Biography of Mikhail Zadornov
Mikhail Zadornov is a popular satirist who was known and loved not only in Russia, but also in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Zadornov's monologues were always topical, full of subtle irony, and their heroes are perfectly recognizable in everyday life, which is why all the satirist's speeches invariably scattered into quotes, attracted many spectators and were a great success.
When did the career of this bright satirist begin and what was his path to the big stage? Our article, which is entirely dedicated to one of the best comedians on the modern Russian stage, will help you find out all this.
Family, childhood and youth
Mikhail Zadornov was born in the Latvian resort city of Jurmala. His father, Nikolai Pavlovich Zadornov, was a writer specializing primarily in historical topics. Mom - Elena Melkhiorovna Matusevich - came from an old noble family and was a housewife.
While still at school, the future satirist began to get seriously interested in theater. As some of his acquaintances claimed, in one of the children's performances, young Mikhail played the role of a turnip so masterfully that he was repeatedly pulled out for an encore. The next role was a costumed bear in the production of Ostrovsky’s “A Profitable Place” - his character had no words, but Mikhail growled so convincingly that he was invited to the drama club on a permanent basis.
Despite his success in the acting field, after school Mikhail Zadornov decided to enter the Riga Institute of Civil Aviation Engineers, since there was a good handball team there, and the future satirist was fascinated by this game from an early age. However, his further sports career did not work out - one day during training he fell and broke his meniscus.
Childhood and adolescence
Mikhail's parents are the writer Nikolai Pavlovich Zadornov and a housewife with noble roots, Elena Melkhiorovna Matusevich. Mikhail is not the only child; he has a sister, Lyudmila Nikolaevna. She became an English teacher.
Mikhail's creative talent manifested itself very early: already in the second grade he played in the theater and gladly performed encores at the request of the audience. This is surprising, because the first roles were laconic: a turnip and a growling bear. But Mikhail’s growl was so convincing that he was offered to participate in the theater on a permanent basis.
In addition to the theater, the future satirist was fond of handball from early childhood. This passion became the determining factor when choosing a profession after school. “How?” you ask. Zadornov entered the Riga Institute of Civil Aviation Engineers - there was an excellent handball team there. Perhaps we would have known Mikhail as a world athlete, but a meniscus injury interrupted his sports career.
Seeing no interest in further education, Mikhail entered the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI). He graduated from it in 1974, after which, at the invitation of management, he remained there as an employee. But science was of little interest to Mikhail; he was attracted by the Rossiya Theater at the Moscow Aviation Institute, where Mikhail Nikolaevich worked until 1980.
Creative path
Zadornov wrote his debut literary work (the unpublished story “The Intersection Point”) at the age of 18, after being on an expedition to the Kuril Islands (the plot was based on impressions from the trip). Alas, the story did not impress the magazine editors and was not published.
In 1969, Zadornov transferred to the second year of the Moscow Aviation Institute, from which he graduated in 1974 with a diploma in mechanical engineering, simultaneously receiving an offer from management to remain at MAI as an employee. Mikhail agreed, but rather not because of the prospects of becoming a researcher, but for the sake of the youth theater “Russia” at the Moscow Aviation Institute, to which he devoted a significant part of his student years: he was an actor, he himself acted as a playwright and director. Under his leadership, the theater gained fame in the Soviet republics and was awarded the Lenin Komsomol Prize. Mikhail Zadornov’s life was connected with “Russia” until 1980.
Zadornov's first publications were published in 1974. The satirist was published within the Yunost magazine, and in 1984 he headed its satire and humor department. However, already in 1985 he left his post, devoting himself to his own literary career.
In 1982, Zadornov made his debut on television with the monologue “A Student’s Letter Home” about the misadventures of an unlucky student. Two years later, he appeared on the program “Around Laughter” with the monologue “The Ninth Car”. It was this vital sketch about how two carriages with the same number were mistakenly attached to the next train to Hungary, which later became Zadornov’s calling card.
The audience also fell in love with the bold (at that time) monologue “Open Letter to the Secretary General” - about the preparation of the leadership of a small town for the visit of the Secretary General of the USSR. The very fact that this work, full of pointed satire, was voiced from a television screen signaled changes in the socio-political life of the country. However, the feuilleton firmly settled in Zadornov’s repertoire and still sounded just as relevant even after many years.
