did not arise out of nowhere: four years before the first game, a program appeared that became the prototype of today's KVN. In 1957, the program “An Evening of Fun Questions” was broadcast, created in the image of the Czech quiz “Guess, Guess, Fortune Teller”.

The first script for it was written by Mikhail Yakovlev and Andrey Donatov. There were no teams at that time - in the studio, and in live, asked questions, and the audience answered, and the wittier the better. This was the first program where viewers participated on an equal basis with professionals. The success was stunning.

In the first episode, Nikita Bogoslovsky and Margarita Lifanova became the presenters, and from the second part, their place was taken by Albert Axelrod and Mark Rozovsky, who were still students at that time. Spectators were called onto the stage using various techniques, for example, the presenter launched a parachute into the hall and the lucky person who caught it ended up on stage.

The program involved funny drawings, which resulted in a winner being revealed. On the first program, the task was given to bring the seventh volume of Jack London, a ficus in a pot and a turtle to the studio. Not everyone has such a set at home, so there were few winners (twenty people for three prepared gifts), but in third gear there was a more serious misfire...

Following the folk wisdom “Prepare a cart in winter and a sleigh in summer,” it was decided to invite the audience to come to the studio in a sheepskin coat and felt boots. But in our area it is too easy even in the summer, so to complicate the task, it was also necessary to find the issue of the newspaper dated December 31 of the previous year. But it was precisely this “restrictive” task that was forgotten on air...

At first, everyone was having fun: the most efficient spectators in winter clothes began to rush into the studio, along the streets on a warm September day, people in fur coats and felt boots were hurrying through the streets on all types of transport and on foot to the Moscow State University building. But soon the crush at the entrance reached catastrophic proportions and it became no laughing matter: the people who broke into the studio turned into an uncontrollable crowd, the decorations flew down, the broadcast had to be interrupted... The screensaver “Break due to technical reasons” appeared on thousands of television screens.

In fact, in case the live broadcast was interrupted, a backup was prepared feature film, but here one behind-the-scenes circumstance arose. The young man in charge of the film asked program director Ksenia Marinina for a date and took with him the keys to the safe where the backup films were kept. So it turned out to be impossible to broadcast the prepared film. Of course, there was a scandal, of course, the program was closed, but fortunately, the break “for technical reasons” lasted only four years.

Intellectual football

The new program edited by Elena Galperina, who proposed to revive the spirit of the “Evening of Fun Questions” at her own peril and risk, was called KVN, which, in addition to everything known transcript was also a TV brand “KVN-49”. At first, the program was hosted by Svetlana Zhiltsova and Albert Axelrod, who was eventually replaced by Alexander Maslyakov. He soon turned into the only presenter who has been and remains the face of the program for many years.

Two teams were invited to the first game, held on November 8, 1961 - InYaz and MISI. Each team had 11 people and 2 reserves. The participants walked onto the stage to the sound of a football march. At first, KVN was a quiz, where without preparation you had to answer a number of special questions, preferably correctly, but also with humor. Most of the program was impromptu; only the topic of the homework was known in advance, which also did not appear immediately. Gradually, the range of competitions expanded, more and more jokes appeared, which quickly became popular.

The creators of the program recall with pleasure various episodes, for example, a fan competition when they were required to dance in support of their team. And one team has a wonderful dancer, but their opponents have no one to show off. Suddenly a red-haired guy comes on stage and starts dancing without any sense of rhythm. This was already funny in itself, but when, to the host’s question: “Where did you study?”, the red-haired one replied, “I’m a nugget,” the audience could not straighten up with laughter.

The popularity of the program grew, and along with it the popularity of educational institutions whose teams took part in KVN grew. And this opinion was supported not only by students, but also by the teaching staff. After the victory of the Phystech team, Kapitsa Sr. said: “You know, we have a lot of good things at the institute, but the most important thing is that we won in KVN, we became KVN champions!”

A little about censorship

Of course, the jokes, of which there were more and more in the program, could not remain neutral. The teams increasingly made irony about Soviet reality and ideology. And these were the jokes that were the most popular. Therefore, after some time, the program began to be broadcast on television screens in recordings: “inappropriate” jokes were cut out, censorship intensified, and then the KGB became interested in the program.

