Childhood and youth
Petrosyan Evgeniy Vaganovich was born on September 16, 1945 in the Azerbaijan SSR, Baku. His father was Vagan Mironovich Petrosyants (later the comedian shortened his real surname for greater euphony), an Armenian by nationality, and his mother was housewife Bella Grigorievna of Jewish origin. The future comedian spent his childhood in Baku.
As Yevgeny Petrosyan himself has repeatedly noted, his parents did not have the slightest connection to art. My father was an authoritative teacher who worked at the Azerbaijan Pedagogical Institute and deservedly bore the nickname Walking Encyclopedia. Mother did more housework, but was also a person of science: Bella Grigorievna received a higher education as a chemical engineer (at one time she studied with Vagan Mironovich).
Published by Julia Romanowska Sunday, January 6, 2019
Evgeny Petrosyan in his youth
When Petrosyan was about 7-8 years old, his older cousin took him to a local comedy concert. The boy, born in the post-war years and accustomed to an atmosphere of grief and despair, was extremely impressed by the joyful, cheerful faces of the audience. He realized that he himself wanted to become someone who would bring a smile to people’s faces.
Evgeny Vaganovich decided to move towards the realization of this dream. The family was not too happy when the son announced that he was going to become an artist, but they did not interfere with his attempts to achieve success in this field.
From the age of 12, Petrosyan did everything to show his acting talent - he worked in a puppet theater and in the folk theater, conducted solo conferences, read feuilletons, and acted out scenes from operettas. At the age of 15, the artist even went on his first tour from the sailors' club.
Personal life
Petrosyan always enjoyed the interest of the opposite sex, and even his short height (168 cm with a weight of 75 kg) did not prevent him from charming girls with his charm and sense of humor.
In his youth, Eugene married the younger sister of Victorina Krieger, a famous ballerina. In 1968, she gave the comedian the only child in his life - daughter Quiz. The family did not last long: the couple separated.
The comedian’s second wife was the daughter of opera singer Ivan Kozlovsky, Anna. The woman was 7 years older than her husband and had been married to him for a year and a half.
For the third time, the artist married Leningrad art critic Lyudmila. She was an intelligent lady of aristocratic origin and even performed on the same stage with her husband several times. However, she was irritated by her husband’s excessive workload, and the couple soon separated.
Yevgeny Petrosyan’s fourth wife was Elena Stepanenko. The comedian met her shortly after opening his own Theater of Variety Miniatures: the GITIS graduate came to audition, wanting to take part in the theater’s productions.
By that time, the comedian had experienced a rather serious breakdown in his relationship with his daughter. Soon she emigrated to the United States and did not speak with her father for ten years. During this time, she had a family, and Evgeniy Vaganovich had grandchildren: Andreas and Mark.
Evgeniy Petrosyan and Elena Stepanenko
Published by SOLO - Healthy Eating Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Evgeny Petrosyan and his ex-wife Elena Stepanenko
Fortunately, after some time, Victorina nevertheless made peace with her father and resumed communication with him. Now the guys periodically see their grandfather.
In the summer of 2020, like a bolt from the blue, the news about the divorce of Petrosyan and Stepanenko sounded. Elena decided to seek the division of joint property through the court. The couple's fortune was estimated at $1 billion. According to open information, the couple owned six apartments in the center of Moscow and a suburban plot of 3 thousand square meters. m. On this plot of land near the Zhavoronki station of the Belarusian Railway, a cottage with an area of 380 sq. m. was built. m.
According to lawyer Sergei Zhorin, the couple have not lived together for 15 years, each had their own personal life. At first, his client Yevgeny Petrosyan wanted to give his wife half of the property to avoid scandals and publicity, but Stepanenko refused the settlement agreement and went to court, expecting to receive at least 80% of their total property.
Fans immediately began to look for possible reasons for the separation after 33 years of marriage. Some media outlets were quick to name the comedian’s personal assistant, Tatyana Brukhunova, as the main reason for the divorce. The couple was seen in a restaurant in the capital, as well as in a boarding house near Moscow.
