The legend of Russian humor Mikhail Zadornov: a complete biography of a satirical writer. Died satirist mikhail zadornov Famous satirist mikhail zadornov writes that

The legend of Russian humor Mikhail Zadornov: a complete biography of a satirical writer.  Died satirist mikhail zadornov Famous satirist mikhail zadornov writes that
The legend of Russian humor Mikhail Zadornov: a complete biography of a satirical writer. Died satirist mikhail zadornov Famous satirist mikhail zadornov writes that

Mikhail Nikolaevich Zadornov (07.21.1948 - 11.10.2017) - Soviet and Russian satirist, playwright, humorist, actor, also known as the author of hypotheses in the field of the etymology of Russian words and the history of Slavs, which are sharply criticized by the scientific community.

Biography

His paternal grandfather - Pavel Ivanovich Zadornov (born in Ternovka, Penza region) - worked as a veterinarian, was arrested in Chita on charges of destroying livestock, sentenced to 10 years, died in prison, rehabilitated in 1956. Grandmother - Vera Mikhailovna Zadornova. Father - Nikolai Pavlovich Zadornov (1909-1992), Soviet writer, Honored Worker of Culture of the Latvian SSR (1969), laureate of the Stalin Prize of the second degree for the novel "Cupid Father" (1952).

His maternal grandfather, Melchior Iustinovich Pokorno-Matusevich, was a nobleman, graduated from a military school in Dinaburg, from 1903 he was a tsarist officer, spent three years in the Gulag, in the 1960s he became an accountant after courses. Mother - Elena Melkhiorovna Zadornova (nee Pokorno-Matusevich; 1909-2003) - was born in Maikop, Polish by nationality, descended from the old Polish gentry family of the Pokorno-Matusevichs and the Olizarovsky family known in Russia, which originates from King Stefan Bathory, was married 2 times, her first husband was a ministerial worker, in 1930 Mikhail Zadornov's elder half-brother, Lolly, was born. Mother worked as a proofreader for an Ufa newspaper, and at work met her second husband.

Older sister - Lyudmila Nikolaevna Zadornova (born 1942) - teacher of English at the Baltic International Academy.

Mikhail Zadornov graduated from Riga Secondary School No. 10. In one of his speeches, he said that he first appeared on stage in the second grade, played a turnip. Moreover, “he pulled out so elegantly that they shouted:“ Bis, Bravo, they say, pull him out again! ”. In 1974 he graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) with a degree in mechanical engineering. In 1974-1978 he worked at the same institute at the department 204 "Aerospace heating engineering" as an engineer, then as a leading engineer.

Began publishing in 1974.

In the 1970s-1980s, Zadornov was an artistic director, stage director and actor of the student propaganda theater of the Moscow Aviation Institute "Russia". With the collective of the propaganda theater, he traveled around many parts of the USSR and all-Union construction sites, was awarded the Lenin Komsomol Prize.

In 1984-1985 - head of the department of satire and humor in the magazine "Youth".

He made his TV debut in 1982 with the monologue "A student's letter home." Real popularity came in 1984, when Zadornov read his story "The Ninth Car". Many famous artists read Zadornov's stories and miniatures from the stage, and since the end of the 1980s he began to perform his works himself. Since the early 1990s, Zadornov has been the author and host of well-known television programs such as "Full House", "Smehopanorama", "Satirical Forecast", "Daughters-Mothers".

Mikhail Zadornov is famous for the fact that on December 31, 1991 at 11:45 pm, it was he, and not as usual - the head of state or the announcer - who spoke with the New Year's address to the residents of the country (by that time to the residents of Russia, since the USSR ceased to exist on December 26). In his speech, which was broadcast live, Zadornov got so carried away that he spoke for a minute longer, so the broadcast of the chimes had to be delayed. However, Boris Yeltsin's appeal was also recorded and even broadcast on television, but after Zadornov's appeal. In 2010, at the end of December, Mikhail Zadornov again made a New Year's address. This time over the Internet.

Since 1990, MN Zadornov's books have been published: “The End of the World”, “I don’t understand!”, “Return”, a one-act comedy “Modern People”, a funny play for a sad movie “Blouse”, a four-volume edition - “Great Country with unpredictable past "," We are all from Chi-Chi-Chi-Pi "," Tiny stars "," Hitch ".

Mikhail Nikolaevich starred in films: "Genius" (1991), "Depression" (1991), "I want your husband" (1992).

In 1992 he was on the jury of the Higher League of KVN at two quarterfinals. In 1998 he was a member of the jury at the KVN festival “Voting KiViN 1998” in Jurmala.

Mikhail Zadornov is a laureate of the Golden Calf and Ovation awards. In 1996 he became a laureate of the Arkady Raikin Cup at the international festival "MORE SMEHA", Riga.

In 1993, Mikhail Zadornov received an apartment in the "nomenklatura house" for high-ranking officials at the address: Moscow, Osennaya st., 4/2, where there were also apartments of Boris N. Yeltsin, V. S. Chernomyrdin, A. V. Korzhakov and other.

Alexander Korzhakov wrote in his book Boris Yeltsin: From Dawn to Dusk: “Our housemate is the satirist Mikhail Zadornov. His friendship with Yeltsin began in Jurmala, during a vacation. Misha knew how to cheer Boris Nikolayevich: he fell amusingly on the court, deliberately missed his mark, made jokes. And just like that, half in jest, I gained confidence ... After the vacation, we continued pair tennis matches. And suddenly Zadornov quietly turned to me: “Sasha, I found out about the new house. And I have a very bad area, at the entrance of the drunkards they arranged a toilet. An alcoholic lives on the floor above. Take it to you. " We took…"

In December 2009, Mikhail Zadornov opened a library named after his father, Nikolai Zadornov, in Riga. The opening of the library was timed to coincide with the centenary of the birth of Nikolai Pavlovich. The library is declared publicly available and free.

On May 27, 2010, in the village of Voskresenskoye, Zadornov presented to the public a monument to A.S. Pushkin's nanny Arina Rodionovna, made by sculptor Valery Shevchenko from bronze to the height of Arina Rodionovna - 160 centimeters. Mikhail Nikolaevich initiated the project, the monument was installed at the expense of his fund. The opening of the monument is timed to the XXV regional Pushkin holiday, dedicated to the 211st anniversary of the poet's birth.