The texts began to be carefully reviewed, the captains were summoned to the authorities, it was forbidden to go on stage with a beard - ridicule of Lenin or Marx, about Jews - not allowed, with a burr of speech - not allowed...

There were also ill-wishers in the team itself: the head of central television, Sergei Lapin, had long wanted to close KVN. But for two years he did not close, but in every possible way discredited the program itself and its participants. The competitions, according to Guzman, took on the character of “who will spit the furthest” and “who will grunt the loudest,” and then a wave of rumors spread about KVN people who send diamonds to Israel. Soon the transfer was closed again.

But the spirit of KVN penetrated deeply. Before the program was closed, they played in almost every university, in every school, almost as street teams. Such popular love is not easy to destroy even with the most skillful techniques. Increasingly, voters began to ask Lapin, as a member of the Supreme Council, questions about the fate of his favorite program.

3-4 years after the closure, Bella Sergeeva, who was the director of the program, received a proposal to start broadcasting KVN again. To this proposal, Sergeeva replied: “I will agree only if they return Gyulbekyan and give me Maslyakov and Zhiltsova, but I can’t live without them.” “Lapin is asking very much,” Yuri Zamyslov persuaded Bella, but the director was inexorable: “Let him at least get on his knees.” Lapin did not kneel, the composition of the creative team was not restored, and therefore the question of reviving KVN was postponed for many years.

With the beginning of perestroika, the opportunity arose to restart the program. Under the old sign, it was planned to create a new program in which everything should be new. However, the “cool” innovations did not last beyond the third season. It just took root new song Club "Again in our hall...", written by V.Ya. Shainsky to the poems of B.A. Salibov, but otherwise the development of KVN took an evolutionary path.

Starting over again was not so easy: traditions were interrupted, and in the mid-80s no one knew how to play KVN. But the new teams that applied for participation had a great desire, a great sense of humor and a willingness to work. The first game of the updated KVN between the teams of the Moscow and Voronezh Civil Engineering Institutes aired on May 25, 1986 and since then continues to delight us with new jokes and helps us live.

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Absolutely everyone knows what KVN is. The global game, in which not only young people but also older comedians take part, ranks first among all comedy television programs. KVN team Russian Federation takes part in games with other countries. For some comedians, this is just entertainment, but for others, over the years it turns into a profession.

What is KVN?

The most popular TV show with a humorous slant currently ranks first on television. This game is watched by small children, teenagers and adults. A lot can be said about what KVN is and how it gained popularity. But every inhabitant of the planet knows that this is a good way to have a great evening and laugh heartily.

Universities, enterprises, various educational institutions have the opportunity to take part in KVN. The Major League only accepts the best players, giving them more motivation to create new jokes and improve their performances. The guys create miniatures, skits and interesting performances on their own and this makes quite a lot of people around the world laugh. The main competitions are:

Business card. The team of participants is given a specific topic, based on which they must introduce themselves, as well as their own city. Of course, all this should be in a humorous form.
Warm up. The jury, opponents and people from the audience ask certain questions, to which participants must find the funniest possible answer in a short period of time.
Homework(from 3 to 7 minutes the team must present a story, invented independently, with musical inserts).
One song competition (the final stage, where participants choose absolutely any song, remake it in a humorous way and present it to the audience).

In addition, there are also video competitions, as well as biathlon and triathlon. But they are not used in every game. Although the rules there are just as cruel and only professionals in their field can cope with them.

Prototype of transmission

Some time before the Club of the Cheerful and Resourceful appeared on the screens, there was a similar program called “An Evening of Fun Questions.” Here questions were asked to the audience and jury members, and, of course, humor was assessed. IN Soviet era it was the most popular and fun program that everyone loved to watch and many would like to take part in it.

Despite the fact that this program was very popular, it was broadcast only three times. The presenters decided to hold an interesting competition, where viewers had to visit the studio wearing a fur coat and carrying last year's New Year's newspaper. But, unfortunately, they forgot to mention the newspaper when the competition was announced, so the next day the hall was filled with a huge number of people in winter outerwear. After this point, confusion began and the program was closed.

Comedy television programs have always been in first place for families who love to spend time together. Therefore, KVN and its prototype have gained really great popularity.

