Comedy in Kyiv: Laughter brings light to a city at war
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 December 2022
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kyiv may be a city of blackouts and bomb shelters, but its comedians have found a fresh lease of life. Comedy clubs have taken off since the invasion with citizens seking solace in dark humour and the company of their compatriots.
Also, the BBC’s Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg, gives his reflections on how the country is being changed by the war into something no longer recognisable to the one he knew a decade ago.
And, the criticisms of Vitaly’s Kutia recipe just keep in coming in. Will it never stop?
Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producers were Arsenii Sokolov, Clare Williamson and Luke Radcliff. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Fiona Leach. The assistant editor is Alison Gee and the editor is Jonathan Aspinwall. Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:04.8 | Hello, it's 287 days since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:10.0 | Okay, guys. |
| 0:12.0 | I... |
| 0:14.0 | ...in the face of bombardments, blackouts, absolutely freezing temperatures, and an economy |
| 0:27.0 | and free-fall comedy has taken off to a certain extent in the capital of Ukraine. |
| 0:34.0 | And we're going to be chatting to two comedians about how they're managing to make jokes at a time of war. |
| 0:42.0 | And, Vitaly, I think you might be in a little bit of trouble again over what constitutes a Ukrainian Christmas |
| 0:48.0 | and what food people are eating, apparently you got this wrong again. |
| 0:53.0 | Katia is the main dish of the evening and only served at Christmas. |
| 0:57.0 | Katia symbolises wealth and life and is often shared or exchanged amongst neighbours and relatives to compare who's is better. |
| 1:06.0 | What's in Katia, though, Vitaly? |
| 1:08.0 | It's a rice in sweetened water, kind of, with raisins and stuff like that. |
| 1:16.0 | It's very traditional. |
| 1:18.0 | Okay. |
| 1:19.0 | Apparently it's not. I wouldn't do one of our listeners, but we will come back to that a little later in this episode of Ukraine Cust. |
| 1:27.0 | Ukraine costs from business. |
| 1:30.0 | The question for us now is to be or not to be. |
| 1:34.0 | I'm ordering the Ministry of Defence to put the strategic nuclear forces on special alert. |
| 1:40.0 | I could not imagine that I would find out that actually my home is bombed. |
| 1:45.0 | Putin is the aggressor. |
| 1:47.0 | He will never be able to cleanse the blood from his hands. |
... |
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