The Little Blue Light (Russian: Голубой огонёк, romanized: Goluboy ogonyok) was a popular musical variety show aired on Soviet television since 1962[1] during various holidays.
The apogee of the comedy program has always been Arkady Raikin's numbers, comic duets were popular — Veronika Mavrikievna and Avdotya Nikitichna (Vadim Tonkov and Boris Vladimirov), Plug and Tarapunka (Yefim Berezin and Yuri Timoshenko), as well as Lev Mirov and Mark Novitsky.
Writer Andrey Khoroshevsky believed that the phenomenon of the "Blue Light" consisted in the fact that even the most famous guests in the program appeared to be ordinary people with problems and interests understandable to every viewer.
In 2003, Mikhail Shvydkoy, Russian Minister of Culture, stated that ""The Blue Light" turned the Soviet Union into a large communal apartment — it united people at the screens."
[1] During the decline of the Soviet Union, the "trademark" Little Blue Light began to gradually disappear from the screens and the New Year concert became a matter of experimenting.