Almaty Comedians Speak Out About Alexander Merkul's Arrest

The arrest of stand-up comedian Alexander Merkul caused a public reaction. An Orda.kz journalist attended an event and spoke with other stand-up performers on the matter. 

The performers who had gathered on the summer terrace near a club before their performance seemed unbothered. Yet, once we had spoken to each of them, a different aura became apparent. Many declined to comment on their colleague's arrest, citing the need to digest what had happened and figure out how to formulate their thoughts correctly. Others spoke openly. 

A Stand-up Venue is a Closed Event.

Actor Daniyar Alshinov hosted the Weekend show and opened the evening with jokes about comedians facing pressure in our country. He said that our comedians have busy schedules and are booked for at least the next 10 days. We asked Daniyar how his colleague's arrest affected him.

Anxiety sets in. Because I think it’s absurd to arrest people for jokes. In all democratic countries (and we are a democratic country), where freedom of speech is enshrined and guaranteed at the constitutional level, it’s mind-boggling to imagine that a person would be arrested for a joke. I don’t want to believe that such things are happening in my country, where I was born and raised, which I love very much. Unfortunately, this is our new reality. And this is becoming a pattern, as we already understand. We can still write off one case as a coincidence, two - it’s not clear yet, but three - this is definitely a pattern. This is definitely being done deliberately. I don’t know who is behind this. I don’t know if the president of the country is aware of such arrests. Perhaps this is happening without his knowledge: someone on the ground is simply trying to somehow curry favor with someone. I don’t know. I don’t want to speculate on this topic. But I know: now we are in a country where they arrest people for jokes. As far as everyone knows, jesters were always able to say anything and were not executed for it. They were always safe because everyone understood that they were jesters, the artist believes. 

He hopes that qualified lawyers will defend the stand-up community and explain the illegality of Merkul's arrest. 

We should not hush up this situation. Article 20 of our Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. I still believe in our constitutional system and that the main law of the country matters. After all, Kazakhstan is a constitutional state, not a country that lives by its own rules.

Regarding explicit language in stand-up comedy, Daniyar, despite not using it in jokes, explained that swearing is not only a norm in stand-up but some jokes do not work without it.

I have a normal attitude towards swearing. There are no swear words in my performances. But this has nothing to do with the fear of being arrested. I chose this format for myself: my mother watches me, my apashka (grandmothers - Ed.), my children. But I support those people who have material with swear words because this is a genre; sometimes, a joke does not work without it. And I think that 99.9% of the viewers who come here come to listen to swear words. I myself come to stand-up in the evening after a hard day and understand how I relax here. What I could not say during the day, communicating in a civilized manner, the guys say here using swear words, and a certain sublimation of negative energy occurs. If we close all stand-up clubs, forbid people to joke, write songs, then very quickly the best minds, the most progressive people will leave this country. And this should not be allowed under any circumstances,he thinks.

A stand-up concert is not a public space but a closed event. And the viewer is already informed while buying tickets that the comedians' performance will contain explicit language. 

No One Wants to Be Laughed At

Temirlan Zhaldybaev is a comedian and creative director of the stand-up club "Central." He is also at the origin of the popularization of stand-up comedy in Almaty. He believes that the authorities of our country are far from innovators in their desire to curb this free genre. 

The comedy genre, because it is very free, has always been ostracized by both the authorities and the people. Because people generally do not like to hear the truth about themselves from any perspective. You can watch Bill Hicks’ stand-ups, the life story of George Carlin, one of the fathers of modern stand-up. They have many priors. several disrupted concerts. Many attempts to cancel them. It has always been like this. The formation of society plays an important role here. And in general, stand-up comedy has always been under the close attention of the red and blue flashing lights and all law enforcement. And this is normal. What is abnormal is something else. Here, the question is more for the legislators and how the state tries to control what we say and think. But now we will create precedents on how to work with society in this direction and try to do something with our laws, the comedian said. 

According to Temirlan, one reason the authorities do not accept jokes is the culture of victimhood that currently prevails in our society. 

Standup, in its modern understanding, was born on the threshold of the end of the culture of dignity with the transition to the culture of victimhood. Humor remained in the culture of dignity, where it overthrew statuses. In the culture of victimhood, everyone wants to be protected. No one wants to be laughed at. But this is a misperception. Because humor in human society is not for rejecting any parts of it, but on the contrary, for accepting. For example, you joke about your colleagues, but you cannot joke about your boss. This is actually worse for the boss. Because they become the person who is rejected by your community: yes, they are protected, but not fully accepted by you.