Presenters

Albert Axelrod was appointed the first presenter of the Club of the Cheerful and Resourceful, but three years later he left this game. After him, Alexander Maslyakov took the place of presenter. At that time, he was not broadcasting the program alone, but together with announcer Svetlana Zhiltsova. It was after the arrival of the new host that teams began to compete in the KVN game.

Due to unknown circumstances, the program was closed due to incomprehensible pressure from the ministry on the organizers, but the game soon recovered and began to gain popularity. There is only one presenter left - Alexander Maslyakov. Initially, he came to the game as a student, but now he is already an experienced presenter and comedian.

Rules of the game

Relaxed and pretty simple rules act in the game. Each KVN team must consist of more than two people, and one of them must be the captain. The game host independently comes up with competitions, adding new ones over time, in which all teams must take part.

Participants must make jokes in each of these competitions and receive jury scores (from 1 to 5). Based on the results of each competition, an average score is assigned. Then they are summed up. And, accordingly, the team with the highest result wins.

Famous participants

All young spectators and teams are interested in what kind of participants were like in the first years of KVN. The Major League is really proud of these people, as the hall always burst into laughter when they came on stage.

In the period between 1960-80, Yuli Gusman, Gennady Khazanov, Arkady Inin, Mikhail Zadornov became memorable players.
In the 80s, people made people laugh: Valdis Pelsh, Mikhail Marfin, Sergei Sivokho,
Since the 90s, Garik Martirosyan, Alexander Pushnoy, Andrey Rozhkov, and Dmitry Brekotkin have become popular.
At the beginning of the 21st century, Timur Batrudinov, Alexander Revva, Igor Kharlamov, Mikhail Galustyan, Pavel Volya, Timur Rodriguez, Natalya Yeprikyan were remembered on stage.
For recent years the audience rejoiced at the appearance on stage of such actors as Olga Kortunkova, Igor Lastochkin, Azamat Musagaliev, Maxim Kiselev, Ivan Abramov, Denis Dorokhov, and many others.

Special games

Playing KVN for the first time is always scary for every participant, because a huge number of people is difficult to take calmly. But this never stopped the guys, and they still continued to go on stage, make the audience laugh and get points.

In addition to the main games, there were also additional ones, that is, special ones:

"Voting KiVin" - music festival.
Birthday of the KVN game.
Summer Cup.

Each of the additional games brought a storm of emotions to both spectators and team members. The best players for a certain time took part here, so the jokes were always funny, and the audience did not have sad expressions on their faces.

Champions

What is KVN without champions and favorites? The Premier League, First League, CML League, Pacific League and Siberian League can boast of those people who truly deservedly received awards.

In 2003, the KVN team “Region-13” from Saransk and “Left Bank” from Krasnoyarsk became champions.
In 2004 and 2005, the best were “Maximum” from Tomsk and Moscow “Megapolis”.
2006 was conquered by members of the Sportivnaya Station team from Moscow.
In 2007, the Samara team SOK became popular.
In 2008, the guys from Smolensk “Triod and Diode” had the best position.
In 2009-2010 The championship places were taken by “Parapaparam” from Moscow, from Minsk and ISU from Irkutsk.
In 2012, the champions were “Fiztekh” from Dolgoprudny, “Asia MIX” and “Boomerang”.
2013 surprised Saratov, the MFUA team, and Scotch.
2014-2015 were the hottest years, and the champions were the Georgian team, “Hara Morin”, the Tula region team, the Voskhod team and “People”.

KVN today is not only an abbreviation for a popular TV show. This is a game that connects several generations and a huge number of representatives of different countries and cultures. After the next birthday of the club, let's remember the history of KVN, the founders and how it all began.

In the beginning there was BBB

Although official history KVN dates back to 1961; the basis of the popular program was laid a little earlier. In 1957, on the eve of the World Festival of Youth and Students, the center of which was Moscow, at a Komsomol meeting it was decided to introduce a humorous program “An Evening of Fun Questions” into the television program. It is worth noting that the prototype of this program was the Czechoslovak TV show “Guess, Fortune, Fortune Teller”. The creators of this game were Sergei Muratov, Albert Axelrod and Mikhail Yakovlev, and composer Nikita Bogoslovsky and aspiring actress Margarita Lifanova were chosen as the hosts of the program.