Zadornov was active on the Internet through his blog in LiveJournal and a blog on the website of the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets.

- Good night, Earth. I wish everyone good night, who has darkness outside the window! - reads the last entry in LJ Zadornov, published on the eve of his death.

Also, in the summer of 2010, Mikhail Zadornov registered in the VKontakte social network and uploaded to his page unique videos of the concert “It's Difficult to Live Easily”, which was shown on the REN-TV channel only at the end of December 2010. In addition, Mikhail Zadornov has his own channel on youtube.com, where he also posted these recordings.

Traditionally, Zadornov spends his performances standing, holding papers with the texts of his numbers in his hand. However, recently (since 2007) he has included in his programs performances by gymnasts Irina Kazakova and Dmitry Bulkin, as well as the Yudi break-dance team, whom he met at the Minute of Glory talent competition, where he was on the jury. With these young people, he sits on a split, does stretching, walks on his hands and stands on his head, clapping his feet. Since 2004, Zadornov's friend and co-author has also taken part in Zadornov's concerts: the satirist writer from Riga Garry Polsky, who since 2010 has been conducting the regular heading "Zadornovosti" at concerts.

Mikhail Zadornov is also the author of musical compositions. The song "Dadu vnedezh" by the performer Mr. Daduda, which is allegedly performed by Mikhail Gorbachev, is cut from the speech of Mikhail Zadornov, in which he parodied the president of the USSR in his voice, ridiculing his illiteracy. The idea to write a feuilleton came from Evgeny Petrosyan. Within the framework of the concerts "Playful Day" Mikhail periodically sings a special musical theme and even sings some monologues to it. The satirist's official website zadornov.net contains mixes of his performances, made by Valery Tsarkov (Dj Valer): "West is a trap", "New Year in Russian", "Weight", "Pops".

Views

Mikhail Zadornov is widely known for his critical remarks about modern Western (primarily American) culture and way of life. In protest against the discrimination against the Russian national team at the 2002 Winter Olympics, he canceled the American visa (according to other sources, he was deprived of a visa with a ban on entering the United States).

Since 2006, Zadornov has been actively performing with numerous amateur exercises in the etymology of Russian words, which are not consistent with the achievements of science in this area. He received support from the decoder of the so-called "runic syllabic writing" V. A. Chudinov.

“… How could it happen that such an intelligent people suddenly disappeared from history? Once again, a long time ago, a glacier began to creep into the lands of the Aryans. Our ancestors had to leave their northern habitats and follow the sun. So the Aryans scattered - from the word "Race" - into many tribes, peoples throughout our present continent from India to Europe. But solar Ra entered other languages. Even in Greek and Latin:

  • LITERATURE-RA, CULT-RA, G-RA-MOTA AND ... SATI-RA
  • B-RA, LYUST-RA, RA-MPA, FA-RA ... "

Despite the lack of support from professional historians and philologists, Zadornov continues to engage in non-academic research on the history of the Slavs. In 2012, the satirist showed himself in a new role by filming the non-commercial film “Rurik. Lost reality. " To raise funds for its creation and to discuss the filming process, on May 14, 2012, a special website and forum were opened. The premiere of the film took place on December 12 on REN TV. Historians criticized the painting for being pseudoscientific, one-sided and populist in approaching the topic. The filmmaker's anti-Normanist ideas have been characterized by the archaeologist, cultural anthropologist, philologist, and historian of science L. S. Klein as "militant amateurism."

A prominent place in the work of Zadornov is occupied by the reform of Russian education, including the introduction of the compulsory USE. Since 2010, he has published a number of critical articles on this topic ("Unified State Exam - a control shot at the education system", "Narrow-minded, forward - 2", "Treason"), spoke negatively about the Minister of Education Andrei Fursenko.

In his monologues, he repeatedly said that for several years now, in principle, he had not voted for anyone. However, in the elections to the State Duma in 2011, he still took part, supporting the Communist Party. In the 2012 presidential elections in Russia, he supported Gennady Zyuganov. On the website of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, materials written by Zadornov sometimes appear, they are also published in Pravda and Sovetskaya Rossiya.

He is a supporter of the "Ringing Cedars of Russia" movement and spoke very warmly of Vladimir Megre, with whom he is close friends. Some considered support for Zadornov in fact a hidden irony, but in other interviews Zadornov has firmly expressed support for the movement.

On March 11, 2014, he signed an appeal by cultural figures of the Russian Federation in support of the policy of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine and Crimea. Included in the list of persons who are prohibited from entering Ukraine.

Personal life

The first wife - Velta Yanovna Kalnberzina (born 1948), the daughter of the former first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia, Jan Kalnberzin, studied in a parallel class with Zadornov at the elite Riga school number 10, and then at the Moscow Aviation Institute, got married in March 1971, a teacher at the university.

Second wife - Elena Vladimirovna Bombina (born 1964), satirist administrator.

Daughter - Elena Mikhailovna Zadornova (born 1990), in 2009 she entered the Russian University of Theater Arts - GITIS.

Criticism

In 2009, Zadornov was accused of plagiarism for retelling a story about a hatul-madan (a cat-scientist) from the blog of a LiveJournal user by Israeli writer Victoria Raikher (pseudonym Neivid). The writer apologized and settled the issue with compensation of 100,000 rubles. Zadornov's widely acclaimed short story, The Brick Hunter's Notes, is an adaptation of an American urban legend known on the Internet in the 1998 Darwin Prize version.

