“If you do not annoy anyone, you died in a creative sense”: Garik Martirosyan on humor and political ambitions

- We are not just on the set, but on the stage of the Mask show. It seems to me that you are not bored on this show.

- Firstly, I want to discover the most terrible secret. They told us in secret that being inside these masks is so difficult, it is so stuffy there that some even lost consciousness. And I am delighted not only with the creativity that pours from the stage into the auditorium, and then through screens in all apartments and throughout the country. I have a physical and physiological sense of pride in the people who endure these trials. Can you imagine what it is like to be inside these costumes? And also to dance.

If you watched the broadcast, you will agree with me that regardless of the competition program, from the competition and the quiz, where you need to guess who is behind the mask, this is a very cool show. It's awesome as an action - and the rooms are simply amazing. A low bow and applause to all participants who not only stand this steadfastly, but also do everything cool.

- Here you act as a member of the jury. Is it hard for you to judge?

- Being a member of the jury, and in general a judge, is very difficult. This applies not only to show business, but, as a rule, refereeing as a whole. In this case, of course, this is all creative competition, and nothing serious (unlike a regular court) will happen to a person if you tell him: “We chose you as the worst, you leave the project.” This is not a real punishment. But nevertheless, since you were chosen as a member of the jury, you must keep in your head and in your heart some criteria by which you judge these people. And these criteria cannot be artificial.

I have such a conviction that we must be judged honestly, and the way you feel it. That is, do not turn on another person’s regime: “Well, they called me to the jury, let me be more strict than usual in life.” Or vice versa.

I am always in the framework of such competitive programs, if I was elected a member of the jury, I choose the role of an honest, objective judge. If my decision somehow affected the fact that someone who didn’t imagine his career here left the project, well, excuse me. Next time do not call me on the jury.

- You are a great musician, you sing. Could you become a member of this show?

- I’ll tell you this: I'm not a great musician and not a good singer, it's all at the karaoke level. If you go to karaoke or to parties, you can see there girls and guys who are very cool singing, parodying, imitating different hits of our and foreign pop.

I’m not modest, but music is difficult. Moreover, I also relate to many of the so-called Russian pop stars. I also do not consider them serious musicians or cool singers. What can I say about me!

But about the show, if I were invited, I think I could participate. Because sound imitation, fooling around, in some way the possibility of deceiving people with their plastics, their expectations, their forecasts and so on - this, as it seems to me, I would have succeeded. Although, with my pleasant southern accent, I would have guessed right away.

- How many languages ​​do you speak?

- In almost all languages. There are no more on our planet ... Yes, no - of course not. I have excellent command of Armenian. I strive for impeccability in the Russian language. I have errors, I know them. I know English in the “three”, Italian in the “four”, but has already begun to forget, because there is no practice. And the remaining languages, unfortunately - are just a dream.

- By the way, you are a neurologist-psychotherapist by training. Interestingly, your acquired skills in medicine somehow help you in a new field?

- Firstly, God forbid that this helps. Because these are very serious diseases associated with neurology and psychiatry.

If you mean in general, not in terms of treating diseases, then, of course, medical education helps a lot in life. Moreover, I am sure that at the level of the school curriculum the lessons of medicine, anatomy, first aid and so on should be introduced. Unfortunately, those who have not graduated from medical institute do not even have a clue about the elementary structure of the human body, about diseases, and draw false information from the Internet and other unreliable sources.

- How are you defending yourself from coronavirus now?

- I try to limit myself when traveling abroad and around the country. So far, so.

- Hygiene products, hands ...

“I always lived like that before the virus, so everything is as usual.”

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- You have been working in the industry of humor for over 25 years. Humor is a perishable and rather topical thing. Of course, humor in itself has not changed over these 25 years, people both joked at the wickedness of the day and continue to joke. But as for our humorous shows ... It is unlikely that Comedy Club could have appeared 25 years ago. Frankly, I have never watched this show ...

- I, too. I participated there, but I do not watch the broadcast itself. And I'm not a creator. At Comedy Club, those who created it do not necessarily go on stage. The project was created by people who, unfortunately, do not appear in the frame. Or one of them once appeared there. I was just invited to participate in the Comedy Club.

You say that Comedy Club could have appeared 25 years ago. Perhaps, but he would not be what he is if he appeared then. So the situation there is this: Artak Gasparyan, Tash Sargsyan, many more of our guys from KVN united around the idea of ​​Comedy Club and, in fact, came up with it ...