The format of the TV show “An Evening of Fun Questions” was significantly different from the KVN we were used to. First of all, the game was broadcast only live, and its participants were the spectators directly. Unfortunately, despite its great popularity, the program was broadcast only three times; due to an overlay on the air, the project was canceled.

The birth of a club of cheerful and resourceful people

Only four years after the closure of the “Evening of Fun Questions” program, the idea of creating a humorous television game “The Club of the Cheerful and Resourceful” (or simply KVN) was born. The authors of the humor club games were the same people who worked on the BBB games. “An Evening of Fun Questions” was closed due to problems with viewers who wished to participate in the program. In this regard, the founder of KVN, Sergei Muratov, decided to make the game purely television. And the name KVN was just right: in those days that was the name of the TV brand KVN-49. It was at this time that the format of the game, a competition in wit between different teams, familiar to us from childhood, was laid down.

The debut of the new television program took place in November 1961, and Albert Axelrod and Svetlana Zhiltsova became the hosts of KVN some time after the games began broadcasting.

Participants of the first games of the club

Unlike current teams, the first members of the club were students from institutes and universities. In the debut game, the participants were teams from MISS (Moscow Civil Engineering Institute) and the Institute foreign languages. The first programs were broadcast live in the same way as the “Evening of Fun Questions” program once was. And although there was no script as such initially and some of the competitions were invented on the fly, and the rules were improved in the process, the popularity of KVN grew at an amazing speed.

The KVN movement quickly spread throughout the country. Games began to be held not only among students, but also among schoolchildren and vacationers in pioneer camps and enterprises. To get into the game, which aired on TV, teams had to go through a serious selection process, which only the best of the best managed to overcome.

KVN presenter - Alexander Maslyakov

Until 1964, the main host of the TV show was Albert Axelrod, but he left the TV project along with other founders - Sergei Muratov and Mikhail Yakovlev. Instead of Axelrod, a student from the Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers, Alexander Maslyakov, who to this day is the host of the club’s major league games, was appointed to the position of game manager.

However, the program was not destined to appear on television for a long time. Players often mocked the ideology of the Soviet regime, so recordings of the club's games began to be censored. Over time, censorship became more stringent, and sometimes even reached the point of absurdity. Thus, KVN participants were not allowed to go on stage with a beard - the censors saw this as a mockery of Karl Marx. And in 1971, due to the teams’ excessively sharp jokes, the program was closed by the decision of the head of central television, Sergei Lapin.

We are starting KVN

Thanks to the efforts of one of the participants in the first KVN, the TV show was aired again. The new founder of KVN, Andrei Menshikov, captain of the MISI team, left the format of the program and the host (Alexandra Maslyakov). But there were some innovations: an invited jury appeared (in the first releases these were the founders of the game), new competitions and a point rating system. Among other things, the host of the program had to take on the role of editor.

So, in 1986, the first game of the revived club of cheerful and resourceful people was shown on the country's television screens. It was at this moment that the club anthem “We are starting KVN” appeared, and past games began with a song performed by Oleg Anofriev.

The television show only needed a few episodes to reach the same level of popularity as previous projects. The KVNO movement has also been revived; moreover, it has spread not only in Russia, but also in some countries Western Europe and in the United States of America.

KVN today

Today, KVN is one of the highest rated television programs. KVnov games are held not only in schools and universities, but also in various enterprises. This humorous club unites participants not only from Russia and neighboring countries, but also from many European countries. Since the game's return to television, more than 100 different teams have taken part in the major league alone.

And although the rules of the game can change even during the competition, regardless of the level of the league (including in the KVN major league), there are several basic, mandatory conditions. Firstly, KVN is a team game; one participant will not be allowed on stage. The team must have a captain or front-man representing it at the captain competition, if one is included in the program. Secondly, testing teams for their ability to joke is necessarily carried out in several competitions, for example, this could be a warm-up, homework or biathlon. Moreover, each game has a thematic title that sets the direction.

On television you can now see major league games, premieres, international games and episodes of children's KVN.

