“Macho prime time”, he does not cross the line of vulgarity or cynicism. And he gives himself to his work as if his possibilities are endless. Meeting with Ivan Urgant, who tries to build his own life with joy and appetite.
In the editorial office, he appeared in a completely different television image of a merry fellow and joker, who at any time of the day, in any situation and in any company is able to instantly cheer up everyone present with a couple of ironic jokes. And this is understandable: our shooting took place on a still snowy winter morning, gloomy and not particularly cheerful. The favorite of the country, the most sought-after host of entertainment television programs, holidays and corporate parties, the radiant and sparkling screen hero, open and touching Vanya Urgant got out of the car rather harsh, to match the weather, a thunderer of two meters in height.
There is neither the notorious stardom in it, nor the deliberate desire to “ignite”, charm and make laugh. He is polite, correct and very attentive to the words – those that his interlocutors pronounce, and even more so – to those that each time, answering, he carefully chooses himself. Jokes aside – in fact, Ivan Urgant in life is able to speak directly, simply, seriously. Almost not embarrassed – if only a little – by his own sincerity, in conversation he constantly reflects, checks and listens to himself. Perhaps, in this attention, in this inner ear, there is a guarantee of real wit, so desired by everyone and such a rare gift of a sharp word?
“Vulgarity is an ATTEMPT to pass off SOMETHING NOT REAL AS REAL. FOR ME, SHE STANDS NEXT TO THE WORD “UNTRUE”.
Psychologies: You work in a risky genre where the line between wit and vulgarity is very thin. What do you think is vulgarity and how do you manage to avoid it?
Ivan Urgant: Ivan Urgant: It’s hard to say… These criteria are somewhere inside. It seems to me that one of the manifestations of vulgarity is to talk about it too seriously. For example, swearing in a public place and in the presence of children is not vulgarity, but simply rudeness and bad manners. In my opinion, vulgarity lies elsewhere – in an attempt to pass off something fake as real. In my internal vocabulary, this word is next to the word “not true.” When people tell lies, especially when lofty, piercing thoughts and feelings are replaced, this is, in my opinion, vulgarity. I don’t like when sincerity goes off scale. It can also be a manifestation of vulgarity. There are people who tear open the chest, take out the heart and hold it out to the audience – and you understand that nothing can be higher than this. And the other does everything the same, but, except for a feeling of incredible senselessness and insincerity, it does not cause anything.
In other words, is the measure important?
I. U .: It is important to listen to yourself, to be in harmony with yourself, or at least in agreement. But I cannot say that I trust myself in everything. I’m more of a doubting, incredulous, scolding myself.
See also:
Look at yourself with humor!
Your road to success has not been smooth. How do you deal with difficult situations?
I. U .: Of course, there were moments when I needed support … (Selects words.) When the exhausted youthful soul suffered, for example, from unrequited love or … from unrequited food, wages! In my opinion, the best way out is to be distracted from this in some business. And the worst thing is when you lock yourself in. The world narrows down to the size of that misfortune or problem that plunges you into despondency, into the closed space of your own experiences. And here the main thing is to remind yourself that the exit is nearby. We must try. One has only to make some effort on oneself, and everything will be completely different. Although in such a situation, you often forget about it. Or you can’t hear yourself.
Have you thought about looking for some answers in psychotherapy?
I. U .: In our difficult reality, psychotherapists are our loved ones. And sometimes strangers too. I have never seen such a degree of trust between people either in Western Europe or in North America. We are able to pour out our souls to a stranger, even regardless of whether he wants it or not. Most often this happens – as it happened in my life – not from the desire to be heard, but simply to speak out. And it really does get easier. Unfortunately, there are not always people nearby who can give good advice. Hence the colossal number of publications with photographs of women and men who will gladly reach out … where the crystal ball already lies, to people who need to speak out in front of someone. Personally, I will not go to any holy healer Aksinya. Probably because I believe in God… Better somehow on my own. We must try.
This is the position of an adult. Did you grow up early?
I. U .: Early enough. My mother raised me as an independent child. From the age of six I went alone – first to kindergarten, then to school. I was left to sit with my younger sisters, but I did not perceive this as a duty. Mom devoted a lot of time to our upbringing and did not shift the entire burden of responsibility onto my fragile shoulders.
“THE MAXIMUM DEGREE OF FREEDOM IS ONLY FOR THE CRAZY. I WANT TO BE DEPENDENT ON SOMEONE. AND FOR THIS SOMEONE TO DEPEND ON ME.
What are you most grateful for today?
I. U .: For patience. I would have killed myself a long time ago, but my mother withstood this difficult test – to see a loud, angry and arrogant mustachioed boy next to her for a long time. I have much less patience. I know this for sure: my mother kept a unique document – a diary that she kept when I was little – from six months to five. Such a short diary that fits into two notebooks. When I was 18 years old, my mother showed them to me. It was very moving to read this. This is the same piercing touchingness that no vulgarity has touched. Because my mother wrote in her diary only what she felt. And then … It is important – this is when you are given the opportunity to make decisions. When you feel like a person on whom something depends. I felt it very early, from the age of eight or nine. True, I did not always want such freedom. Rather, I wanted to be a child who is simply surrounded by care and deprived of the need to decide something on his own. I have seen many such children around me. But my mother did not give me such an opportunity. She insisted that I overcome some problems, awkward situations, in which all children usually find themselves. She helped in some ways, advised something, but never insisted or forced.