During one of his concerts, broadcast in 2010 on Channel One, Mikhail Zadornov gave a number of negative characteristics to the residents of Vladivostok, in particular to women: “All women are dressed like, well, as promoted in glossy fashion magazines, that is, all girls in Vladivostok look like prostitutes ”, - this and some other of the statements caused indignation of the Internet community of the“ Primorsky capital ”. Zadornov responded to the criticism on his LiveJournal blog:

“And then it began. There is a wonderful Russian proverb: "The truth hurts your eyes." Of course, first of all those who recognized themselves were offended. One girl wrote to me: “This is not true, we are far from all prostitutes!” The second wrote: “I am a decent woman. How dare you insult me ​​like that? “I didn't insult her. I talked about the picture that I saw when I left the hotel. Another one writes: "We are not actually prostitutes ..." I was pleased with the word "actually". Moreover, it was written like this - "voohchesto". More pearls from the letters: “Sorry”, “this hour”, “of course”, “there is no such thing here”, “in Zadorny's concert” - then this is not about me at all, I’m Zadornov, not Zadorny)) The word “mother” one girl wrote "m", and on another line she transferred "ama". Sparrow is written - "Vairaybey" "
In response to Zadornov’s words, in April 2010 in Vladivostok, toilet paper “Bear-bully” and “Paper with a hitch” with the image of a satirist went on sale.

“From time to time you say 'scientists prove.' Where you say “scientists prove”, no scientist has ever said anything like that. This is a pure lie. What you are saying is absolute, complete, blatant nonsense. Either you are crazy, it happens.<…>You are the absolute layman. If you do not know something, you need to take it in the dictionary and look, and only then fool the population. And you give him this uncooked porridge filled with ignorance. Why do you allow yourself to carry ignorance to the masses? This is what you do, you know? You bring ignorance to the masses - to our unfortunate masses, for which it is already difficult enough to navigate this world. And you give them this stinking stew, which you cook from no one knows what. "

According to the results of the popular vote on Facebook and VKontakte held by the newspaper Troitsky Variant - Science, he was announced at the forum "Scientists against Myths - 2" as a corresponding member of the new "Lying Academy of Pseudosciences" in the pseudolinguistics section.

Sanctions

Zadornov was banned from entering the United States and Ukraine.

Awards

1975 - Prize of the Lenin Komsomol
1979 - Golden Calf Award
1999 - Ovation Award
2008 - Order of Honor
2011 - Prize "Word to the People", established by the newspaper "Soviet Russia" for the pamphlet "NATO is a coward, Gaddafi is a man"
2012 - Medal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation "90th anniversary of the formation of the USSR"
RAMBLER award on behalf of Internet users - "in the Hamburg score!"

  • An asteroid was named in honor of Mikhail Zadornov.
  • He brought Maxim Galkin to the big stage.
  • Vegetarian from about 50 years old.

Sickness and death

In early October 2016, it became known that Zadornov had brain cancer. On October 12, 2016, he announced on his personal page on the VKontakte social network that he had to undergo a course of chemotherapy, and that because of this, many concerts were canceled (first of all, those that require long flights). On October 22, Zadornov was hospitalized in Moscow after he fell ill during a concert at the Meridian Culture and Art Center. Zadornov declined to elaborate on his health problems, not wanting to attract undue media attention.

In November 2016, Zadornov underwent a brain biopsy at the Charite clinic in Berlin, after which he underwent treatment in one of the private clinics in the Baltic States. November 10, 2017 at the age of 69.

Zadornov Mikhail Nikolaevich (1948-2017) - Russian comedian, satirist, playwright and actor. He was a member of the Writers' Union of Russia, has published more than ten books (collections of humorous stories, stories, essays, plays and travel notes).

His subtle humor was so sharp that in some countries the satirist was banned from entering (USA, Ukraine). He took the heroes of his satire from life, so they turned out to be so recognizable. He was repeatedly recognized as the best humorist in Russia, many expressions from his works were disassembled into quotes and became aphorisms.

Parents

Michael was born on July 21, 1948 in the city of Jurmala, Latvian SSR.
His dad, Nikolai Pavlovich Zadornov, born in 1909, grew up in Siberia. His whole life was connected with creativity, before the Great Patriotic War he worked as an actor and director in Siberian theaters. In 1946 he moved to the Baltic States, where he lived until his death. His post-war career was associated with writing.

For his historical novels about the exploits of explorers and the development of the Far East, he was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1952. The most famous work is the novel "Cupid Father". In 1969 he received the title of Honored Art Worker of the Latvian SSR.

Paternal grandfather, Pavel Ivanovich Zadornov, was a veterinarian. Under Soviet rule, he was falsely charged for "deliberate extermination of livestock", was imprisoned for ten years, and he died in prison. In 1956, Pavel Ivanovich was rehabilitated posthumously.


Parents of Mikhail Zadornov

Mikhail's mother, Elena Melkhiorovna (maiden name Pokorno-Matusevich), was born in 1909 in the city of Maykop. Her parents belonged to noble families, and Elena received an appropriate upbringing with training in singing and playing the piano. With the advent of Soviet power, her father, as a tsarist officer, was first sentenced to death, but then exiled to the GULAG. Lena and her mother were left without a livelihood, so the girl could not get a proper higher education. She had to marry a ministerial worker early. In this marriage, she gave birth to a son, Lollia, the half-brother of Mikhail Zadornov.

Having settled in Ufa as a proofreader for a local newspaper, Elena met a young journalist Nikolai Zadornov, who became the love of her life. She quickly filed for a divorce from her first husband and tied her fate with Nikolai. In 1942, they had a girl named Lyudmila. In 1948, when the family had already finally moved to the Baltic States, Mikhail was born.

Childhood

Since childhood, Misha was raised by his mother in the best aristocratic traditions. And the father read to his son before bedtime not only fairy tales, but also the works of Lermontov, Tyutchev, Gogol, Pushkin, Arsenyev, Goncharov.

Mikhail received his secondary education in the Riga elite school number 10, where the children of high-ranking officials studied. Already in the second grade, the boy made his debut on the theater stage. In the school production, he was entrusted with the role of Turnip, which he played so well that the little actor was called for an encore (the audience really liked the scene of pulling Turnip out of the ground).

The next role of Mikhail was the costumed bear in the school play "Profitable Place" based on Ostrovsky's play. He also convincingly reincarnated into a bear, growling so naturally that the boy was accepted into the school drama club.

In addition to the theater, during his school years, Mikhail was actively involved in sports, played handball for the youth team of Latvia.

Even from school, Misha began to guess that "Russia cannot be understood with the mind." In high school, at competitions and other events, he already performed with his own humorous numbers. Zadornov initiated the creation of a miniature theater at the school. But, despite such abilities, for further education the young man chose an institution that is absolutely not connected with creativity.