In the late eighties, Mikhail Zadornov began working as the author of humorous texts for other artists. Many famous comedians performed his monologues, including Yevgeny Petrosyan, and Zadornov himself regularly shared new observations with his characteristic irony in new issues of “Funny Panorama”, “Full House” and “Satirical Forecast”.
In 1988, the first collection of Zadornov’s stories, “A Line 15 Thousand Meters Long,” was released as part of the anthology “The Crocodile Library.” The following collection, “The Mystery of the Blue Planet,” was published with a circulation of 100 thousand copies.
A unique indicator of the artist’s popularity was the fact that on December 31, 1991, it was Mikhail Zadornov, and not Boris Yeltsin, who had not yet assumed presidential powers in place of Mikhail Gorbachev, who congratulated the residents of the collapsed state on the New Year.
Despite the fact that in his speeches the comedian often “attached” the country’s leadership and the president himself, this did not prevent him from getting an apartment in the “nomenklatura” building on Osennaya Street, where Boris Yeltsin, Viktor Chernomyrdin, the head of the presidential security guard Alexander Korzhakov and other high-ranking officials lived. officials. The fact is that the satirist often played tennis with Yeltsin and managed to make a good impression on the president.
In the nineties, he also tried himself as a screenwriter and film actor. One of Zadornov’s most famous works was the film “I Want Your Husband,” filmed in 1992 based on his own script. There were only three actors in the film; In addition to Mikhail Nikolaevich, Ekaterina Voronina and Anna Dubrovskaya were involved in the filming. According to the plot, a young beauty Oksana appears to a woman named Elena, who is preparing to celebrate a porcelain wedding, and offers to buy out Elena’s husband, who, as it turns out, has been cheating on his wife for many years. Recognizable “Zadorn” dialogues and a subtly conveyed imprint of a bygone era ensured the film recognition and love from the audience.
A year earlier, he also appeared in the Latvian-produced film “Depression” with a cameo role as an official, as well as in Viktor Sergeev’s film “Genius” (cameo).
1997 was marked by the release of a four-volume book, which included the best works of the satirist at that time.
Since 2000, every year Zadornov presented to the public at least two or three new concert programs. He invariably went on stage in a suit and with papers in his hands, and after the concert he showed the audience his stretching, doing the splits, or walking on his hands. His performance schedule was, without exaggeration, crazy: he once had to give as many as 8 concerts in one day.
In the early 2000s, the leitmotif of Zadornov’s speeches became “American” themes. Zadornov’s signature phrase “Well, stupid!” and is still heard today. After a scandal involving discrimination against the Russian Olympic team at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, the satirist demonstratively canceled his American visa. Subsequently, “amateur etymology” appeared in his repertoire, as well as frequent criticism of Russian education, the Unified State Exam and the Minister of Education Andrei Fursenko in particular.
In 2012, Mikhail Zadornov shot the pseudo-documentary film “Rurik. Lost story", which was subsequently shown by the REN-TV channel. The film told about the confrontation between supporters of the “Norman theory” and those who argued that the Vikings could not rule Russia. His work was criticized, arguing that in recent years it was this pseudo-historical and openly politicized approach that began to prevail in the work of the pop satirist.
Since the beginning of the 2010s, Zadornov has maintained contact with fans of his work via the Internet. In addition to the official website, the satirist maintained a blog on LiveJournal, a channel on Youtube (Zador TV) and his own VKontakte page. Quite a large part of the satirist’s repertoire consisted of so-called “observations” - notes from life sent by readers.
In 2021, Mikhail Zadornov, Alexey Kortnev and Dmitry Kolchin became co-hosts of the original satirical program “Saltykov-Shchedrin Show”. On air, the hosts and guests joked about real-life incidents.
