"Now my only censor is - it's funny or not"

Interview comedian Pavel Zalutsky, who was squeezed out with TNT

Since 2017, the stand-up comedian Pavel Zalutsky played on Russian television: first in the program “Open Microphone”, and then in the “Women's Standup on TNT”. Zalutsky - open gay. In the “Women's Standup” he usually joked about the stereotypes about gays and ridiculed homophobia. In 2022, when Russia adopted the law on the complete ban on “LGBT propaganda”, Zalutsky was removed from the air, cutting out the already shot material from the show. For several months he tried to perform in Russia, but, faced with refusals of concert venues, he left for Europe. In 2024, Zalutsky released his first solo concert “Life Pi”. “Cold” talked with him about working on television, a ban on profession and jokes in “too tolerant” countries.

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They told you that a man in a “female stand -up” is “strange”?

- Some people had questions. I understand them. But it was a unique opportunity to speak in front of a large audience. If they told me: “Pasha, you will perform in a dog stand for a large audience,” I would not have thought and agreed either.

Yes, it was imperfect. But we live in a imperfect society that dictates imperfect decisions. In total, I have an hour of showing on television with such a material that recently no one else was allowed to show on the air. Time will pass, and there will be more opportunities. But I decided not to wait for better times, to accept conditions and work. And I do not regret.

The producers took a bold step: for the first time they gave women the opportunity to openly and peremptorly speak out about their problems. They gave me an opportunity to speak to me. And this despite the fact that in Russia a law was already in force in Russia to ban the propaganda of LGBT among minors. And the program caused a great response to the audience.

On any TV there is censorship. Was it reflected in your speeches?

- Of course, the restrictions existed, and this is always the source of disappointment and professional pain - when the joke seems harmless to you, but not undergoing censorship. Not only me faced this, but all the comedians. I had to compromise to say at least 30% of what I wanted. But it was a conscious choice - to accept restrictions. Because otherwise you will not say anything at all.

In my case, it was necessary to avoid hints of "equality". For example, I could stem homophobia and stereotypes about gays. But if I wanted to say that I want to live a happy life with my partner just like other people, and I have the right to do so, then, of course, this would not have been missed.

But there were victories when it was possible to joke about parting. This was no longer some abstract gay, but a person who parted, worries, who has emotions.

By the fourth season, I got used to it, and my topics became more diverse: I began to joke about poverty and about the situation of women in society, but these monologues did not see the light. A week before the broadcast, they were simply cut out of the final material and never shown.

How did you find out that the issues recorded with you will not go to the program?

- In the fall of 2021, the fourth season of the “female stand -up” was air. Typically, comedians do not say when the release with their participation will be released. Therefore, I just watched the program for release, but my monologues did not show. When the season was already coming to an end, I asked the producers, where my material is.

Then I learned that by virtue of “rapidly developing events”, namely, a fine of muses TV due to the appearance of Kirkorov and the groom on the costumes of the bride and groom, as well as the closure of the “game” on TNT, they decide whether to cut my monologues or not.

What happened on TNT?

Officially, the release of the comedy show "Game" on TNT was suspended due to covid restrictions. According to the unofficial version, this happened due to the fact that in one of the issues of the show showed the kiss of Denis Dorokhov and Alexander Panekin-comedians who played the bride and groom in the plot.

After a couple of days, I received the final answer that they would not show me. Soon I was informed that next season I will not participate.

How did you feel at that moment?

“As if something bad was done with your child.” It was hard, especially when you surrender to this system for so many years 24 hours a day, sacrifice other capabilities, do not take part in other programs and do not develop your YouTube, but they say: “Please do not come here.”

The same situation occurred with my solo concert for Outside Stand Up ( stand-up project VK video.-Approx. "Cold" ). Everything happened in one month: already during the installation I had a very similar conversation with a creative producer, and the work was stopped.

The producers did not suggest you "wait until better times"?