The most famous KVN players

In the very first KVN games, which took place from 1961 to 1971, the participants were such celebrities as Boris Burda, Mikhail Zadornov, Gennady Khazanov, Leonid Yakubovich and Yuliy Gusman (who has long been a permanent member of the jury of major league games).

In addition, almost all the founders of the popular comedy television project “Comedy Club” came from KVN. Thus, Garik Martirosyan led the team “New Armenians”, Mikhail Galustyan - “Burnt by the Sun”, in which Alexander Revva performed, Semyon Slepakov - the team of the city of Pyatigorsk, Pavel Volya and Timur Rodriguez were members of the team "Valeon Dasson."

In addition, over the years, Alexey Kortnev, Vadim Samoilov, Alexander Pushnoy, Pelageya, Alexander Gudkov, Vadim Galygin, Ekaterina Varnava and many other KVN players who became famous took part in the club’s games.

KVN team " Ural dumplings" produces a show of the same name, in which, like in KVN, Dmitry Sokolov, Dmitry Brikotkin participate. The first team that continued to joke on television in their own show was the "Odessa Gentlemen", by the way, with their light hand, or rather, jokes, pronounced in one of the games, Alexander Vasilyevich Maslyakov was proclaimed president of the club of cheerful and resourceful people.

The best KVN teams. What are they?

To earn the title of the best KVN team, participants had to win major league games. Over the long history of the TV show, many teams have received the winning cup, each of them can be called the best.

Over the years, the best became the participants of one of the most titled teams “Children of Lieutenant Schmidt”, the team Russian University friendship of peoples, Tomsk team "Maximum", " County town", "Juice", "Triod and Diode", "UNION", "Asia MIX" and many others.

Who was on the jury of the KVN Major League?

Celebrities are invited to join the KVN jury - show business stars, former KVN participants, producers, actors or TV presenters. And although the composition of judges changes regularly, there are never less than 5 people. So, let's remember the most famous members of the club's referee team.

Throughout the history of the KVN game, a huge number of celebrities have played the role of judges. Thus, at the first games, the founder of KVN, Andrei Menshikov, was present on the jury. As mentioned earlier, he is a permanent member of the jury of major league games - He has been assessing the participants’ ability to joke for 30 years. - Chairman of the panel of judges for a major league game - is present at almost all games of this level. The permanent members of the jury also include Leonid Yakubovich, Ekaterina Strizhenova, Valdis Pelsh and Mikhail Galustyan.

In addition, in different times Media personalities participated and continue to participate in KVN as members of the jury of the major league: Alexander Abdulov, Igor Vernik, Semyon Slepakov, Ivan Urgant, Andrei Malakhov, Pelageya, Leonid Yarmolnik, Andrei Mironov, Vladislav Listyev, Larisa Guzeeva and many others.

November 8 is International KVN Day. The idea of the holiday was proposed by the president of the international KVN club, Alexander Maslyakov, and the date was chosen because it was on November 8, 1961, that the first game of the club of cheerful and resourceful people was broadcast.

The idea of creating a television project reminiscent of the Czech television program “Guadai, Guadai, Fortune Teller” (GGG) was born in 1957. Its authors were Central Television employee Sergei Muratov, now a professor at Moscow State University, doctor Albert Axelrod and engineer Mikhail Yakovlev. Together they came up with a game similar in genre and name - BBB - "An Evening of Fun Questions."

The first script for "BBV" was written by Mikhail Yakovlev and Andrei Donatov in the spring of 1957. The editor was Sergei Muratov, and the hosts were the popular composer and wonderful wit Nikita Bogoslovsky and the young actress Margarita Lifanova. The game was played not with teams, as later in KVN, but with spectators. The program was a great success, but was broadcast only three times. After the patch was made live, it was removed. And only four years after that, the idea of the KVN game - “The Club of the Cheerful and Resourceful” - appeared. The authors of the idea wanted the project to be purely television, so this name was very suitable: KVN in those days was the name of the brand of televisions. So it appeared on television entertainment program, in which the best team is annually determined in a competition of wit and resourcefulness.

The first broadcast was broadcast on November 8, 1961. Among the first presenters were VGIK students Elem Klimov, Alexander Belyavsky, and aspiring film actresses Natalya Zashchipina and Natalya Fateeva. Over time, a permanent duet of presenters emerged - Albert Axelrod and Svetlana Zhiltsova. Since 1964, the permanent host of KVN has been Alexander Maslyakov.