Today you are a parent too. What do you most desire for your daughter?
I. U .: I will not be original here. So that my daughter becomes an independent person as soon as possible and that she needs the help of others as little as possible in her life. So that she had the strength not to depend on anyone. From parents as well. To be a kind person. And a smart person.
Is dependence on something generally unacceptable for you?
I. U .: We are all dependent on something to varying degrees. Maximum freedom belongs to madmen. And not everyone needs that kind of freedom. No, I want to be dependent on someone. And for that someone to depend on me.
When did you realize what kind of family you want to create for yourself?
I. U .: As a child, I did not have a clear sense of family. My parents separated when they were too young, and I was barely a year old then. Since before the age of 13 I didn’t even imagine how I was born, mom and dad didn’t connect for me together. But I had a grandfather, a grandmother, another grandmother and a great-grandmother. I could go back and forth while my buddies were living in their apartments with mom and dad. And that’s all. I even liked it – to be something different from everyone else. Not completely different, but just a little. Probably, the desire to stand out has become for me both the engine in the profession and in the way my life is arranged at the moment.
“SENSE OF HUMOR IS NOT WHEN YOU JOKE YOURSELF, BUT WHEN YOU LAUGH. AND YOU SHOULD TRY TO DEVELOP IT IN YOURSELF SOMETHING. IT HELPS!”
But you quite early wanted to create your own family – traditional, “like everyone else”: one house, husband, wife, child …
I. U .: You know, I realized early enough that I love children. And that I want to have my own house.
How do you see it in the future?
I. U .: I don’t like making distant plans. It’s strange for me to imagine myself wrapped in a blanket, sitting by the fireplace … unable to move. And grandchildren who play with my feet, separately standing next to me! I don’t imagine that. But a family, a house is, of course, a big house. And literally big. Because I lived the first half of my life very closely. The only thing that was big in our apartment was the height of the ceilings. Yes. Family is when with children, with a loving and devoted wife. And with some… a reasonable number of neat, clean, well-washed pets… who know exactly where their toilet is. A very important condition! This is necessarily a small number of friends devoted to you. And a large number of friends and acquaintances. Who come to visit and have the opportunity to discuss the fate of Russia at a large round table, always under a lampshade, in between dishes deliciously prepared by your hands …
How exactly do you describe it!
I. U .: Like a man who only yesterday hung a lampshade over a round table.
The rest – talent, health, youth, success, money – you already have. Does it make you happy?
I. U .: I’m afraid of often thinking about what I have and what I don’t have. Because I once lacked many things … You know, it is very important that everything in life appears on time. That is, when you need it. It’s a sin for me to complain about what is in my life. But I try not to think about it often. All of a sudden, it all turns out to be false! I remember well how I did not have enough money – a very acute feeling.
What would you do if you didn’t have them tomorrow?
I. U .: I will look for all possible ways so that they, at least to some extent, reappear in my family. This is a component of comfort, well-being. Money is needed not to think about them. Because while there was no money, I thought about them all the time. Waiting: when will I have them? Not that I wanted to realize any dreams – everything was at the level of needs. And now I understand that the well-being of my family, my children, relatives depends on my earnings … There is no time for fantasies in the style of “would I be on an island and under a palm tree”!
Advertising, in which famous artists are filmed, sometimes causes us, the audience, a feeling of embarrassment, embarrassment. You look organic in any video …
I. U .: I disagree with you, because advertising is part of our profession. Humiliating, probably, when you realize that a person was forced to go to these shootings, he had no other choice. On the other hand, he does his job. Artists have been creating their reputation and name for years, and the moment comes when their image, appearance and love of the audience should legitimately pay dividends.
That is, everything that you do for money, do you do it with pleasure?
I. U .: Yes, but the degree of pleasure is different. But so far there has never been such a thing that I did something for money with obvious displeasure. With the exception of working as a loader in the 11th grade. Today I refuse a lot of offers. But in what I do not refuse, I try to participate not only as a performer, but also as a co-author. I try to make myself happy viewing the finished product at least a couple of times. Or at least did not cause feelings of rejection and bitterness in the mouth.
It is known that we often use humor as a defense against various life difficulties…
I. U .: Exactly! Moreover, I insist: humor and lightness, irony and laughter are the best defense and medicine. You can’t protect yourself from everything with irony, but … you have to try! It helps. I sympathize with those who do not like to laugh, do not like when they joke. A sense of humor is not when you joke yourself, but when you laugh. And you have to try to develop it in yourself somehow. Here, sit four times with a stone face at Zhvanetsky’s concerts. You look, on the fifth you will start to smile – at least in familiar places!
