Mikhail Zhvanetsky - biography

Mikhail Mikhaylovich Zhvanetsky (Russian: Михаи́л Миха́йлович Жване́цкий; Ukrainian: Михайло Михайлович Жванецький, transliterated: Mykhailo Mykhailovych Zhvanetsky) (born 6 March 1934, Odessa, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union) is a famous Russian-language, Soviet and Russian satiric writer and a stand-up comedian. Born in Odessa, where he trained as an engineer, he is best known for his monologues (from Soviet time) performed on a stage by himself and by other actors in which he targeted different aspects of the Soviet and post-Soviet reality and everyday life. Zhvanetsky's monologues and sketches were performed by Arkady Raikin, Roman Kartsev and Viktor Ilchenko. He joined the Union of Soviet Writers in 1978 and has authored several books of humor and satire.

Awards and honors

Zhvanetsky was granted the following honorary titles and decorated with the following orders:

• People's Artist of Ukraine (народний артист України), 1999.
• Meritorious Artist of the Russian Federation (заслуженный деятель искусств РФ), 2001
• Merited Artist of the Republic of Crimea, Ukraine (заслужений діяч мистецтв Автономної Республіки Крим), 2002
• Russian Order of Merit for the Fatherland, fourth class, by President Medvedev on his 75th birthday in 2009.