KVN

KVN (Russian: КВН, an abbreviation of Клуб весёлых и находчивых, Klub vesyolykh i nakhodchivykh or Ka-Ve-En, "Club of the Funny and Inventive [people]") is a Russian and formerly Soviet comedy television show and international competition in which teams compete by giving humorous answers and show prepared sketches.

The show originated in the Soviet Union and is based on the earlier program An Evening of Funny Questions (Russian: Вечер весёлых вопросов, romanized: Vecher vesyolykh voprosov).

[1][full citation needed] In 1972, Soviet censors, who found the students' impromptu jokes offensive and anti-Soviet, banned KVN.

To organize the movement, the KVN Union created a structure of regional and multi-regional arrangements of Leagues.

The winner of the Major League (Vysshaya Liga Russian: Высшая Лига) is declared the Champion of the Club.

[citation needed] KVN is a task-based team competition that is played in front of a live audience and a panel of judges.

[4] An example was the case of how in 2011, Channel One cut a parody of a viral YouTube clip of Dmitry Medvedev dancing from a televised airing.

[5] According to the official website of KVN Union, the game has[6][full citation needed] over five million live viewers annually; more than 40,000 participants organized into more than 3,000 regularly competing teams from more than 100 cities.