Institute

Having received a certificate of secondary education, Mikhail became a student at the Riga Polytechnic Institute. So the father wanted and insisted that his son get a real male profession of civil aviation engineer. The educational institution attracted Zadoronov by the fact that there was a good national handball team. However, his sporting future ended with an unsuccessful fall and a knee meniscus injury.

After studying for two years in Riga, Mikhail transferred with the loss of one course to the Moscow Aviation Institute. Here, at the Faculty of Aircraft Engines, he studied to be a mechanical engineer. In 1974 he received a diploma of higher education and stayed to work at the Department of Aerospace Heat Engineering. In this decision, he was more attracted not by the prospect of becoming a researcher, but by the youth theater "Russia", in which, even during his student days, Mikhail participated as an actor, director and author of funny miniatures.

Zadornov worked at the department for four years, worked on the invention of a nozzle for the afterburner of an aircraft engine, and reached the position of a leading engineer. And he devoted all his free time to the theater. Under his leadership, the team went to perform at all-Union construction sites, became popular in many republics and even received the Lenin Komsomol Prize.

Creation

By this time, many famous comedians had already read miniatures and stories written by Mikhail from the stage. And in 1982 he made his debut on television himself, having read the monologue "A student's letter home."

Real popularity came to him after the release of the program "Around Laughter" on central television, where Mikhail read the story "Two Ninth Carriages". This train, going to Hungary, to which two cars with the same number were mistakenly attached, later became the satirist's calling card.

Since the second half of the 1980s, Mikhail began to fruitfully work with Yevgeny Petrosyan and wrote many pop numbers for him. As a result of this cooperation, the famous parody of Mikhail Gorbachev was born, Petrosyan proposed the idea, and Zadorov wrote and was able to accurately convey the intonation of the Secretary General during his speeches.

  • "Full house";
  • Mothers and Daughters;
  • "Laughing Panorama";
  • "Satirical forecast".

The most important indicator of Mikhail's popularity was the fact that it was he who, on New Year's Eve, congratulated the residents of the collapsed Soviet Union on the New Year 1991 from television screens, since Mikhail Gorbachev was no longer in power, and Boris Yeltsin had not yet come into his own.

At the same time, his books began to be published:

  • "End of the world";
  • "Hitch";
  • "I do not understand!";
  • Tiny Stars;
  • "Return";
  • "We are all from Chi-Chi-Chi-Pi";
  • "Modern people";
  • "A great country with an unpredictable past."

Zadornov became especially famous for his jokes and attacks on America. On all tours with a full house, his program "Well stupid-s-s!" Was held, for which he was banned from entering the United States.

Mikhail also tried himself in cinema, he wrote the script for the comedy "I Want Your Husband", in which he starred. He later appeared in two more films, Depression and Genius.

His performance schedule could be called crazy, it happened that he played eight concerts a day. Mikhail always went on stage in a suit and with papers in his hands, and at the end he stood on his hands or sat on a twine, showing the audience his excellent physical shape.

With the advent of the Internet age, the satirist actively communicated with fans on social networks, maintained his own blogs and video channels. Thanks to such communication, many of his humorous sketches were born, people sent stories from life, and the writer played them and presented them to the public. Since the beginning of the 2010s, almost the entire repertoire of the artist has been built on such "observers".

In 2015, Zadornov was banned from entering the territory of Ukraine, as he supported the policy of Russian President Vladimir Putin towards Crimea. Mikhail was not very upset and commented on the decision of the Ukrainian government as follows: "It would be more terrible if I were forbidden to leave this country."

For his creative achievements, the satirist was awarded prizes:

  • The Golden Calf (1975);
  • Ovation (1999);
  • "Word to the People" from the newspaper "Soviet Russia" (2009).

Since 2016, Mikhail, together with KVN player Dmitry Kolchin and musician Alexei Kortnev, began to host the author's program "Saltykov Shchedrin Show" on television, where they joked about cases from real life. But soon the transfer had to be closed due to Zadornov's illness.

Personal life

Velta Yanovna Kalnberzina became the first wife of Mikhail. They were familiar from school, as they studied in parallel classes. Although, as Zadornov said, for the first time they could see each other in the maternity hospital, since their mothers lay in the same ward and gave birth to their babies four days apart.

Educated Velta from an intelligent family, even in her school years, drew attention to an intelligent, interesting boy. But they became close already in Moscow, where both received higher education - Misha at the Aviation Institute, Velta at Moscow State University. Despite the fact that they had known each other for a long time and completely coincided in their interests, they did not get married right away. Mikhail had to fight for Velta.

The girl was very beautiful, intelligent and intelligent, with impeccable manners and taste, and with a high social status: her dad Jan Kalnberzin worked as the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia. Velta had a lot of boyfriends and applicants for the role of husband, but still she chose Mikhail. In the early spring of 1971, their wedding took place.

Mikhail's wife became a reliable support and muse; she always treated his work with special trepidation. He affectionately called his wife "Velkoy". Despite the fact that in the future Mikhail had a second family, they did not officially part with Velta, in his passport there was a single marriage stamp. Until the end of her days, Zadornov considered her the most dear person. Now she lives in Moscow, works at the Department of English Linguistics, Faculty of Philology, Moscow State University, has the title of professor and doctor of philological sciences.


Mikhail with his first wife Velta Yanovna

In the late 1980s, a second wife, Elena Vladimirovna Bombina, appeared in Mikhail's life, she was sixteen years younger than him. At that time, Zadornov toured the country a lot and on trips became close to Lena, who worked for him as an administrator. She was from Riga, and Mikhail's mother lived there, whom he often came to visit. Over time, the relationship grew into a long and serious one, the lovers did not advertise them, but did not hide them either.

In 1990, Bombina gave birth to the satirist's only daughter, the girl was also named Elena (in honor of Mikhail's mother). Zadornov gave his daughter his last name and managed to show it to his father, who died two years after the birth of the baby. Mikhail did not hide the birth of his daughter from Velta, with whom he was still legally married. A wise woman commented on this situation in the following way: “A daughter is a joy, and why hide her if she has already been born. Anything can happen in life. "

Mikhail devoted all his free time to raising his daughter, they traveled a lot, played, read, had conversations on any topic. The satirist doted in his daughter and was insanely proud of her. Now Elena has already graduated from the acting department of the Russian Academy of Theater Arts.


