JRL NEWSWATCH: “It’s no joke: how Russian comedians try to stay relevant in wartime” – Reuters
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“… Comigration [is] … a small collective of comedians … [who] have left Russia since Putin’s [2022] invasion of Ukraine … and now ply their trade in Georgia. The contrast in their material is striking [compared with comedians still back in Russia]. According to one …, Ilya Ovechkin, any reference to Putin in a joke boosts laughs by 70%. In Russia, laws … since the invasion have made it a crime to ‘discredit’ … armed forces or spread what the government considers ‘false information’ about them. Ovechkin says he is glad to have escaped … a creative environment where ‘the walls are pressing in.’ …”