Step Into Kyiv’s Underground Standup Scene, Where the Sirens Don’t Stop the Show

For three years and counting, public events in Ukraine like the cinema or club gigs have regularly included intermissions. Not the opportunity to top up your popcorn or order another beer, rather, in the case of an air alarm for patrons to seek shelter. The benefits of attending an underground event became clear. The comedian wasn’t kidding when he hinted that the show would go on while jokes and possibly even drones come flying at you.

Underground Standup was founded by the Svyat Zagaikevich in 2015, when evenings of laughter were organized in basements and garages. Since then it has grown into the largest standup project in Ukraine. Today they run their own club, proudly located across the street from the monumental Golden Gate in the heart of Kyiv. Housed beneath an Italian Restaurant, it can also act as a shelter if the country comes under attack. During show nights this simply means staying put.

Event organiser Amina kindly guided us to our seats in a room big enough to seat up to 100 people. Asked whether shows were ever cancelled due to bombings, she stressed that only after massive attacks like last July when a Russian ballistic missile struck a children’s hospital. “We do everything we can to keep going because it’s important. For many, the chance to laugh is the bright between the dark.”

In the months leading up to the full-scale war, English-language comedy was flourishing in the capital, Amina told us. As well as regular open mics, big shows were selling out. Sometimes twice per month. Most comedians were Ukrainian, though the stage was often graced by expats including from the UK, US, Canada, Jordan, India and Colombia. Audiences were made up of internationals and nationals alike. What better way for anyone testing their English proficiency, than to try and understand a bit of nuanced satire.

Immediately following the invasion in February 2022, events went on hiatus. Only in May 2022, a few weeks after the Kyiv region was fully de-occupied from Russian forces, did English-language comedy resurface. Resolute efforts were made to keep it going, “we held on for almost a year”, reminisced Amina. “But finally there came a point where we realised the performers and the crowd were all Ukrainians. It was like we were having speaking practice sessions”. With the city mostly devoid of foreigners, jokes in English went back on pause. Meanwhile, if the people weren’t travelling to the club, then the club would travel to the people.

A group of Underground residents set out on international fundraising tours to bring awareness to the plight back home and raise money for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Thanks to special permits, the males in the troupe could also temporarily leave the country in the midst of restrictions imposed by martial law. Anton Tymoshenko made the rounds in North America while Vasyl Baidak did a circuit of Europe, pulling in around half a million dollars between them.

Audiences of Ukrainian refugees and diaspora from Sweden to Spain and from the UK to Poland were entertained with jokes from Hanna Kochehura, Nastya Zukhvala, Lana Chubakha, Serhiy Stepanysko, Svіtlana Nemonezhyna, Katya Fedorkova and Danya Povar. By the turn of 2024, a dozen comedians had travelled thousands of kilometers across 21 countries and raised over $1.6 million.

Oleksandr and Svyat used some of the donations from their tour to purchase drones and even hand delivered them to a frontline brigade in the Donetsk direction in spring 2023. In an effort to boost soldier morale, they gave one last performance on the road before heading home to Kyiv.

“When the autumn of 2023 came round, a notable increase of diverse languages could be heard on the streets again,” continued Amina. “Foreigners were slowly but surely returning. It was a comforting sign that the city was coming back to life a little bit”. Plans to reignite English-language comedy were set in motion, with the doors finally re-opening in February 2024. A year on and host Oleksandr Kachura is wrapping up Tuesday’s crowded open mic, thanking the audience for coming out. We took a moment to admire the basement walls adorned with posters of international stars, our attention drawn to a hand-signed portrait of American celebrity Doug Stanhope, who came to Kyiv in late 2024.

Stanhope’s visit was a welcome show of solidarity for Ukrainians, who were curiously well versed in his material, for the simple reason that Doug was among the first western comedians to be dubbed. If you wanted a piece of American standup in the early 2000’s, you likely got a slice of Stanhope, explained comic Dima Vlasov.

Accompanied by Vasyl Baidak, Doug and his entourage paid a visit to the Azov Artillery on the frontlines of the Donetsk region. The artillerymen agreed to intern the ashes of his late Mother, (which Doug carries in the most important and strange moments of his life), into a 152mm ‘Hyacinth’ Howitzer. After marking the inscription: “Mother’s final ride”, he waved goodbye and watched as they launched the shell onto Russian positions, joking: “Ma always wanted to travel”.

These days, English-language comedy is back in full swing drawing regular, packed and enthusiastic crowds. In December, international headliner Viktor Patrascan performed five sold out shows in large venues in Kyiv and Lviv. In total, 2000 spectators helped to raise almost $26,000 which all went to Viktor’s chosen Ukrainian charities “Voices of Children” and the “Sirius” animal shelter.

Meanwhile under a smaller spotlight, a hopeful humorist from Kent in England quipped: “Though the war rages on into its fourth year and is no laughing matter; with so much bombing on Ukraine, perhaps no one will notice tiny old me bombing on stage”.