Gorodok [Little Town]: 1993-2012

Urii Stoyanov and Ilya Oleinikov’s sketch comedy show, Gorodok (Little Town), is one of the longest-running series created in the 1990s. Only concluding after Oleinikov’s death in 2012,Gorodok functioned as an important venue for the two comedy stars, who began collaborating after 1989 and appeared in several variety and comedy sketch shows throughout the early 1990s. Episodes of Gorodok typically staged already circulating jokes with the participation of the stars in various roles. Stoyanov frequently appeared in drag, portraying a range of female characters without exaggeratedly campy traits: his drag performance consists almost entirely in mimicking the behavior and mannerisms of middle-aged, typically working-class or intelligentsia women. In its twelfth episode (1994), the show adapted Angelica Varum’s 1994 song “Gorodok” as its official musical theme. Varum was not initially consulted about the song’s use, as doing so was not yet a legal requirement at the time, but embraced the song’s indelible association with the show in the mind of the general public. Between 1995 and 2002, Gorodok included pranks and tricks played on unsuspecting members of the public, the first such “reality” show on Russian TV, but despite the segment’s popularity, it was discontinued for the last decade of the show. The long-lasting success of Gorodok highlights the extent to which 90s television shows experimented with new formats and topics, and how many such shows became staples of post-Soviet television decades later.