Mikhail with his second wife Elena Bombina and daughter

Sickness and death

In the fall of 2016, doctors diagnosed Mikhail with a brain tumor. In early October, the satirist addressed fans on the VKontakte social network. He said that he would undergo a course of chemical therapy and therefore several concerts were canceled, especially those related to long flights.

On October 22, Zadornov's concert took place at the Moscow Center "Meridian". During the speech, an epileptic seizure occurred, and Mikhail was hospitalized.
Less than a month later, he underwent a brain biopsy in Germany. Then he underwent a course of treatment in a private Baltic clinic.

A year later, the disease still won. On the morning of November 10, 2017, Mikhail Zadornov died in a Moscow clinic. Two months before his death, he confessed, and literally five days before unction. On November 15, 2017, he was buried next to his father in Jurmala. More than four hundred people came to the funeral service at the Alexander Nevsky Church in Riga.

They say that the biography of Mikhail Zadornov entirely consists of humorous philosophy and a common Slavic hitch. The satirist is loved and respected not only in Russia - he is known in all countries of the post-Soviet space. His subtle humor is sometimes so sharp that in some countries (for example, in Ukraine and America), he is no longer allowed, outraged by the barbs. The heroes of Mikhail Zadornov's monologues are taken straight from life, therefore they are so recognizable and "convex". Many of the writer's expressions become aphorisms and can be disassembled into quotations. He is rightfully considered the best humorist in Russia.

A writer-satirist from the most beautiful resort town of Latvia - Jurmala: he was born here in the summer of 1948. His father Nikolai Pavlovich Zadornov was an actor and famous writer. Most of his works are historical in nature. For the novel "Cupid Father" he was awarded the Stalin Prize. The mother of Mikhail Zadornov - Elena Melkhiorovna Pokorno-Matusevich - is of noble origin.

She is from a clan whose roots stretch back to the king of Poland, Stefan Batory. Her marriage to the father of Mikhail Zadornov is the second. The first husband was an employee of the ministry, from whom the woman had the eldest son Lolly, the half-brother of the satirist. Elena Melkhiorovna worked as a proofreader in one of the Ufa newspapers. There she met her second husband. In this marriage, Mikhail and his older sister Lyudmila, who became an English teacher, were born.


Mikhail Zadornov as a child Little Misha grew up in a world of fantasy, literature and travel. The father, in addition to children's fairy tales, read works to his son, Ivan Goncharov, and.

The future satirist-writer studied at the Riga elite school # 10, where mainly children of high officials were educated.

Theatrical career of Mikhail Zadornov began in his school years. The little artist first appeared on the stage in the 2nd grade. He was entrusted to play the turnip. The audience liked the scene of pulling the turnip out of the ground so much that they asked to repeat it for an encore. Mikhail also convincingly reincarnated into a mummed bear from the production of Alexander Ostrovsky's "Profitable Place". He growled so naturally that he was admitted to the school drama club on a permanent basis.


When the young artist grew up, he actively performed at all events with his own humorous works and even created a school theater of miniatures.

After leaving school, Mikhail Zadornov, at the request of his father, entered the Moscow Aviation Institute, which he successfully graduated in 1974 and received the specialty of a mechanical engineer. Over the next four years, he worked within the walls of the Moscow Aviation Institute at the Department of Aerospace Heating Engineering, where he achieved considerable success: from an ordinary employee he "grew" to a leading engineer.

Creative career

In 1974, Mikhail Zadornov created the student propaganda theater "Russia", whose creative activity won fans throughout the post-Soviet space, and also passed a test of strength in state institutions, which resulted in the prestigious Lenin Komsomol Prize.

Along with theatrical creativity, Mikhail also developed his writing activity. After the publication of the bold work "An Open Letter to the Secretary General," they began to recognize him not only in Russia, but also in Europe.

Zadornov's debut on television took place in 1982, but resounding popularity came two years later, in 1984, after reading his satirical story "The Ninth Car".

Since the beginning of the 90s, the writer and artist has become the author-screenwriter and presenter of the famous TV programs "Smehopanorama", "Full House", "Daughters-Mothers", "Satirical Forecast".

The humorist-satirist considers his most famous performance to be the New Year's greetings from the Russians in 1991, because of which the broadcast of the chimes had to be shifted for a minute. In that difficult period in the fate of the country, it was he who was entrusted with the main television performance of the year.

Since 1990, Zadornov's creative career has gained momentum, and many of his books have been published. The legendary works of the satirical writer are "I Don't Understand!"

For his creative work, Mikhail Zadornov has received many prestigious awards. He is a laureate of the Ovation, Golden Calf and Cup awards.

Thanks to his unique talent, the artist received an apartment next door to high-ranking officials such as Alexander Korzhakov and.

The achievements of the humorist writer include the library opened by him, named after his father, as well as the conclusion to the big stage, which is still friends with Zadornov.

The releases of the program "Neformat with Mikhail Zadornov", which are aired on Humor FM, are very popular. The sharpest, "informal" jokes of the satirist are heard here.

Mikhail Nikolaevich is also known for his sharp attacks and dislike for America and its inhabitants. He devoted a lot of jokes to this topic, accompanied by the meme "Well, stupid-s-s!". There is a whole program called American Foolishness about America. In it, Zadornov discusses the influence of the United States on the culture and psychology of Russians, ridicules the ridiculous imitation and thoughtless copying of the American way of life.

Several years ago, Mikhail Zadornov at the New Wave competition met a young musician and performer from Germany, Brandon Stone. He not only sings himself, but also writes songs for many famous European artists. In collaboration with Brandon, Mikhail Nikolaevich performs at many of his concerts. For example, in 2011, at the Zadornov concert “Laughter through Laughter,” Brandon Stone performed the lines from new songs, complementing the humorist's performances.

The friendship of Mikhail Zadornov and has long been known, which grew into cooperation. Often, two stars met in order to joke together. Many of their meetings appeared on YouTube and became popular with Internet users. The satirist and the director met on Mikhalkov's author's channel Besogon TV, where they talked about politics and some of the ugly events of modern life.