Zadornov Mikhail Nikolaevich
Television compilations
1997 “We are all from CHI-CHI-CHI-PI” RTR 1997 “You can’t understand Russia with your mind” ORT 2002 “We” RTR 2005 “Humor 585 samples” 2009 “Humorous shrapnel” STB January 1, 2010 “Meeting essays" REN TV March 7, 2011 "Notebooks" REN TV May 7, 2011 "Collection of stories" REN TV September 25, 2011 "A small thing, but nice" REN TV February 25, 2012 "Favorites" REN TV October 12, 2013 " History is not for everyone" REN TV October 26, 2013 "Russian for co-kackers" REN TV November 2, 2013 "Encyclopedia of stupidity" REN TV November 9, 2013 "NON-Education Reform" REN TV July 26, 2014 "Closer of America" REN TV September 20 2014 “Generation of Diapers” REN TV September 27, 2014 “Men and Women” REN TV January 1, 2015 “New Year’s Zadornov” REN TV May 1, 2015 “Observations and Reflections” REN TV June 20, 2015 “The whole truth about Russian dope » REN TV October 9, 2015 “The Fourth Estate” REN TV January 3, 2021 “Zadornov for children” REN TV January 16, 2021 “Zadornov. Memoirs" REN TV May 6, 2021 "American Stupidity" REN TV June 11, 2021 "Doctor Zador" REN TV October 29, 2021 "We all learned a little" REN TV November 12, 2021 "Problem book from Zadornov" REN TV 1 January 2021 “In Russia’s mind never...” REN TV April 30, 2021 “Only with us...” REN TV
Filmography
1989 “I don’t understand” 1991 “Depression” Official 1992 “I want your husband” Andryusha / Screenwriter 2003 “I’ll buy your husband” (“Pērku jūsu vīru!”) Screenwriter 2008 “Arkaim. Standing by the Sun" Co-author of the film with Sergei Alekseev, 2010 "Fathers and Sons. Nikolai and Mikhail Zadornov" Author and director 2012 "Rurik. Lost true story" Screenwriter and presenter 2015 "Prophetic Oleg. Reality Found" Screenwriter and presenter
Bibliography
1988 - Line 15,000 meters long: Collection of stories. - M.: True. - (Crocodile Library) 1988 - The Mystery of the Blue Planet: Author's collection. — M.: Soviet writer. — 272 p. — 100,000 copies. 1989 - Assortment for the contingent: a sad collection of humorous ones. - M.: Moscow. worker. — 141 p. 1990 - Lucky number. — M.: Air transport, 92 p. 1991 - I don’t understand! - Pauline. — 192 p. — 100,000 copies. 1991 - Return. - Aurora. — 62 s. — 100,000 copies. — (Library of the magazine “Aurora”) 1991 — Cosmic laughter. M. N. Zadornov, L. M. Izmailov, E. N. Uspensky, F. S. Kandel, V. A. Poleiko, V. I. Narinsky and others. M.: MAI, 1991. - 264 p. — 100,000 copies. 1993 - The end of the world, or Good mood. Mikhail Zadornov, Lion Izmailov. — Association “All-Union Youth Book Center”. — 269 p. 1996 - Blouse: A cheerful play for a sad movie. — M.: Yauza. — 168 p. — 50,000 copies. - 1997 - four-volume book A great country with an unpredictable past. - Armada. — 173 p. We are all from Chi-Chi-Chi-Pi. - Armada. — 173 p. Tiny stars. - Armada. — 173 p. — 10,000 copies. Hitches. - Armada. — 188 p. 2000 - Mothers and wars. 2001 - Provincials. Mikhail Zadornov, Vladimir Kachan, Leonid Alekseevich Filatov. Artists write. (Library “Vagant Moscow”) 359 p. 2003 - Pyramid Journey. — M.: Prospekt, Vesby. — 156 p. — 3000 copies. 2003 - Suddenly out of nowhere. — M.: Eksmo. — 448 p. — 7,100 copies. 2004 - Zadornov €nd Co. — M.: Eksmo. — 384 p. — 40,100 copies. 2004 - Upside down. — M.: Eksmo. — 304 p. — 25,000 copies. 2005 - This crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy world... - M.: AST, Astrel, Transitbook. — 416 p. — 10,000 copies. 2006 - I never thought... - M.: Eksmo. — 624 p. — 17,000 copies. 2007 - Don't let yourself dry out!!! — M.: Eksmo. — 496 p. — 30,000 copies. 