Mikhail Zadornov (comedian)

Mikhail Zadornov
Zadornov in 2012
Birth nameMikhail Nikolayevich Zadornov
Born(1948-07-21)July 21, 1948
Jūrmala, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union
DiedNovember 10, 2017(2017-11-10) (aged 69)
Moscow, Russia
NationalityRussian
Years active1974 – 2017
GenresSatire
Websitezadornov.net

Mikhail Nikolayevich Zadornov (Russian: Михаи́л Никола́евич Задо́рнов, Mihaíl Nikolájevič Zadórnov; July 21, 1948 in Jūrmala, Latvian SSR, USSR – November 10, 2017 in Moscow, Russia)[1] was a Soviet and Russian stand-up comedian and writer. Zadornov was born into an artistic family, his father Nikolay Zadornov [ru] (1909-1992) being a notable writer from Riga. Zadornov's mother, Elena Matusevich (1909-2003), came from an old noble family, which can trace its roots to the Polish king Stephen Bathory.[2]

As a child, Zadornov listened to his father reading him works of literature before he went to sleep, such as classic writings of adventure and suspense, and poems. Zadornov's parents wanted their son to become an engineer, so he went to an engineering institute. Mikhail Zadornov graduated from Moscow Aviation Institute. However, in the early 1980s he started a career as a humorist, and later mockingly remembered his engineering days.