Scandals

Throughout his creative activity, the satirist writer was repeatedly subjected to merciless criticism. He was accused of plagiarizing historical and humorous stories, for which he sometimes had to pay impressive amounts of compensation.

In 2009, Mikhail Zadornov was convicted of plagiarism from the blog of Israeli writer Victoria Reicher. The satirist admitted that he borrowed from Reicher the retelling of the story about the cat-scientist and settled the dispute with monetary compensation in the amount of 100,000 rubles.


A well-known story by Mikhail Zadornov called "Notes of a Brick Hunter" is also an adaptation. It is based on an American urban legend.

In 2010, at one of his concerts, which was broadcast on Channel One, the satirist allowed himself to offend the female population of Vladivostok. He said that all women in the city are dressed like in glossy magazines, "that is, all the girls in Vladivostok look like prostitutes." The satirist did not apologize for this "joke", although the large Internet community of the northern city demanded this from him.

Residents of Vladivostok “punished” the artist in a peculiar way: in the spring of 2010, toilet paper “Teddy bear” and “Paper with a hitch”, on the packaging of which a satirist was depicted, went on sale.


Mikhail Zadornov insulted the women of Vladivostok

Not everyone welcomes the historical and philological "research" of Mikhail Zadornov, calling them pseudo-historical and ignorant. For example, Viktor Zhivov, Doctor of Philology, Professor of Moscow State University, specializing in the history of the Russian language, in the program "Gordon Quixote" said to the satirist that he was a layman and carried "ignorance to the masses."


Mikhail Zadornov is used to being in the spotlight of the tabloids

Recently, the satirical writer paid special attention, for which he was included in the "black" list of persons non grata of the Ukrainian government, which prohibits him from entering the territory of Ukraine. Let us remind you that many other stars of Ukrainian and Russian show business also fell out of favor.

But Mikhail Zadornov did not consider his ban on entry to Ukraine a tragedy. “It would be more terrible if I was banned from leaving this country,” the comedian commented on the Ukrainian political decision.

Zadornov was banned from entering not only Ukraine, but also the United States.

Personal life

Officially, in his personal life, Mikhail Zadornov was married only once. His chosen one was the daughter of the ex-secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia Velta Yanovna Kalnberzina. With her, the future satirist studied at the same school, and then at the Moscow Aviation Institute. Velta, a beautiful and intelligent girl from a wealthy family, knew her worth. Mikhail had to take care of her for a long time and seek favor. The beauty "surrendered" only in the early 1970s. Then the couple played a wedding. And although there were no children in this marriage, all the acquaintances of the satirical writer considered the family strong.


Mikhail Zadornov and Velta Kalnberzina

As it turned out, the marriage began to burst at the seams in the late 1980s, when the artist's career was rapidly gaining momentum. It was then that Mikhail Zadornov met a beautiful young woman who worked as an administrator at the festival in which he took part. Elena Bombina was 16 years younger than the artist. The novel did not become a simple affair, as many thought, but grew into something more.

The personal life of Mikhail Zadornov with Elena Bombina was happy. They lived in a civil marriage. In 1990, the woman gave the artist his only daughter, Elena.


Mikhail Zadornov with his wife Elena and daughter

The wife, with whom Mikhail Zadornov lived for a long 38 years, found out about her husband's second family when his daughter was born. Velta Yanovna, of course, was upset by the "double" life of her husband, but managed to cope with her feelings. In the end, she even found the strength to rejoice for her husband, because he had a child that she could not give him.

Rumor has it that Mikhail Zadornov never divorced his legal marriage with his first wife.


Mikhail Zadornov and Elena Bombina

The artist's friends said that he was at the height of happiness when he had a daughter. He tried to give her everything that he was deprived of in childhood. Elena Zadornova from a young age traveled with her dad around the world. She visited Vienna, Paris, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Greece and Africa. Traveled all over Russia.

The daughter inherited his artistic genes from dad. Elena Zadornova graduated from a theater university (RATI-GITIS). It is noteworthy that the girl managed not to get sick with "star fever", as happened with many children of famous artists. She does not appear on TV, does not use her father's influence to achieve some goals, does not give interviews and does not go to various rating shows to become recognizable.

Disease

In late autumn 2016, it became known that. The artist first felt unwell at a concert in the capital's recreation center "Meridian". Doctors diagnosed him with a brain tumor. The artist announced this himself on his page on the social network. He said that most of the concerts, especially those that require many hours of flights, had to be canceled, as doctors recommended that he urgently undergo chemotherapy. Zadornov was forced to leave the program "Saltykov-Shchedrin Show", which was successfully broadcast on NTV.


At the beginning of winter of the same year, Mikhail Zadornov underwent treatment at a German clinic. In December, he underwent a brain biopsy.

The alarming news that the artist, beloved by millions, is sick and has cancer, instantly spread in the information space. He confirmed the rumors in his program. After that, there was no point in hiding the diagnosis, although the satirist did not want to advertise his state of health.

Mikhail Zadornov did not deny the information, but asked his fans not to worry and not make unnecessary noise. And he also assured everyone that the recommendations of Daria Dontsova, who had had the same ailment, should be followed: “not to give up and keep yourself in good shape”.


And to keep in good shape Mikhail Zadornov was helped by his devoted fans. They send their favorite artist humorous videos, which he enjoys watching on the Internet. Zadornov even asked his subscribers to send him more videos, the best of which he promised to award with prizes.

At the very beginning of 2017, she informed about the state of health of the legendary satirist. She confirmed that Mikhail Zadornov underwent a complex operation and underwent a long course of treatment and rehabilitation.

Death

Shortly before the death of the satirist, the media reported that Mikhail Nikolaevich, having chosen Archpriest Andrei Novikov as his mentor. On November 8, the priest summoned Zadornov.

Remembering Mikhail Zadornov: the funniest performances. On November 10, one of the brightest people of our stage, the satirist Mikhail Zadornov, passed away.

So maybe the role of healthy lifestyle in the prevention of cancer is greatly exaggerated? Why did Mikhail Zadornov get sick? For a comment, we turned to one of the leading Russian experts in oncology, the head of the department of the Federal Research and Clinical Center named after V.I. Dmitry Rogachev, Doctor of Medical Sciences Nikolay Zhukov.

