Sadly, there is no more vaudeville, no more Laurel and Hardy or Gallagher and Shean. The days of Milton Berle and Sid Caesar are gone forever. Lost too is the acerbic wit of Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce. What passes for comedy in the U.S. today seems to be the maximum use of the “F” word.

But do not despair. A brand-new style of humor has been born, and it’s coming to us — to the whole world — out of a most unexpected place: Moscow. Yes, that’s Moscow, the capital of Russia — not Moscow, Indiana or Moscow, Idaho, though either of those cities would most likely be a better choice of vacation destination these days.

No, the new humor . . . albeit on the sick and somewhat tasteless side . . . is presented with a deadpan delivery that has obviously taken years — even decades — to develop. You really have to see it to appreciate it fully; but like most good jokes, just hearing or reading the words can still give you a good chuckle.

Without going into too much detail or background, I present to you the four stars of the Russian Comedy Club, and the unforgettable punch lines for which they have most recently become rich — really rich —and famous. Or is it “infamous”? Anyway, without further ado, let’s give a huge welcome to Vladimir Putin, Sergey Lavrov, Dmitry Medvedev, and Nikolai Patrushev.

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Vladimir Putin, President: He tops the list for declaring Ukraine’s demolition of Russia’s illegally-built Crimean Bridge to be a “barbaric bomb attack” that qualifies as an “act of terrorism,” and demanding that the responsible parties be extradited to Russia, along with compensation to the families of the Russian invaders who were killed in the explosion. Now, taken in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine, tell me that’s not just plain hilarious.

Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister: In a skit that centered around the need for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, Sergey told us that he believes China would be the best choice to act as negotiator, based on its proposed peace plan: “The most important thing for us is that the Chinese document is based on an analysis of the reasons for what is happening and the need to eliminate these root causes. It is structured in logic from the general to the specific.” And he delivered those lines without cracking a smile. Fantastic!

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman, Russian Security Council: Dmitry managed to reduce me to tears with three short sentences: “One of Ukraine’s former leaders once said Ukraine is not Russia. That concept needs to disappear forever. Ukraine is definitely Russia.” Who writes this stuff, anyway??!!! It’s priceless!

And last, but by no means least, we have the normally poker-faced . . .

Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary, Russian Security Council: They’re just loaded with comics on the Security Council, aren’t they? Well, old Nicky slayed us this week with a one-liner, the punch line of his routine wherein he lays substantial blame for the Moscow theater attack on Ukraine and the U.S.: “But everyone knows that the Kyiv regime is not independent and is completely controlled by the United States.” Omigod! My sides are splitting! This guy is too much!

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So there, in brief, you have the new stars of Russian comedy. Or are they in truth the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Hmmm . . . It’s really hard to tell the difference.

Now, that’s not funny.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/5/24

P.S. For a real laugh, take a closer look at what AI did to the Four Horsemen, and their horses.