Mikhail Nikolayevich Zadornov

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about satirist. For other persons named Mikhail Zadornov, see Mikhail Zadornov.

Mikhail Nikolayevich Zadornov (Russian: Михаил Задорнов, Latvian: Mihails Zadornovs), (b. July 21, 1948 in Riga, Latvia), known as Mikhail Zadornov is a Russian stand-up comedian and writer. Zadornov is particularly famous for his satirical comparisons of Russians and nationals of other countries, especially Americans and Germans. He has rescinded his visa to the United States as a protest to the American athletes' flag-waving behavior at the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics ^[1]. Zadornov was born in an artistic family, his father Nikolai Zadornov was a notable writer from Riga. Mikhail Zadornov graduated from Moscow Aviation Institute, however, in the early 1980s he started a career as a humorist instead of an engineer.

He has also been known to make fun of any CIS (former Soviet) country seeking a friendly relationship with the west, but seems to have no hard feelings against them.

While criticizing heavily American culture and its influence on the life in modern Russia, Zadornov commended Dan Brown for getting the public interested in Israel, the Vatican, Leonardo da Vinci and art history. (That praise aside, Zadornov assessed the literary value of Brown's books as "сочинения ученика очень средней школы", which translates into something like "compositions of a mediocre student at a mediocre middle-school".)

[edit] Quotes

If you have something against democracy, while democracy is in your land,—you’re finished (TV concert, 1999)

“I do not criticize America—I criticize our [Russian] way to copy the American way of life—especially its worst side” (TV concert, 2003)

"I travel to Ukraine about three times a year now, and every time I come, I ask the guy at the train station 'What's new?' to which he always answers 'elections'. I want to buy a parrot that lives about 300 years, and officially adopt him so at least one of my family members sees the end of the Ukrainian elections."