Institute students played in KVN. In the first game, the participants were from the Institute of Foreign Languages and the Moscow Civil Engineering Institute (MISI). Initially there was no script for the program; all competitions were born spontaneously and the rules of the game were improved gradually. Since 1968, KVN programs began to be recorded; before that they were broadcast live.

In 1971, the program was closed by the leadership of the USSR State Television and Radio. According to the old-timers of the Club, this happened because the then chairman of the USSR State Television and Radio, Sergei Lapin, did not like the program. The actual reason for the closure was the excessive sharp jokes of the program participants.

On May 25, 1986, the first game of the first season of the revived KVN was aired. Its founders were former KVN players. In the new KVN everything was new: new competitions, rating systems, program structure and television screening techniques. The presenter, as before the closure, was Alexander Maslyakov. But he also had new functions - editorial.

The first champion was the Odessa team state university. At the same time, the now well-known mascot of the Club of the Cheerful and Resourceful was born. It was also invented by KVN member, artist from the MISI team Dmitry Skvortsov. The mascot did not yet have a name, and Alexander Maslyakov invited viewers to send options to the editor. From eight pre-selected options, the name of the cheerful bird and KVN mascot - Kivin - was determined. At first, the talisman was transferable - it was given to each newly winning team for safekeeping, but then it began to be given to champions.

In KVN they play according to different rules, sometimes they can change during the game, but there are rules that are followed in any case. KVN is played in teams that must contain at least two members. Every team must have a captain. The KVN captain must also represent his team at the captain competition if he is included in the game program. The game should be divided into separate competitions. Each competition must be judged by a jury headed by its chairman.

In addition to the games themselves, a festival of KVN teams (held in Sochi), a KVN music festival, a KVN summer cup, and international friendly KVN games (the KVN team plays with teams from other countries) are held annually.

Popular KVN teams are the "Odessa Gentlemen's Club", teams KhAI, MAGMA, "Guys from Baku", "Squadron of Hussars" (1995 champion), "Zaporozhye-Krivoy Rog-Transit" (1997 champion), "New Armenians" (Yerevan, champion 1997), "Four Tatars" (Kazan), "Service entrance" (Kursk), "Children of Lieutenant Schmidt" (Tomsk, champion 1998), "Ural dumplings" (Ekaterinburg, champion 2000), " Burnt by the Sun" (Sochi, champion 2003), "Narts from Abkhazia" (Sukhumi, champion 2005), "Ordinary People" (Moscow, champion 2007) and others.

In KVN, the traditions of the first games continue, although the competitions “Business Card”, “Warm-up”, “Captains Competition”, “Music Competition”, “Homework” have become mandatory. Sometimes competitions such as “Away”, STEM competition (student variety miniature theaters), etc. are held. The performance of the teams is evaluated by a professional jury. Among the jury members were: Konstantin Ernst, Leonid Parfenov, Yuliy Gusman, Leonid Yarmolnik, Valdis Pelsh, Sergey Sholokhov, Gennady Khazanov and others.

Founded by Alexander Maslyakov, the International KVN Union is divided into interregional leagues, from the Far East to Krasnodar. Today, the organized KVN movement exists in 110 cities of Russia, not counting the Baltic countries, Belarus, Ukraine, and foreign countries. About 1 thousand student and 2 thousand school teams constantly compete. Every year, KVN games are attended by over 5 million spectators.

KVN now covers not only countries former USSR, but also the whole world. Since 1986, the year of the revival of the legendary game, more than a hundred teams have played in the KVN major league alone. Now every university considers it an honor to have its own KVN team; KVN is played in schools and factories. Academicians and workers, businessmen and teachers come to this game. Both first-graders and 60-year-olds can play on the same team and on the same stage.

