Ukraine election: What would a comic president mean?

[barbos]

The comic just elected probably will do no worse that his predecessors.

I tend to be more suspicious of inexperienced politicians, because their lack of familiarity with their office and the issues tends to make them more susceptible to manipulation by others. We have seen this kind of thing at work with Donald Trump, who seems to be oblivious to just about every past policy and practice that ever affected his job. So he takes direction from talking heads on Fox News.

In Zelensky's case, he will likely make appointments and back policies that his oligarch patron favors, including an effort to fix his legal problems. As for foreign relations, my guess is that he will be more easily manipulated or outmaneuvered by Putin than Poroshenko was. I suspect that Zelensky's halo will become tarnished in fairly short order, as the knives come out for him. They made much of how he was able to battle venal politicians and the entrenched oligarchy in his TV series, but those acting roles probably didn't prepare him much for dealing with real government crises.

Oh, Vladimir the Manipulator Putin myth again. Poroshenko was not outmaneuvered or manipulated by Putin. If anybody was manipulated it was Russia/Putin. Putin has this annoying habit of trying to buy friends. And all former soviet republics took advantage of that - Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, even Baltic States to some degree were using Putin desire to have friends around Russia's border.
One of the dangers of this new ukrainian president is possibility of new gas transit agreement. I hope there will be no meaningful transit over Ukraine.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Well, there's nothing about being a comedian that stops you from being an intelligent person who has a decent plan to help out your country. Unless you're a prop comedian, of course, because after the eighth or ninth cabinet meeting where everybody needs to keep pretending not to notice the whoopy cushions on their chairs and then force out laughter when someone sits on them, productivity and morale are going to start suffering.

But a comedian has the diametrically opposed role in society as that of a politician. A comedian is a jester. Ie, who's role it is to poke fun at those in power. To not be polite. But most importantly... not have power themselves. Because power compromises what the comedian can say. While a politician needs to say whatever bullshit needs to be said to keep the sinking ship afloat, long enough to make it to the next election. Pretending to give a shit when they don't, is a key skill.

That said, I think it's similar skill sets, ie the ability to think on your feet and entertain.

I think he'll need to stop being a comedian while in power, and then go back to being one after he's been removed from power.

 

[barbos]

I must admit I have never seen or heard about Zelensky before but I understand he started as a comedian but he did other stuff too.
His prophetic TV series about President was not a comedy I understand.

 

[Tigers!]

As far as we can tell Zelensky is not a criminal and not retarded, so stop comparing Zelensky to Trump.

... We need experienced leaders in order to get results.

Experienced leaders could be shorthand for ossified thinking, house trained or has been bought earlier.

Experience can be useful but also a chain around your ankles. Experienced leaders were inexperienced once.

Ukraine has been given a chance to see what a fresh approach might do. i will watch with interest.

 

[Copernicus]

I must admit I have never seen or heard about Zelensky before but I understand he started as a comedian but he did other stuff too.
His prophetic TV series about President was not a comedy I understand.

Where did you get that understanding from? Are you not able to watch the Youtube video that I posted in the OP? The third season apparently aired in the Spring. Maybe, if you watch it, you'll discover that his show is pure comedy.

 

[barbos]

I must admit I have never seen or heard about Zelensky before but I understand he started as a comedian but he did other stuff too.
His prophetic TV series about President was not a comedy I understand.

Where did you get that understanding from? Are you not able to watch the Youtube video that I posted in the OP? The third season apparently aired in the Spring. Maybe, if you watch it, you'll discover that his show is pure comedy.

OK. I am mot watching it, but OK.
.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr9UnMcdPaY

LOL, that's not a comedy at all. it's documentary
Maybe prior seasons were comedy but the first 20 minutes of this are not funny at all.
Don't like it. Not funny, script and acting is comparable to ordinary russian trashy crime TV series which are numerous.