When asked by our journalist why there is so little political stand-up in Kazakhstan, the artist explained: 

Because comedians joke about what they live in. We only have political humor from comedians who understand politics. Most comedians don't care. From the Russian TNT culture, because the screws were tightened in the neighboring country, this trend came to us: comedians figuratively say - 'we are stupid, we don't understand anything, we don't decide anything, we don't do anything' - just so that they are left alone. But throughout time: from aitys, when aqyns could tell the bitter truth to the khans' faces, to Louis XIV, when jesters could tell the king everything fearlessly and without embellishment, ending with modern times - humor partly has this task. So, as soon as our comedians can understand this and want to talk about it, and when they feel safe and decide that it is necessary, they will start talking about it. And not when someone says that they should joke like that. Because art doesn’t owe anything to anyone.

Jokes with No Punch 

Since the beginning of mobilization, many Russian stand-up stars have found their platform in the Central Stand Up Almaty club. Idrak Mirzalizade, Andrey Airapetov, Luka Khinikadze, Kirill Selegey, Sasha Maloy, Timur Karginov, Rasul Chabdarov, Aleksandr Shats, and others perform here. Improvisation stand-up performer Sasha Nesterenko hosts several of his shows in the club.

These are extremely unpleasant processes. Yes, it reminds me of what happened in Russia several years ago. Despite the fact that Merkul and I have no connection, I think it is, of course, wrong that he was arrested. It is scary that this could affect every comedian. Including me. This could simply lead to stand-up becoming more sterilized, in a bad sense of the word, absolutely toothless. We are expecting ordinary jokes without wit. Although the genre is socially acute, this is apparently inconvenient. So, it could be subject to a clean sweep,the comedian said. 

In his opinion, if comedians and other artists continue to be forced into a box, people will most likely learn to live with it rather than actively fight it.

Comedians will simply learn to write in such a way that they can continue working. If the situation does not change, they will adapt to it. People adapt to any condition. And this is not because they are somehow different; it just happens. Especially in those countries where civil society is not developed enough. So everyone will adapt. Or they will conceal their views in jokes more sophisticatedly. But in any case, this has a negative impact on the development of the genre. All moments when creativity is punished have a negative impact on it. You no longer understand what to write, what can be said, what cannot. Also, when you perform on stage, you can "shoot off" anything, he noted. 

Sasha is still getting a hold of political stand-up. He believes that in order to joke about politics,  certain qualities are necessary, including courage. 

I personally have the same situation. I tried to write politically, but it didn't work out. I don't have the skills yet. I think that it will definitely happen sometime when I learn. And the bad thing is that when I want to do it in the future, I will have to think about it. You can shout as much as you like that you are brave and ready to do anything and talk about anything. But we understand: they can pressure anyone.

Is "New Kazakhstan" Fair?

Damir Nurseitov has openly mentioned more than once in his own shows that he is afraid of the authorities and law enforcement agencies. He also admitted to us that the situation with Alexander Merkul worries him. 

“Imagine: a UFC fighter is preparing for a fight, all parties understand that there will be mutual hits, and the spectators who came to the fight also know it. A local police officer comes and concludes: 'They are fighting here.' And he arrests the fighters for 10 days for hooliganism. Is this normal? Does a president who congratulated the fighter support hooliganism? Or should everyone understand that this is happening within the framework of the genre and with the consent of all parties? Our laws are created with gaps in order to lock up unwanted persons. Musicians, bloggers, and actors swear; their work is not intended for people under 18; are they serving a sentence? No! What conclusions can be drawn? The Constitution is clearly violated: either the article on freedom of speech, or the article that everyone is equal before the law. Who is violating it, we need to find out. Stand-up is a comedy genre. Is it creativity? Of course, yes! Damir stated.

He noted that creative people are not protected in our country. 

Is dancing in a yurt a crime? It doesn't matter what the dancer's sexual preferences are. A yurt is a home, it is not a state symbol protected by law. Masha, who sang a fragment of an already available song at a rap battle, that's called 'Punch.' I remember how our people were surprised that people in a neighboring country are jailed for songs and creativity, but today, this is no longer surprising. Here is the answer to what 'New Kazakhstan' is! Is this Kazakhstan fair? When people are arrested for words or dancing, while a severe reprimand is given for actions that have led to catastrophic consequences.