2007 - Pagan of the Age of Aquarius. — M.: AST, Astrel. — 288 p. — 30,000 copies. 2008 - When it’s funny, then it’s not scary! — M.: AST, Astrel. — 256 p. — 40,000 copies. - (Zadorinki and laughers). 2008 - A trifle, but nice! — M.: AST, Astrel. — 224 p. — 30,000 copies. - (Zadorinki and laughers). 2008 — Anthology of Satire and Humor of Russia of the 20th century. Volume 53. Mikhail Zadornov. Author's collection. — M.: Eksmo. — 624 p. — 10,000 copies. 2009 — You can’t raise Russia with your mind! — M.: AST, Astrel. — 288 p. — 15,000 copies. - (Zadorinki and laughers). 2009 - Glory to the family! Ed. Amrita-Rus, 128 pp., circulation 7000 copies, 2009 - WWW.MUSOR.RU (Published by AST, Astrel, Series: Zadorinki and Smehariki, 240 pp., 20,000 copies) 2010 - PR during the plague, or To whom live in Rus'? — M.: AST, Astrel, VKT / Ill. V. Chelak. — 320 s. — 15,000 copies. 2010 - Mikhail Zadornov. Stories and aphorisms: Author's collection. — M.: Eksmo. — 384 p. — 13,000 copies. 2010 - Two comrades made me laugh. M. N. Zadornov, Harry Polsky. — M.: Eksmo. — 272 p. — 4,000 copies. 2010 - I love America. - M.: Astrel, AST, Poligrafizdat. — 224 p. — 10,000 copies. 2011 — This is a non-BRED predictable world. — M.: Astrel. — 528 p. — 7,000 copies. 2012 - Book of memory of the great-grandchildren of the Victory. 2012 — Notes of a tired romantic. — M.: Eksmo. — 480 s. — 3,000 copies. 2012 - Prince Rurik. Where did the Russian land come from? Ed. Algorithm, Our Rus' Series, 240 pp., circulation 5000 copies, 2013 - “Bandits and Women”, 170 pp. 2013 - Prince Rurik. Flight of the Falcon. Ed. “Veche”, Authors: M. N. Zadornov, V. S. Gnatyuk, Yu. V. Gnatyuk, 448 p. 2013 - In my native Russia. Fun travels. Ed. “Veche”, 224 pp., circulation 4000 copies, 2013 - The whole truth about love. Ed. “Veche”, artist I. Grishechkina, 272 pp., circulation 3000, hardcover, 2014 - The power of numbers, or Perky numerology. — M.: Tsentrpoligraf. 2014 - On the Native Planet. - M.: Veche. 2015 - Glory to Rod! Etymology of Russian life. — M.: Tsentrpoligraf. — 255 s. — 4,000 copies. 2015 — Notes from Twitter. — M.: Tsentrpoligraf. — 256 p. — 4,000 copies. 2021 - Invented in the USSR. — M.: Tsentrpoligraf. 2021 — The whole truth about Russia. — M.: Eksmo. 2016 — Encyclopedia of national stupidity. — M.: Tsentrpoligraf. 2021 - Russians are a brain explosion! — M.: Tsentrpoligraf.
Audiobooks
Bakarasiki are not tattooed (audiobook MP3). Publisher: Studio Monolit, 2006. Zadornizmy and Kachanushki (audiobook MP3). Series: Humor of our time. 1 hour. Publisher: Audiobook, 2008 (M. Zadornov and V. A. Kachan) Russia cannot be raised with the mind! (audiobook MP3). Publisher: Studio Monolit, 2009. A trifle, but nice! (audiobook MP3). Series: Tricks and laughers. 4 hours. Publishers: AST, Audiobook, 2009. When it’s funny, then it’s not scary (audiobook MP3). Series: Humor of our time. 4 hours. Publishers: Astrel, Audiobook, 2009. It was recently... (audiobook CD). 1 hour. Publishers: Audiobook, Astrel, 2009 (Leonid Filatov, Mikhail Zadornov)
Personal life of Mikhail Zadornov
In his life, Mikhail Zadornov was officially married only once. His wife, Velta Yanovna Kalnberzina, the daughter of a high-ranking Latvian politician, studied at the same school with him, then was his classmate at the Moscow Aviation Institute. A beautiful and smart girl knew her worth, and therefore Mikhail had to win her heart for a long time. The young people dated for a long time, and in the spring of 1971 they got married.