Truth is, modern russian comedy is not good. I blame Putin for that

 

[Copernicus]

I must admit I have never seen or heard about Zelensky before but I understand he started as a comedian but he did other stuff too.
His prophetic TV series about President was not a comedy I understand.

Where did you get that understanding from? Are you not able to watch the Youtube video that I posted in the OP? The third season apparently aired in the Spring. Maybe, if you watch it, you'll discover that his show is pure comedy.

OK. I am mot watching it, but OK.
.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr9UnMcdPaY

LOL, that's not a comedy at all. it's documentary
Maybe prior seasons were comedy but the first 20 minutes of this are not funny at all.
Don't like it.

It is called "political satire", which may be in short supply in Russia these days. You don't have to like it. It isn't Jerry Seinfeld, but it has its moments.

 

[barbos]

OK. I am mot watching it, but OK.
.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr9UnMcdPaY

LOL, that's not a comedy at all. it's documentary
Maybe prior seasons were comedy but the first 20 minutes of this are not funny at all.
Don't like it.

It is called "political satire", which may be in short supply in Russia these days. You don't have to like it. It isn't Jerry Seinfeld, but it has its moments.

I know what it is and do have to like it but I don't. It's not funny, not original and acting is bad.
Whole thing is just a bunch of tired cliches poorly acted.
SNL is political satire too, but it's funny and acting and script are good.
Jerry Seinfeld type of comedy is non-existent in former USSR, it's simply impossible there I think.
If you want good post-soviet russian comedy then I recommend "Peculiarities of the National Hunt"

 

[Copernicus]

OK. I am mot watching it, but OK.
.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr9UnMcdPaY

LOL, that's not a comedy at all. it's documentary
Maybe prior seasons were comedy but the first 20 minutes of this are not funny at all.
Don't like it.

It is called "political satire", which may be in short supply in Russia these days. You don't have to like it. It isn't Jerry Seinfeld, but it has its moments.

I know what it is and do have to like it but I don't. It's not funny, not original and acting is bad.
SNL is political satire too, but it's funny and acting and script are good.
Jerry Seinfeld type of comedy is non-existent in former USSR, it's simply impossible there I think.

SNL is just skits and stand-up comedy, not a show based around a storyline. Unfortunately, the best Russian comedians were those who emigrated to the West. In any case, Ukrainians loved it enough to carry it for three seasons and then to elect its star. It wasn't produced for sour-puss Russians like yourself.

 

[barbos]

I know what it is and do have to like it but I don't. It's not funny, not original and acting is bad.
SNL is political satire too, but it's funny and acting and script are good.
Jerry Seinfeld type of comedy is non-existent in former USSR, it's simply impossible there I think.

SNL is just skits and stand-up comedy, not a show based around a storyline. Unfortunately, the best Russian comedians were those who emigrated to the West. In any case, Ukrainians loved it enough to carry it for three seasons and then to elect its star. It wasn't produced for sour-puss Russians like yourself.

I have no doubt it's popular, similar crap is popular in Russia too. And I am not sour-puss, I gave you my own purely artistic opinion.
For the most part comedy (especially TV) in both Russia and Ukraine is dead.
As for the SNL I am telling you that more work goes into a single show than the whole season of crap like that one.
Maybe there is a novelty factor for "linguists" like yourself, I don't know.

 

[Copernicus]

Barbos, I'm glad that you are still able to enjoy SNL, even if you are a sourpuss about all the TV shows in Russia and Ukraine. I, too, find SNL skits amusing, but a lot of them fall flat because they repeat the same jokes over and over. What I liked about Zelensky's character was his deadpan performance in the face of absurdities. I hope that he is able to keep his sense of humor in the coming months, but I suspect that his popularity will wear thin after he fails to get much done.

I'm still very curious to see how he will handle the Russian occupation of Crimea and the eastern regions of his country, especially if Putin decides it is to his advantage to restart his aggression. Poroshenko had managed to create something of a stalemate. Zelensky won't know what to do if he suddenly finds his troops under attack. He isn't prepared for that.