Our Society Is Against Repression

Comedian and part-time math teacher Tokmyrza Kakenov hadn't performed for two years, but when he learned about Merkul's arrest, he decided to make a comeback. At the money microphone when comedians compete for cash, Tokmyrza dedicated almost all of his jokes to this incident. He won. 

I have no fear that I will be arrested. Yes, I consider this case as a precedent, thanks to which they will be able to continue to arrest creative people. This is bad. But personally, I am not particularly afraid for myself. In general, I wanted to speak about all this even a little more boldly today. There is almost no freedom of speech in our society as is. But I like that the case with Alexander Merkul has caused such a reaction as if society is starting to react correctly. Society is against repression, and this will work, said the artist

The Constitution 

Stand-up comedian Maksat Madali , on the other hand, is convinced that the public does not support Merkul and the stand-up comedy community as a whole enough.

When I see that one of my colleagues has been arrested, I feel very little support from society, unfortunately. Of course, there are those who are truly for freedom of speech. But there are also enough other people who say: 'he deserves it.' And this is very upsetting. It does not give me inner confidence that tomorrow, for example, if I speak out, say what I really think, a large number of people will not stand up for me. It is clear that the person was not arrested for swearing. But commenters write: 'Good, swearing is bad.' But if you look deeper into the problem, we all understand that it is not about foul language. Three comedians were arrested, and two of them were joking about "Jana Kazakhstan,emphasized Maksat. 

You Must Understand The Seriousness

Young comedian Ayan Sadu has been doing stand-up comedy for about a year. He doesn't have any jokes about politics right now. He doesn't rule out making jokes about "New Kazakhstan" in the future. He believes that if you take on political stand-up, you have to do it responsibly.

I don't have any jokes about politics right now. And I don't have an internal demand for it yet. In September, it will only be a year since I've been performing stand-up, so I think I'll definitely come to this. Even some experienced comedians sometimes can't joke about themselves normally, not to mention big topics like politics. If you joke about politics, you need to understand that this is a big, serious topic; you need to approach it responsibly and not hype up what's topical, shared by Ayan. 

The comedian condemned his colleague's arrest. He explained that Alexander Merkul works in one-liner comedy, which involves a lot of improvisation and unexpected jokes. Unplanned witticisms could have continued to crop up at his performances, but this does not mean that he should have been arrested. 

One-line comedy is one-line jokes, that is, short jokes. Because of this format, they can be unexpected, absurd, about absolutely different topics, including harsh ones. I know that Merkul often performs with unprepared material. At least, I saw it in shorts, in reels, he just improvises with the audience. And in improvisation, you can say anything. Including a joke without thinking. I also perform in this way. I am not going to devote my life to this, but now I am working with this style. So, I can say that my comedy is unpredictable, unexpected, abstract. I can joke about topics that are not related to each other, and all this generally creates the impression of some kind of comedy amusement ride.

Regarding his personal experiences, the young man said the following:

I personally have not been subjected to self-censorship, I do not feel any anxiety about this. But one thing is for sure: after these incidents, everyone who makes jokes will keep in mind that this could happen to them too. It is not cool that comedians are being arrested in our country,
he summed up. 

We also asked viewers of different ages to share their opinions. A regular and fan of the club, Tatyana, flies in from the capital every Saturday to attend the stand-up event. She is one of the stand-upers, and at the show, the performers often address her as a colleague. Tatyana turned out to be knowledgeable in legalese :

In fact, this is a violation of constitutional rights. It is clear that this is Article 20 of the Constitution. But there are other violations besides this. There is a concept of 'the highest legal force of the main law of the country,' the so-called hierarchy in legislation. The Constitution is at the top, all other laws are lower in rank. And, accordingly, when passing any sentence, there should always be a reference to higher legislative acts. That is, initially, they should have been guided by the Constitution because we are talking about Merkul's work. It should not be subject to any censorship. In this case, this is a violation of the comedian's rights.

 Original Author: Alia Askarova

DISCLAIMER: This is a translated piece. The text has been modified, the content is the same. For accuracy, please refer to the original article in Russian published on 30/07/24.