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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Luke Harding in Kyiv

‘War is very funny for the first couple of years’: how Russia’s invasion transformed Ukraine’s comedy scene

Anton Tymoshenko in a spotlight with a mic stand on stage in Kyiv's Underground Standup club in July 2025.
Comedian Anton Tymoshenko, recently returned from a gruelling tour of Europe, on stage in Kyiv's Underground Standup club. Photograph: Anastasia Vlasova/The Guardian

Anton Tymoshenko is exhausted. Ukraine’s most famous standup comedian – Volodymyr Zelenskyy doesn’t count, since he is the president – has just returned from a gruelling European tour, involving 36 shows in 50 days. He played in Berlin, Paris and London. And Birmingham, where Tymoshenko tried unsuccessfully to buy Peaky Blinders merchandise.

His audiences were made up of Ukrainians living abroad, many refugees. The tour raised nearly half a million dollars, all of which will go to Ukraine’s armed forces.

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