- They themselves were in a state of shock, and at that moment they did not find words of comfort. And in general, on television, the relationship is quite tough - this is not the place where you will be stroked on the head, calm and help. I think then they simply did not know what to tell me. They understood that the situation is difficult, perhaps it seemed to them hopeless. There was no prospects that something would improve, so it was easier not to stretch this agony.

I then asked for advice from one senior producer of the Russian stand-up, hoped that there was some kind of way out. He told me: “Think about how to write differently. On other topics. "

But I do not invent the topic. I went to stand -up to talk about what is important and painful for me. And if I have this opportunity to take this opportunity, I am losing interest, my comic brain stops working. Therefore, the proposal to look at the situation in cold blood and just becoming “another comedian” was unacceptable for me.

When did you decide to leave Russia?

- By the summer of 2022, I decided to re -re -re -release and release my material, but faced the fact that I could not book the site. I received a refusal to refuse. When I said: “We will not put the poster, we will bring our spectators”, they answered me: “It will be seen that it was shot on our stage, and then it will fly to us.”

Then I realized that if I want to remove my stand -up, I need to look for other options. So in August 2022 I ended up in Poland.

I went to Europe not for a comfortable life in safe conditions. I am a person who will try to stay on the battlefield until the last. I learned to endure discomfort and all kinds of unfavorable conditions in Russia. But it was important for me to do it in my own way, to convey to people the material that they tried to ban.

What supported you?

-Many years ago, when I was just starting to speak, I did not immediately get ridiculous, and it angered me in a good way, gave me motivation to develop.

In Poland, I also had a motivation. Once I was angry with failures, and now prohibitions. This was forced from the first days when I still lived in the hostel, to look for sites, to think how I will take a concert. An open Russian -speaking microphone was held in the next room, and I immediately began to perform there.

Thanks to my spectators: when money was required for post -production, the audience collected them.

It was also helped that the community community in exile rallied and the infrastructure for Russian-speaking comedians, Russian-speaking stand-up clubs throughout Europe, appeared and appeared. Now it is not a problem to perform in many cities of Europe, in the Caucasus, in America, even in Thailand.

The comedian who wants to write a program and remove the sololer, in one city, there are not enough opportunities for a performance, because, say, in Warsaw you will not have the opportunity to check the material three times in one evening. Therefore, you have to cooperate with sites in nearby cities, go more.

All comedians who arrived after the start of the war are developing this infrastructure, as it was in Yerevan, where Garik Oganesyan, along with local comedians, organized the Ari Stand Up Club. In Tbilisi, the Comigration association organized Bukhari Stand Up Club, in Budva - Igor Meerson opened the school. In Spain, Ruslan Bely and Ira Prikhodko is mutating something.

In Europe, there is a stand-up-festivals for beginner comedians, where stand-up unions from different cities come, show their work in front of each other. Everyone understands that they need to support each other. I was made by Ruslan Bely and Mikhail Shatz reposts. Repost - please, 10 reposts - to health. Support is really felt.

One in the field is not a warrior, only if you are not a megazvezd. Maybe the glory of Komissarenko or Dima Romanov does not need to unite with anyone, but everything is quite lonely and difficult to do everything, so the comedians are united.

You were not afraid that you could not develop outside TNT?

- Yes, I was afraid. When you work in the system for a long time, you understand the plan. You know that after six months shooting, you write monologues, you go to the “Technicals” (closed performance to check the material. - Approx. “Cold”) , and coordinate the material. Then you monetize this television glory - you go with performances in cities, and then new shootings. When it disappears, you suddenly feel, as if you were in an outdoor space without a spacesuit.

There are doubts, thoughts: "Will I survive?" In 2022, after moving, I had a feeling, as if they had pulled out a heart and it remained in Russia, and here in Poland only a shell walks. It was a difficult period that had to be experienced.

And now I’m high from the fact that I can do everything that was afraid of me before: I know what the percentage of switching to the sololer on the cover shows and what should be the average duration of the video so that YouTube promotes it to the maximum.

Than eight more than eight years after you started performing in a stand -up, you recorded the first solonik "Life of Pi" . What emotions do you feel about this?