I am often asked the question: can a person who leads an absolutely healthy lifestyle get cancer? Maybe. Can a person who constantly violates the hygiene regime and spits on his health never get cancer and die at 90, being hit by a tram? Maybe. Both are true. The question is the odds. A person who follows all the rules of a healthy lifestyle and avoids carcinogenic effects has a much lower chance of getting sick and dying than someone who tests himself for strength. Here the situation is like with street racers: are there those among them who have never had an accident? Maybe there is. At the same time, there are people who perfectly comply with traffic rules, and they crash into them at traffic lights. But the chances of getting into an accident and dying are much higher for street racers than for someone who follows the rules.

It must be remembered that human tumors are the price of evolution. In any case, cancer is caused by a genetic breakdown. It can appear either spontaneously - just in some place the cell divides, and one of the daughter received erroneous genetic material, for no particular reason. This random variability of the genome is one of the main mechanisms of evolution, it is thanks to it that we did not remain unicellular, but eventually turned into humans. And for the same reason, tumor cells arise.

That is, a breakdown in genes can really occur by chance, regardless of a person's lifestyle. But! If you "help" - for example, being under the influence of radiation, smoking like a steam locomotive, sunbathing is godless, then this will be a factor that will significantly increase the risk of developing cancer. The most striking example: it has been unequivocally and undeniably proven that the incidence of lung cancer in a person who smokes increases many times. That is, a person, of course, may not smoke and get lung cancer. But the one who smokes increases his chance of getting sick a hundred times or more.

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The satirist Mikhail Zadornov passed away. The famous satirist Mikhail Zadornov died. The artist was 69 years old. We condole with the family and friends of Mikhail Nikolaevich ...

- How big is the role of genetics - the set of genes that a person gets from their parents?

Much depends on what kind of genes and breakdowns they are talking about. There are breakdowns that give an almost 100% chance of developing a tumor. Everyone knows Angelina Jolie - she had just such a prohibitively high risk.

- What external factors "help" the formation of tumors the most?

It is reliably known that this smoking - it multiplies the incidence of lung cancer and not only. Solar ultraviolet light is a trigger for the development of skin and brain tumors. And the human papilloma virus is the cause of cervical cancer in almost 100% of cases (that is, not everyone who is infected with HPV develops a tumor, but those who get sick find oncogenic types of HPV in almost 100% of cases).

Summing up, I can say: of course, for each specific person there is only his own situation - got sick or not. When this happens to famous people who are constantly heard, then many have the impression that this is exactly what happens most often. Zadornov, who led a very healthy lifestyle, may have fallen ill due to an accidental breakdown in his genes. But, roughly speaking, out of a hundred such cases when people adhere to a healthy lifestyle, one person will get sick. And out of a hundred smokers, 10 or 20 people will get sick.

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10 immortal quotes by Mikhail Zadornov."Optimists are those who, having missed a train, do not get upset - they just think that they came in advance for the next one." We recall the brightest and wisest quotes from the speeches of Mikhail Zadornov. Alexandra LYABINA

BY THE WAY

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At one time or another, we all wanted to date Patrick Swayze or be Patrick Swayze (and some of us wanted both at the same time). But the fate of the actor decreed that he got into trouble, that no one would want to be in his place. Patrick became a victim of pancreatic cancer, a disease that also killed Steve Jobs. When diagnosed, 90 percent of all patients have an inoperable or metastatic form of the disease, and only 6 percent of patients survive 5 years after the disease is diagnosed. In 2009, Swayze died at the age of 57 ()

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Not so long ago it became known that the satirist Mikhail Zadornov is seriously ill. He felt bad right at the concert, after which he was forced to see a doctor.

MEMORY

Comedian Nikolai Lukinsky: When Mikhail Zadornov became ill and he stopped his performance, the audience gave him a standing ovation

I have known Mikhail Zadornov for a very long time, since the 90s. And, of course, I always admired him - and his talent, and his humor, and his beautiful numbers. And the current sad message is, of course, such a strong blow. It is even difficult to find words to express everything that is immediately in your heart, in your head. Kingdom of heaven, eternal memory to him!

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The 68-year-old writer continues to fight the disease: last year, doctors diagnosed him with cancer. But Mikhail Nikolaevich does not despair and publishes his new book "The Big Concert", which includes his jokes, aphorisms and stories. We publish excerpts from it with the permission of the publishing house "Tsentrpoligraf"

Mikhail Zadornov erected a monument to Arina Rodionovna in the Leningrad region and visited him, even though he was ill

He was especially grateful to Alexander Pushkin's nanny, Arina Rodionovna. The satirist believed that it was she who instilled in the poet a love of the word and played an important role in the return of the "original Russian language."

I am ready to cover the whole of Russia with Arinas Rodionovna, - Zadornov once said and ... he almost did it.

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 have always been topical, full of subtle irony, and their heroes are perfectly recognizable in everyday life, therefore all the satirist's performances invariably scattered into quotes, gathered a lot of spectators and were held with great success.

When did the career of this brilliant satirist begin and what was his path to the big stage? Our article will help you find out all this, which is entirely devoted to one of the best comedians on the modern Russian stage.

Family, childhood and adolescence

Mikhail Zadornov was born in the Latvian resort town of Jurmala. His father, Nikolai Pavlovich Zadornov, was a writer specializing mainly in historical subjects. Mom - Elena Melkhiorovna Matusevich - came from an old noble family, was a housewife.


While still in school, the future satirist began to get seriously involved in theater. According to some of his acquaintances, in one of the children's performances young Mikhail played the role of a turnip so masterly that he was repeatedly pulled out for an encore. The next role was the costumed bear in the production of Ostrovsky's "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 the success in the acting field, after school, Mikhail Zadornov decided to enter the Riga Institute of Civil Aviation Engineers, since there was a good national handball team, and the future satirist was fascinated by this game from an early age. However, his further sports career did not work out - once during a training session, he fell and broke the meniscus.


Creative way

Zadornov wrote his debut literary work (the unpublished story "Point of Intersection") at the age of 18, having been on an expedition to the Kuril Islands (the plot was based on the impressions of the trip). Alas, the story did not make an impression on the editors of the magazine and was not published.