Relationships in the young family went wrong during the period when the artist’s career began to rapidly gain momentum. At this moment, Mikhail Zadornov began dating Elena Bombina - he met a girl who was 16 years younger than the satirist at one of his performances (she was an administrator at that festival) in the late 80s.
Subsequently, she became his common-law wife. In 1990, Mikhail and Elena gave birth to a daughter, Elena Zadornova, Zadornov’s only child. Having inherited her father's artistic genes, she graduated from the Russian Academy of Theater Arts (RATI).
In 1998, Mikhail Zadornov, once a drinker, became a vegetarian and began to actively promote a healthy lifestyle, in particular yoga. The satirist more than once spoke about his choice in the style of “amateur etymology”: “Meat in English sounds like meat: me (me) + eat (eat”), that is, “to eat yourself.” In addition, it has been proven that human DNA and pig DNA are very similar, which means that pork kebabs are clearly not good for you.”
Zadornov also spoke about supporting the Ringing Cedars of Russia movement, which promotes the ideology of so-called “family estates” - plots of land measuring at least a hectare on which members of one family can arrange their home in accordance with the rules of the eco-community.
Daughter of Mikhail Zadornov - Elena Zadornova
At the beginning of the 2000s, the humor star became a dad for the first time. According to other sources, this date has been moved to the mid-80s. He named his baby after his beloved mother - Lenochka.
The daughter of Mikhail Zadornov, Elena Zadornova, was involved in music and sports. She sang, danced, and attended drama school. Lenochka's whole day was scheduled literally to the minute. In high school, the girl decided to connect her life with the artistic arts. She became a student at GITIS. The comedian was proud of his daughter and took her on his travels. The girl visited various countries with her parents.
When her dad fell ill, Lena hoped until the last that the man’s health would improve. She helped him in his work. The girl was engaged in creativity, writing several books about the history of the country.
Little is known about the girl’s personal life. She is in a relationship with a Maltese citizen. Lena lives with her common-law spouse in Malta. I recently defended my doctoral dissertation here. Now she is starring in films by the most famous Maltese directors.
Death of Mikhail Zadornov
In the fall of 2021, Mikhail Zadornov admitted to having serious health problems, due to which he had to leave the “Saltykov-Shchedrin Show” program and cancel concerts in far corners of the country. He did not advertise the name of the disease, but very soon Andrei Malakhov in his program accidentally declassified the satirist’s illness - it turned out that Zadornov had brain cancer. Mikhail Nikolaevich did not deny the information, but asked fans not to make a fuss, adding that he was undergoing chemotherapy and was trying to follow the precepts of Daria Dontsova: “The main thing is not to give up and keep yourself in good shape!”
On October 23, Mikhail Zadornov became ill during a performance at the Meridian Palace of Culture. He was taken by ambulance straight from the concert. Doctors recorded the man having an epileptic seizure due to nervousness.
At the beginning of 2021, Regina Dubovitskaya spoke about the satirist’s condition, saying that Zadornov had undergone a serious operation and had a long course of treatment ahead of him. “He really wants to return to the audience and delight his fans with books,” she added.
Unfortunately, the treatment did not help, nor did his conversion to the Orthodox faith (at the beginning of November, Mikhail received unction in the capital’s Church of the Life-Giving Trinity). On November 10, 2021, Mikhail Zadornov passed away. He was 69 years old.
Before his death, Mikhail Zadornov ordered to be buried in his homeland, in the same grave with his father, and to support the Riga library named after Nikolai Zadornov.
Comments have been closed on Zadornov’s VKontakte page, where in the last months of his life fans of the satirist left him thousands of wishes for recovery and warm words of support. His secret concert is also located there - in the Capercaillie's Nest. The group of fans of his work continues to function. On November 15, Mikhail Nikolaevich was buried at the Jaundubulti cemetery in Jurmala.