It is generally accepted that people who especially need the love and recognition of others become artists. Can you say this about yourself?
I. U .: Certainly! I would say that a person of any profession, and especially a public one, needs confirmation that he is doing something right. At least it’s going in the right direction. And he does what brings joy and pleasure not only to him, but also to someone else.
Is this spiritual return — a feeling of gratitude and love in response to your work — enough for you?
I. U .: You know, several times in my life I was told words that I, in my opinion, still do not deserve. And I was very pleased. The people who spoke were people whom I respect and whose professionalism I have no doubts about. It seems to me that there is a certain advance in these words, I would like to correspond to them.
See also:
Mikhail Zhvanetsky: “I’m taking the scream back”
This month the theme of our Dossier is
I. U .: Nothing changes, nothing should change! The man today and the woman today are the same as yesterday. You can’t attribute the lack of masculine qualities, say, to the incredible development of some kind of technology or plastic surgery. Real men have always been few, I think.
What do they lack?
I. U .: Degrees of sincerity, honesty – that’s what is missing. Many men in our time began not only to look and dress like women, but sometimes behave like men. You know, to check how brave men live in the country, it is absolutely not necessary to get involved in the third world war. A man does not have to break a brick on his head or fix a faucet in the kitchen. But in the way he treats a woman, children, his family, parents, this is where a man manifests himself. The ideal hero was created by director Vladimir Menshov in the film “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears”, and performed by Alexei Batalov. In our country, this is an image for all time. Although, in my opinion, such people do not exist. Intelligent men who work as locksmiths and keep shoes clean. They are ready to link their fate with a woman with a child, and at the same time they can, if necessary, go into a binge from feelings … before that, frying kebabs and protecting the girl’s young lover from hooligans. There is no such! But it seems to me that if each of us will do at least one of this list, then it’s not bad. (Insinuatingly.) For example, go on a drinking binge.
You seem to lead a healthy lifestyle…
I. U .: (With some annoyance.) I can’t comment on this because I drink and smoke and swear. But so imperceptibly that everyone gets the feeling that I’m not doing it. I think it’s strange … and should not be done at an early age and in excessive amounts. But there are people who drink so exquisitely and smoke so appetizingly that they immediately want to do the same! And the masterly use of obscene expressions sometimes paints our life in unique tones. Now place all this in the space of a covered round table under a lampshade – and you will understand what I am talking about.
So you try to live with an appetite?
I. U .: I try to cultivate it in myself – to enjoy life. It’s not about excess. You can have fun in a one-room or communal apartment. To smoke an unfiltered cigarette in the kitchen, washing it down with cheap red wine – but in such a way that you will enjoy it, and the Moldovan workers around you too!
You once said: you must always try to be ready for what fate throws at you. What else would you like her to throw in?
I. U .: Knowing that the agencies responsible for what fate throws at us regularly read the journal Psychologies, I would like to address them directly. Surprise me! I love pleasant surprises.
Private bussiness
- 1978 April 16 was born in Leningrad, in the family of theater and film actor Andrei Urgant and actress of the Comedy Theater Valeria Kiseleva. Parents soon broke up, Ivan stayed with his mother, later Valeria Ivanovna had two more daughters in her new marriage.
- 1994 Enters the acting department of the St. Petersburg Academy of Theater Arts; two years later, he marries a student at the University of Culture Karina, their marriage will last six months.
- 1998 Film debut – in the film “Cruel Time” by Maxim Pezhemsky.
- 1999 Host of the Petersburg Courier on Channel Five and DJ on Superradio (St. Petersburg).
- 2000 Released an album of his own songs (producer Maxim Leonidov).
- 2001-2002 Presenter of the TV program “Cheerful Morning” on MTV Russia, meets journalist Tatyana Gevorkyan, their relationship will last about three years.
- 2003 Host of the show “People’s Artist” on the TV channel “Russia” (paired with Fekla Tolstaya).
- 2004 Host of the TV game “Pyramid” on the channel “Russia”.
- 2005 “Big Premiere” on Channel One, role in Alexander Strizhenov’s film “From 180 and Above”.
- 2006 Leads “Smak” on Channel One; begins dating Natalya Kiknadze, a former classmate.
- 2007 Role in the film “He, she and I” by Konstantin Khudyakov; co-host in the programs “Wall to Wall” and “Circus with Stars” on Channel One; laureate of the national TV award TEFI.
- 2008 Co-host of the Big Difference and ProjectorParisHilton programs on Channel One; documentary film “One-story America” on Channel One (co-host paired with Vladimir Pozner); role in the film by Ivan Dykhovichny “Europe-Asia” (premiere – February 2010). On May 15, Ivan and Natalia had a daughter, Nina.
- 2009 Participation in the filming of the film One-Story France (together with Vladimir Pozner).
- 2010 Rehearses the role of Vasilkov in Roman Kozak’s play “Mad Money” (Pushkin Theatre).