In 1969, Zadornov transferred to the second year of the Moscow Aviation Institute, which he graduated in 1974 with a diploma in mechanical engineering, simultaneously receiving an offer from the management to stay at the Moscow Aviation Institute as an employee. Mikhail agreed, but rather not because of the prospects of becoming a scientist, but for the sake of the youth theater "Russia" at the Moscow Aviation Institute, to which he devoted a substantial part of the student body: 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 department of satire and humor. However, already in 1985 he left the post, devoting himself to his own literary career.

The first performance of Zadornov. "A Student's Letter Home" (1982)

In 1982, Zadornov made his television debut with the monologue "A Student's Letter Home" about the misadventures of an unlucky student. Two years later, he appeared in the program Around Laughter with the monologue The Ninth Car. It was this life sketch of how two cars with the same number were mistakenly joined to the next train to Hungary, which later became Zadornov's calling card.

Mikhail Zadornov - "The Ninth Car" (1984)

The audience also fell in love with the bold at that time monologue "An 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 satire, was sounded from the TV screen, signaled changes in the socio-political life of the country. However, the feuilleton firmly settled in Zadornov's repertoire and sounded just as relevant even after many years.


In the late eighties, Mikhail Zadornov began working as an author of humorous texts for other artists. Many famous humorists have performed with his monologues, including Yevgeny Petrosyan, and Zadornov himself regularly shared new observations with his characteristic irony in new issues of "Smehopanorama", "Full House" and "Satirical Forecast".

Mikhail Zadornov on the differences between Americans and Russians

In 1988, the first collection of stories by Zadornov, "Line 15 thousand meters long," was published, which was published as part of the anthology "Library" Crocodile "". The following collection "The Mystery of the Blue Planet" was published in a circulation of 100 thousand copies.


A peculiar 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 had time to enter the presidency instead of Mikhail Gorbachev, who congratulated the inhabitants of the disintegrated state on the New Year.

Despite the fact that in his speeches the comedian often "applied" the country's leadership and the president himself, this did not prevent him from getting an apartment in the "nomenklatura" house on Osennaya Street, where Boris Yeltsin, Viktor Chernomyrdin, the head of the president's security service 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 according to his own script. The tape featured only three actors; in addition to Mikhail Nikolaevich, Ekaterina Voronina and Anna Dubrovskaya were involved in the filming. According to the plot, a young beauty Oksana declares to a woman named Elena, preparing to celebrate a porcelain wedding, and offers to buy out Elena's husband, who, as it turned out, had been cheating on his wife for many years. Recognizable "Zadornov's" dialogues and subtly conveyed imprint of the outgoing era provided the film with the recognition and love of the audience.


A year earlier, he also appeared in the Latvian production "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 edition, which incorporated the best works of the satirist at that time. Since 2000, every year Zadornov has 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, getting up on the splits, or walked on his hands. His performance schedule was literally crazy: once he had to give as many as 8 concerts in one day.

American Stupidity (2016)

In the early 2000s, the leitmotif of Zadornov's speeches was the "American" theme. Zadornov's trademark phrase "Well, stupid!" to this day on hearing. After the scandal of discrimination against the Russian Olympic team at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, the satirist defiantly canceled his American visa. Subsequently, "amateur etymology" appeared in his repertoire, as well as frequent criticism of Russian education, the Unified State Exam and Education Minister Andrei Fursenko in particular.

Mikhail Zadornov on the Unified State Exam and Education Reform

In 2012, Mikhail Zadornov shot a pseudo-documentary film “Rurik. Lost reality ”, which was later shown by the REN-TV channel. The tape 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, claiming that in recent years it was this pseudo-historical and frankly politicized approach that began to prevail in the work of the pop satirist.

Film by Mikhail Zadornov “Rurik. Lost reality "

Since the early 2010s, Zadornov has kept in touch with fans of his work via the Internet. In addition to the official website, the satirist had a blog on LiveJournal, a Youtube channel (Zador TV) and his own page on VKontakte. Quite a large part of the satirist's repertoire was made up of the so-called "observers" - notes from life sent by readers.


In 2016, Mikhail Zadornov, Alexey Kortnev and Dmitry Kolchin became co-hosts of the author's satirical show "Saltykov-Shchedrin Show". On the airtime, the presenters and guests joked about incidents from real life.

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 with him at the same school, then was his classmate at the Moscow Aviation Institute. A beautiful and intelligent girl knew her worth, and therefore Mikhail had to win her heart for a long time. Young people met for a long time, and in the spring of 1971 they got married.


Relations in a young family went wrong at a time when the artist's career began to rapidly gain momentum. At this moment, Mikhail Zadornov began dating Elena Bombina - a girl who was 16 years younger than the satirist, he met 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 had 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 has repeatedly told about his choice in the style of “amateur etymology”: “Meat in English sounds like meat: me (me) + eat (eat), that is,“ eat yourself ”. In addition, it has been proven that human DNA and pig DNA are in many ways similar, which means that pork kebabs are clearly not good for you. "


Zadornov also spoke about support for the Ringing Cedars of Russia movement, which promotes the ideology of the so-called "family estates" - plots of land no less than a hectare in size, on which members of one family can equip their homes in accordance with the rules of the eco-community.


Death of Mikhail Zadornov

In the fall of 2016, Mikhail Zadornov admitted to having serious health problems, because of which he had to leave the Saltykov-Shchedrin Show program and cancel concerts in the 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 ailment - it turned out that Zadornov had brain cancer. Mikhail Nikolayevich did not deny the information, but asked the 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 while performing at the Meridian Palace of Culture. He was taken by ambulance straight from the concert. Doctors recorded the man's epileptic seizure on a nervous basis.

At the beginning of 2017, Regina Dubovitskaya spoke about the state of the satirist, who said 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, as did the 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, 2017, Mikhail Zadornov passed away. He was 69 years old.


Before his death, Mikhail Zadornov ordered to bury him at home, in the same grave with his father, and to support the Riga library named after Nikolai Zadornov.

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, they closed the comments. His secret concert is also located there - in the Capercaillie's Nest. A group of fans of his work continues to function. On November 15, Mikhail Nikolaevich was buried at the Jaundubulta cemetery in Jurmala.