Playing KVN becomes a profession for many, and many, thanks to the game, connect life with art. Gennady Khazanov, Leonid Yakubovich, Arkady Khait, Alexander Kurlyandsky, Yuliy Gusman, Tatyana Lazareva, Mikhail Shats, Oleg Filimonov, Alexey Kortnev, Timur Batrutdinov, Mikhail Galustyan, Garik Martirosyan and many others “left” KVN.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

The legendary Club of the Cheerful and Resourceful turns 50 years old

Today KVN is played almost all over the world. The TV game, which originated on Soviet television exactly fifty years ago, has become one of the most popular and beloved among television viewers. Even the fourteen-year forced break did not affect the popularity of KVN. The simple and fun quiz was played even when it was strictly prohibited by the management Soviet Union, and its creators were considered persona non grata.

Not many people remember that the legendary KVN was born thanks to an equally popular television project - Evening of Fun Questions (VVV). At least they have the same “parents” - Albert Axelrod, Mikhail Yakovlev and Sergei Muratov. It was Muratov who came up with the idea of founding a youth editorial office on Soviet television, and then making a fun TV quiz show. For four years, the KVN scripts were written by the famous trio of authors. Then, one after another, they left the project, but continued to care for it all their lives. “KVN is like a disease,” admits Sergei Muratov.

“Doctor Albert Axelrod and engineer Mikhail Yakovlev became my like-minded people.”

— Officially, KVN is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, although in fact its history began four years earlier...

— Do you mean the VVV project? There was such a thing... In Moscow in 1957, the World Festival of Youth and Students was held. Not long before this, I spoke at the Komsomol meeting of Central Television. I was an active young man. He said that it was strange: a festival of youth and students would take place in Moscow, but our television didn’t even have a youth editorial office. And so I, so to speak, was appointed to create it for the initiative myself. In the beginning there was no editorial room, no studio, no desk. I remember talking with the authors on the windowsills, in the buffet.

— Then there wasn’t Ostankino yet?

- Certainly! Everything happened on Shabolovka, 53. I published a monthly magazine called “Festival”. Interesting advanced students from many Moscow universities gathered there. But besides this, something else had to be done. And I found like-minded people - Albert Axelrod, Mikhail Yakovlev.

“And none of them had anything to do with journalism.”

- None! Axelrod was an aspiring doctor, and Misha was an engineer at an electric lamp plant. But both had an amazing sense of humor and amazing style. They became the co-authors of my first program called BBB, where I was the editor. Everyone was wondering what kind of name this was. Very simple, we said, an evening of fun questions. The next episode of the program was called WWBB - the second Evening of fun questions. The success was absolutely phenomenal! We, of course, went live. Spectators sat in the hall and answered questions from the presenters. Humor was especially welcome. The last episode of the program was released in September, after the festival of youth and students.

— There was a funny story connected with this. Tell me.

“Now she seems funny, but then we weren’t laughing.” The host of VVV was the well-known composer Nikita Bogoslovsky. I don’t know for what reason, but Nikita made a mistake when announcing one of the competitions. A prize was promised to those who came to the studio wearing a fur coat, hat and felt boots. But Nikita forgot to add that in this case you need to have a newspaper with you for December 31 last year. Actually, this condition should have given away the comic nature of the task, but Nikita forgot about the newspaper. You can imagine, on the day of filming, it was almost impossible to get into the Moscow State University building where BBB was filmed. Crowds of people stood in felt boots and fur coats. They swept away the police guards (MSU was considered a sensitive facility), and complete chaos began! True, I was not in Moscow at that time. The guys told us everything in detail over the phone. As a result, the broadcast was stopped, but they decided not to replace the program with anything. So for the rest of the evening, the screensaver remained on the television screens: a break for technical reasons. This was the last issue of BBB.

“Today there is no club of interests, only a commercial project remains”

— There was even a resolution of the CPSU Central Committee regarding your project.

— It was published after perestroika. Everything that happened on the third broadcast was described very funny. They said that we glorified the bourgeois way of life, asking stupid questions, for example, how does a cat get down from a tree - with its head up or down? Unfortunately, after this decision, our youth editorial office was closed, and I quit television along with 30 employees. The statement was written with the wording “at my own request”... But four years later, in 1961, television called me again. During this time, a program never appeared that would become as popular as BBB. Editor Elena Galperina suggested: “Shouldn’t we make the same program as BBB? I say: “Don’t forget how all this can end.” She: “I take full responsibility upon myself.” This was a completely different matter...