- Many accuse the project of often joking below the waist there ...

“We rejoice when we are accused of this.” The more they accuse us, the longer we live. If you do not annoy anyone, then that's it - you have already died in a creative sense. And humor is both perishable and eternal. Therefore, it is impossible to apply certain criteria to humor and expect that it will be funny for 20 years, 40 years, and so on.

There is humor, which, indeed, is based solely on relevance and topicality. After a year, you look through these miniatures, sketches and jokes, and you understand that they are no longer relevant. But this does not mean that the comedians are bad, or the humor was bad.

And there is humor that can be watched forever, for decades. I have favorite films - for example, with Celentano. It's been 40 years, but I'm still funny.

- In January, the network published a rating of viewers' trust in public figures working in film, theater and television. And you are in this ranking in 16th place out of 20.

- How insulting.

- After Leonid Parfyonov and before Vasily Vakulenko (Bastoy). Have you heard about this rating?

“This is the first time I've heard about this.” But to be between Vasily Vakulenko and Leonid Parfyonov, in any case, is an honor. If it were even 116th place.

- Recently, many stars go to politics. This year, Sergei Shnurov joined the Growth Party, Valeria - your colleague in the jury - said she was going to organize a party that would defend women's rights.

- Great. I will support this party.

- Have you ever considered for yourself ...

- So, as soon as I want to consider my participation in political life in Russia, I immediately recall that I am a citizen of Armenia and, according to the laws of the Russian Federation, I am simply forbidden to engage in political activities. Therefore, these thoughts do not even arise. And do not wait. This is how I will live my whole life as an apolitical television figure.

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- You still worked in the wonderful ProjectorParisHilton program. It was based on the news. Have you ever been harmed by fake news?

- You know, they were not when we were actively broadcasting. Then the Internet was still in its infancy. Fake news might exist somewhere, but nobody paid attention to them. People were more choosy.

Now, it seems to me, people have become naive-naive. No matter what they say, especially if this video is some kind of cool shot, people believe right away. Then we were suspicious of any nonsense. Like, you kind of logic, with your common sense, understand that this cannot be, then this is some kind of newspaper “duck” or fake. And now it all takes on more severe forms.

- You are a talented person. Tell me, can I learn to joke at all?

- And what is the talent expressed in? Everyone is talented, there are no mediocre people. First of all, I don’t understand what it means to be talented. Here, I’m doing something on stage, or writing scripts off-screen, or producing. But this does not mean that other people will not succeed. Just have to try!

At that moment 500 people are sitting in the hall. Perhaps 250 of them are brilliant scriptwriters. Moreover, I am sure that 90% of people have an artistic gift, musical, screenwriting, humorous.

As for whether it is possible to learn to joke ... Anyone jokes. I have never met people in my life who are not joking ... Even one-year-old children are joking. They already perceive humor, laugh, they are joyful. All people know what to learn here. It's like learning to breathe or drink water.

Maybe someone does yoga and breathes more properly and efficiently. Learning to joke more efficiently, faster, witty is probably possible. To do this, you need to read a lot, you can go to a school of humor - such as KVN. It is necessary to communicate with people, to develop a skill in oneself. But there is no specific formula. If someone tells you that he knows how to learn to joke - this is a quack.

- Which of your colleagues could you single out? Who impresses you?

- Very many. It depends on what area. You know them all very well. If we talk about young, one of the coolest television stars, I think, is Azamat Musagaliev. Also Lesha Shcherbakov from stand-up comedians. I like Ruslan Bely. Especially his last concert (look at YouTube!). This is already such an alliance of experience, and wisdom, and harshness, and mind, and wit.

- They say that television is obsolete because of the Internet, blogs ... What do you think?

- Yes. In order to produce a program on the Internet, you need less light, less money, fewer cameras, fewer viewers, less scenery, less effort.

While the Internet has features that attract more people. And how much this struggle between the Internet and television is generally meaningful, whether television can continue to exist in parallel with YouTube, with the Internet, I do not know. It depends more on the television itself, and not on the Internet. How much people in love with television will push it forward. How many cool projects will be ... Like the Mask project.

But in general, the Internet, of course, has more options - it’s silly not to admit it. And we, television people, continue to work here, out of love for television, out of enthusiasm. Because television is a beautiful world, do not forget. This is a fairytale.

See the full version of the interview with Garik Martirosyan at RTD.