Stand-up in Kostanay: Adil Diketaev & Andrey Egorov

Among all the cities I visited this summer, Kostanay felt especially refreshing. It had a lovely cool climate, frequent rains, and a beautiful gray sky. The other cities were terribly hot, not counting Astana—I simply didn't care for it there.

I returned to my hometown. And guess what? That's right, it has its share of stand-up venues too. There are two of them here, seemingly in competition—though I saw their comedians performing at each other's gigs without the slightest hesitation.

These venues are Stand Up Kostanay and Stndphana (not to be confused with Tatarstan's Standupkhana).

If Stand Up Kostanay has Stndphana as its rival, my own personal plague was the ground beetles that swarmed the entire region, keeping me from enjoying evening walks outdoors.
I also learned from local comedians that a venue called Soltustik Standup used to exist. They hosted monthly showcase performances and paid comedians well. It was founded by former KVN players, but the boyband eventually broke up.

— "I performed for the first time during a theater improvisation course at the central library, organized by Pasha Mazgold. At the end, anyone who wanted to could do a stand-up set. The performance bombed completely, and I didn't perform again for three or four years—I just observed. Then I learned about the Stand Up Kostanay platform and joined the scene. Later, I founded my own platform, Stndphana."

What pushed you to start performing again? — "Nurlan Saburov's performances were my main inspiration (Note: Saburov is a well-known stand-up comedian)."

Tell us about your venue/platform. — "The name Stndphana came to mind when Azamat Khasanov, Timur Ukinbaev [comedians], and I were driving past a därikhana [pharmacy], askhana [canteen], and chaikhana [teahouse]. Later, we Googled it and found out about the existence of Tatarstan's Standupkhana."

Tell us about working with venues in Kostanay. — "There was one place that took a 50% cut of the profits. We boycotted them, and they stopped doing that. Things are relatively fine with the other venues."

Why did you leave Stand Up Kostanay? — "I had been performing in Almaty and seen plenty of their improv formats; I wanted to try the same thing back home. But when I returned, the venue turned me down. Stndphana was meant to become a stronghold for creative freedom, where anyone who brings an idea meets encouragement."

Tell us about the conflicts with Stand Up Kostanay. — "One situation was over money collected from a young comedians' show: we had decided to put it into a shared pool rather than split it among ourselves. Later, we used those funds to buy microphones and a stand. When we split off, they refused to hand over the equipment, arguing that the money had been donated to the venue's overall balance."

— "I started back in 2015. My first performance was also at the library. Later, Artem (the founder of Stand Up Kostanay) decided to start organizing stand-up shows in local venues. I toured corporate events with KVN members, performed at a festival organized by the akimat, won the cup, and held the very first solo show in Kostanay. Artem set aside a portion of the venue's event proceeds to send me to a comedy festival in Almaty, fully covering my flights and accommodation. I came back, and now I'm performing here again. A long time ago, I also traveled to try out for Comedy Battle.
All of this happened across different periods, though—the author of this article didn't quite get the timeline right."

Who inspired you in comedy? — "Western comedians."

What issues do you see among regional comedians? — "Well, on one hand, we have comedians here who are ten times funnier than famous big-name acts. On the other hand, there are still guys who watch every new Nurlan Saburov special and immediately go on stage copying his exact delivery and jokes. I saw this firsthand at a festival in Astana. You couldn't even tell if the first guy had finished or if the next one had started—five guys in a row doing the exact same thing. I believe comedians need to create something unique and post it online."

We're interested in hearing about the conflicts between the platforms. Tell us about that. — "Honestly, I'm indifferent to it. I test my material everywhere. Besides, they always end up making peace anyway. If you were looking for juicy drama, you asked the wrong guy. Conflicts between regional platforms are just part of everyday life at this point—standard procedure, I'd say. A natural phenomenon."