“I immediately called Alec and Misha. A month later we presented the script for the new program. Only the day before we realized that it had no name. They began to think. At that time, the most common TV in the USSR was the KVN-49. We creatively began to decipher this abbreviation. And so it happened: the Club of the Cheerful and Resourceful. The name turned out to be very successful, gaining crazy popularity. KVN aired every month. For the first time, real people appeared on our television, participants in the program who did not read from a piece of paper.

— Was it difficult to write KVN scripts?

- What are you talking about, it was the most wonderful time! Probably due to the fact that the three of us loved meeting each other. We chose who we would meet with next time, gathered in the evening and sometimes sat over a cup of tea until the morning. They themselves laughed like crazy, sometimes even running into discontent from their neighbors.

— Who was the first presenter of KVN?

— The presenters were constantly changing. At first we wanted it to be a couple, then we started inviting one actor at a time. I remember that even Natalya Fateeva was the host of KVN. About six months after the first broadcast, Alec Axelrod became the host, and it was right choice. Albert is a brilliant improviser! In addition, he was one of the scriptwriters. Then Svetlana Zhiltsova joined him. For a year and a half they constantly hosted KVN. It must be admitted that there was no more popular program in the USSR in the 60s. The names of the team captains immediately became known to everyone.

— Why did you leave the project?

— Axelrod’s departure was to blame for everything. It began to seem strange to the management that a man with the last name Axelrod was so popular among viewers. He was offered to resign from the role of presenter and simply write KVN scripts. Alec was terribly offended by this and left. Misha and I also wrote letters of resignation as a protest. After us, others wrote the scripts, and we only helped the teams with whom we became friends. However, in those years writing KVN scripts was not such a difficult task. Everything went according to plan. There was a system (warm-up, battle of captains), the rest was just strung on top of it.

— Have you ever regretted leaving KVN?

“Honestly, if it weren’t for Axelrod’s act, we probably would never have done this.” Later they even contacted the copyright office: they say, recognize us as the authors of the project with all the ensuing financial issues. They sympathized with us, but no more... And over time, KVN began to bear little resemblance to what we created. After all, initially it was a club - we often met with team captains in an apartment or in a restaurant, discussing games. It was just a club of interests. But today there is no club, there is a commercial project from which money is extracted, a commercial-trade transfer. That's why I have no desire to watch it.

“The players were forbidden to go on stage with a beard - it was believed that this was a mockery of Karl Marx”

— But it was you who tried to save KVN when the program was closed by the management of Central Television.

- It happened when Central television headed by Sergey Lapin. KVN clearly irritated him. Censorship became stricter, and the KGB became involved in the program. It got to the point that players were forbidden to go on stage with a beard - it was believed that this was a mockery of Karl Marx. Complete nonsense! And this despite the fact that general secretary CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev loved KVN very much. But Lapin was able to put the squeeze on him too. In the end, the program was canceled. Then a joke appeared: how is television different from a madhouse? Because there is healthy leadership in the madhouse... There was no KVN for fourteen years. It was resumed only in 1986. By the way, we came there again with Alec and Misha, having received the status of a “parental committee”. But we failed to revive the club’s former mood.

*Alexander Maslyakov first played in one of the KVN teams, and then he was offered to become a host - a partner of Svetlana Zhiltsova

— Now KVN is associated primarily with its presenter, Alexander Maslyakov.

— Sasha was first a member of one of the teams. When the management asked Axelrod to “leave”, they began to intensively search for who would become the new presenter. Maslyakov turned out to be a fairly capable young man. Many today generally believe that he invented KVN. But Sasha had nothing to do with this! Maslyakov made KVN a family business. On November 12 they will celebrate the 50th anniversary of KVN, I was also invited, but I’m unlikely to go. To be honest, I don’t enjoy watching this show today. If only because our main condition was that the transmission should be unpredictable! Now, if I'm going to watch it, I know what's going to happen next. The more predictability there is in a program, the less KVN there is in it.

— Did the program make you a rich man?

- Are you kidding?! No way! If I lived in the West, having become the author of such a project, I would have become rich long ago. In Russia everything is different. Alas... KVN did not bring us any money. Only pleasant (and not so pleasant) experiences. Because you can be “sick” of KVN all your life...