- This is an awesome feeling! This is the firstborn. After dismissal with TNT, I was afraid that I should do everything alone: ​​to inflate the sails, set the movement of the ship, set myself goals. And now the solo is completed, this is a big result, and I am its author. Even entering the YouTube channel and seeing the analyst gives me pleasure. It is difficult to answer for everything in the process, you have to be multitasking, responsible for what I did not understand anything before. But this gives even more satisfaction from the result - much more than I experienced when I gave my material to the platform, where I controlled little.

In addition, this is a long format, and not just eight -minute monologues. On these shootings, I myself decided whether something will enter the sololer or not. There was no producer who would say: "Do not expect it to remain at the installation." I am glad that I can tell about everything that has happened over the years, and my only censor is funny or not.

Are all jokes in the "Pi Life" based on personal experience?

- Yes. I have no stories that I read on the forums and now I just talk about someone else's life and joking.

What part of the sololet are you most proud of?

- I have a bloc about friendship with heterosexuals, because it is a large and paradoxical part of my life. I am friends with them and find a common language to the detriment of communication with homosexuals.

It was also important for me to talk about what happened to me - prohibitions, dismissal.

And finally, at the end I wanted to raise a serious topic. In the last block, I tell you why I think that you do not need to pay so much attention to the topic of LGBT.

Have any topics have become more relevant for you already in Poland?

- When I moved, I had an excitement: "You can not censor yourself, not limit anything in anything." But those that I could not voice in Russia, but here I was finally able to - no. In Russia, in my live performances, I was free, the speeches were very frank and differed from the performances on TV. Therefore, I can’t say that in Europe I got to something that I was forbidden before, I can’t. But now in Russia I would not have been allowed to perform with my material.

Can we say that by 2024, comicians in exile have gotten a life?

- Personally with me, yes. I can engage in stand -up, it became clear how to live, the situation is much more stable than before, especially if you feel that it is very important for you to engage in creativity exactly as you want.

But still your audience has become much smaller. Do you miss the glory that television gave you?

- I do not feel that there was less fame. After the publication of the sololet, I receive a lot of feedback - through comments, through direct. People from my environment, with whom I have not talked for a long time, appear again in my life. On the set of Ira Prikhodko, I came to the auditorium, and the audience told me that they were watching a solo.

I now have a feeling that the task is completed. You bent your line, could bend the way you wanted, and in the end everything is on your conditions!

When you like to speak and mix the viewer, it doesn’t matter to you how many people are in the hall. Maybe I just did not fly at such altitudes, I have no experience with a performance on thousands of halls, but I know that I am pleased to mix both 20 and 200 people.

Now some comedians, for example, Sasha Kapadi (Dolgopolov) and Denis Alien, make standpers in English. Have you thought about it? Do you feel dependence on the Russian language?

- Sasha Dolgopolov is already almost free in English in the scene - this is amazing. Although he also continues in Russian. Ira Prikhodko also performed in English. In the new environment, you notice something that begins to worry you, and this I want to share with the locals. Some comedians from Ukraine are already starting to perform in Polish.

I also admit that I will perform in English. I already had such an experience: in October 2023, I went to New York and performed there in English. After three performances on open microphones, I was invited to a paid show - it usually takes a year to comedians. Why did it happen so quickly, I don’t know - maybe because it was in America (before becoming a comedian, Zalutsky lived in the USA for 11 years, where he studied at the university. - Note “Cold”). I understand American life, turning to people there, I can hook them, I speak the language well, and I have experience of stand-up comedy, which I can apply, regardless of the language.

But when I speak to the Americans, I tell my material from completely different positions. For example, if I want to touch LGBT-Temi, then I tell from the perspective: “Guys, I myself gay and I am glad to be in a place where there are so many freedoms. But you know, despite the fact that I really appreciate this freedom, in some ways you overdo it. ” And then there are jokes on the topic that it seems to me ridiculous in political correctness and excessive tolerance.

But I have so much left in Russian, that I want to address it precisely the Russian -speaking audience, which is being bursting with me so far.