It’s a thankless task to describe in words the sketches, improvisations, and punchlines of a popular parody artist—they must be seen and heard live, in a theatre where the audience constantly erupts in laughter and applause. Maxim is relaxed, charming (and, as always, a bit mischievous), riding the waves of audience love. Not a single bouquet brought to the stage by admirers goes without his warm and appreciative attention. His brilliant parodies and transformations of icons of Russian and international show business are so precise that it’s hard to tell whom the audience is applauding—Galkin himself or the stars he portrays.

“Humanity, laughing, bids farewell to its past”—a well-known quote that has become almost proverbial. Talk show hosts, singers, politicians—keenly observed and masterfully recreated by Maxim—somehow become closer and more familiar to us, the audience. Perhaps that is the essence of it. And the Artist himself seems almost detached, standing aside, yet carefully observing the smallest details and gestures, adding them to his invisible gallery of parodies. Seemingly simple, yet all-knowing. Sparkling with laughter, yet with the wise smile of a faun.

And we may never know, behind the many masks—does he himself truly laugh? Or not? Hidden behind applause and our laughter at his jokes…

“You know, I’d gladly go to my own concert—it’s that good!” Maxim quips once again.