— You recently completed a major concert tour. How did everything go? Are you too tired?
— The tour turned out to be a little easier than expected. I was terrified of that period when 26 shows in a row were scheduled with only one day off. It turned out to be easier than I thought, although of course physical fatigue was present. Think about it: You spend five to six hours on the road every day. Even if you travel in a comfortable car, you still get tired and your body starts to give up. I think it was worth it, but I won’t plan such an intense tour again. I learned my lesson, but now I’m resting.
—Were there any significant events during this time that could be included in future monologues?
– Oh, there was a lot, and some events will definitely be reflected in the monologues. We went through many cities – about 70, everywhere we met different people, something happened. Follow my concerts, you will definitely hear stories from this tour!
— Many media outlets wrote that you are not allowed into Leps Bar in Novosibirsk due to non-compliance with the dress code and the absence of a guest card. How was this problem finally solved? Has the bar been contacted? Did Grigory Leps himself react to this?
– Yes, there was such a situation, but I decided to just make a joke. I was having fun with what was happening, I started to distribute this story: I am in shock and they say “I will not leave it like this”! They didn’t let me in, so what? I didn’t contact or call anyone. Leps did not react in any way – I don’t even know if he had anything to do with this bar. Maybe the bar in Novosibirsk operates as a franchise. We then had a great time at a nearby establishment. And that’s just the content. The more the better!
— The heroine of the first episode of your show “People Against the Stars” was Anastasia Volochkova. How did it affect you?
— Anastasia Volochkova is a very extraordinary person. At least he’s fun to be around. It is probably necessary to explain that the format of the show is a quiz. I asked questions, and sometimes we walked from one to another for 25-30 minutes because Anastasia remembered and told stories from her life.
— Which year was the turning point in your career and you became famous? Did popularity come to you gradually or after a certain monologue?
— To be honest, I still don’t know if I’m popular or not. All these years, my audience has gradually increased, more and more people came to the concerts, and the number of views on the Internet has also increased. The jump in popularity probably happened after the release of my first major solo album, “What will people say?”, last year. In 2023, I felt a difference in both the number of people in the room and their activities.
— How did you make a living before becoming a successful comedian? How much did you take? Was it enough?
— For a long time I worked as a courier with my VAZ-2115 car. Including delivering food from McDonald’s. At that time, the food ordering services that are popular today did not exist. I received email messages from some offices asking what and where I should take it. I bought it with my own money, delivered it, they refunded what I spent, and they also paid me 200 rubles. I bought 150 of them and gave 50 of them to that company.
He was also a salesman selling paintings in a department store. He worked as a store manager at Pepsi for a while and exhibited his products in stores. There were many different jobs that I actually didn’t like, I left after two or three weeks, but I stayed at these three.
By the way, when I gave my first stand-up performance at Open Mic on TNT, they praised me and said that it was the best performance of the season. Maybe that was the case, but then I went to Nizhny to guard the fair at night for 1,500 rubles per shift. If we talk about income, I earned an average of 35-37 thousand rubles per month, maximum 40 thousand.
— How did you feel when you first started receiving big money? What was your most memorable first expensive purchase?
– Of course it was very nice because I started earning amounts I never had or even ever seen! It wasn’t a lot of money by Moscow standards, but it was huge for me! With my first salary, I bought myself Jordan sneakers for 11 thousand dollars, and with my second salary, I bought a MacBook. I think it cost 75 thousand rubles.
— When did you realize that stand-up comedy would become your life’s work?
— In my fourth year at university, I realized that I wasn’t very interested in the subject I was studying, taxation. I realized that I don’t want to delve into documents and calculate something, this is not for me! At the same time I played KVN and it was exciting. I studied well without C grades, but at some point I began to pay more attention to KVN than to lectures. I did stand-up for the first time in my fourth year and decided to continue doing this in my fifth year.
—Ever asked “Why am I doing this?” Have you had thoughts like this? and professional burnout?
– Definitely! At the end of my first year in Moscow, I wondered: “Maybe I’m doing the wrong thing?” It was a lot of work: As a writer, I was writing and burned out. I couldn’t finish a ten minute monologue, it didn’t go very well! I did it again and I did it again. Thoughts were spinning in my head: “Maybe everything that happened before was an accident and I should return to Nizhny?” Luckily this only happened once. Then I realized I couldn’t do anything else.
— How do you determine the importance of your profession and its benefits to people?
“Of course, it’s nice to hear from the audience: “I was in the hospital and only your jokes helped me feel better.” I do not want to exaggerate the profession of the comedian. We are just trying to raise people’s morale, give them the opportunity to think about something and speculate. Although this profession itself Even though there are people for whom it is very important.For example, for me because this is my job!
— You differ from other comedians in terms of your characteristic expression, that is, your high-pitched voice. Was he always like this? What do phoniatrists say about it, if you have visited them?
“I didn’t even realize I had a weird voice before.” Then viewers started paying attention to it. I’ve been talking this way since I was a teenager, without doing anything special. Maybe this is a feature that distinguishes me from others. And I first resorted to a phoniator about three months ago, when my voice disappeared a few hours before the performance. They poured some medicine down my throat and everything worked.
— What do you think about jokes about your voice? Which was funniest and which was the most offensive?
– I’m great! I heard a lot and none of it seemed offensive. I really have such a voice that people notice and sometimes try to make fun of me. The funniest joke belongs to Pasha Dedishchev. I remember talking like a dog had been kicked and going “Awww!” he said howling.
— What comments on social networks might offend you and cause you to block someone?
— About the family when relatives are touched. Although I usually respond to bad comments with something funny, I can block them. I think these are written by people who are not doing well in their lives if they are doing this. Over the years, I’ve learned to take comments more simply: write whatever you want. Each copy just promotes my video or post and more and more people see it!
— What bothers you about people?
– When they think they are cooler than they actually are and try to show it in different ways. Maybe I have this too.
— You wrote on your blog that your left hand went numb on stage, your tongue couldn’t pronounce the letter “C”, and you even thought of having a stroke. How was it really and how is your health? Is it due to the extreme intensity of the concert?
— I visited more than 70 cities in 3.5 months on tour, and my health really deteriorated, my immunity weakened. I think after arriving in Moscow I will go to the doctor, get tested and take some vitamins. So I was so tired and a situation arose where I could barely speak on stage and thought I was going to fall. My condition was getting worse day by day and this was the peak.
These are the results of life on the road and daily gigs where you give it your all, trying not to show fatigue and to be bright and cheerful. I don’t see any heroism here because this is my job. There are people who do much more physically difficult things.
— Are you planning to act in a movie or shoot your own movie? If so, what kind of project will it be and what issues would you like to see addressed?
— I received many offers to act in films and TV series, but I am a bad actor and I know it. I was offered one of the two main roles in a TV series starring a very famous artist, and I realized how inferior I would look compared to his background, and how embarrassed I would be. I refused even before the audition. I have to go and study before I can play somewhere. I would like to write a series in the future, but I will not share the plot. What if you decide to film it yourself?
— If it’s not a secret, are you in a relationship right now?
– But it’s a secret (Smiling).