At the end of December 2020, Tatyana commented on the situation for the first time. Brukhunova confirmed her relationship with Petrosyan on the air of the “Exclusive” program, where she came with a ring on her ring finger. At the same time, the girl noted that the romance began in 2013, but she “did not take the comedian away from the family,” since the couple had not lived together for many years at that time.
A couple of months later it became known that Evgeniy Vaganovich bought his assistant an apartment in which a children’s room was equipped. TV viewers learned about this from the episode of the program “Let Them Talk.”
74-year-old Evgeny Petrosyan and his young wife, 31-year-old Tatyana Brukhunova, became parents.
The couple is still hiding the gender of the child, who was born on March 13. Posted by Yes! Magazine Monday, March 23, 2020
Evgeny Petrosyan and Tatyana Brukhunova
At the end of 2020, news appeared in the media that Petrosyan married his beloved. However, no official confirmation was received from the artist and his chosen one.
At the beginning of 2020, Evgeniy and Tatyana went on vacation to the UAE. In March, media reports appeared that the artist had given birth to a child at a clinical center in Dubai. The tabloids reported that Petrosyan became a father for the second time at 74 years old. According to reporters, the comedian and his young wife resorted to the services of a surrogate mother, since in photographs on Instagram Tatyana showed a slender figure without signs of pregnancy.
Despite the heated discussion of this news, Petrosyan refused to comment on it, and the artist’s new wife called on reporters to “calm down.”
Petrosyan refuses to comment on personal relationships, but draws the public’s attention to the behavior of his previous wife. In particular, Evgeniy Vaganovich was outraged by the fact that in the new show “It’s Not Evening Yet” Stepanenko used a figurine of a goat, which the comedian had previously purchased personally in Israel for $2.5 thousand.
Now the figurine is in an apartment in Zachatievsky Lane, which Elena occupied. The actress does not allow her ex-husband into the apartment, hinting that the artist may take valuable things out of the house that have not yet been divided between the ex-spouses in court. In turn, the comedian suggests that Stepanenko is “squandering” property acquired jointly.
A relative of the famous ballerina
At one of the receptions after the concert, he is introduced to a pretty girl, a relative of the famous theater figure, ballerina Victorina Krieger, famous in the 20s.
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In 1968, their daughter was born, who was named Victorina, in honor of the famous ballerina. Evgeniy Vaganovich's first wife died when Victorina was still little.
Moving to Moscow
In 1961, Evgeniy decided to take an even more drastic step: in an effort to become an actor, he moved to Moscow. In the capital, young Petrosyan successfully entered the All-Russian Creative Workshop of Pop Art, studying acting under the guidance of A. Alekseev and Rina Zelenaya. Already in 1962, the future comedian, famous throughout the Union, began to hold his first performances on the professional stage.
In the subsequent period of his creative biography, the artist held the position of entertainer, working in the State Orchestra of the RSFSR. The young comedian’s immediate supervisor was the famous Leonid Utesov. From 1969 to 1989, Evgeny Vaganovich worked at the Mosconcert.
Gradually, the artist acquired a certain authority, and already in 1970 he received the worthy title of Laureate of the Fourth All-Union Competition of Variety Artists. In an effort to develop his skills, in 1985 Petrosyan graduated from GITIS, choosing the specialty of pop director.
In 1985, the artist received the title “Honored Artist of the RSFSR”, in 1991 his status was raised to “People’s Artist of the RSFSR”, and in 1995 Evgeniy Vaganovich was awarded the Order of Honor for services to the country and fruitful activities in the field of culture and art.
Family life
Elena Grigorievna moved to Yevgeny Vaganovich’s apartment on Arbat. She turned out to be a good housewife, cooked deliciously, was cheerful and full of optimism. Those around Petrosyan unanimously declare that he is lucky with this wife.
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According to them, Stepanenko was always the leader in the house, and Petrosyan was inferior to her in everything. The work made their marriage even stronger. Her contribution to the formation and development of the Petrosyan Theater can hardly be overestimated.
Career on stage
The comedian came closest to his personal success on the stage and television screen in the 70s of the last century. So, in 1973, together with Shimelov and Pisarenko, Petrosyan created his own program, which was called “Three Came to the Stage.”
Two years later, Evgeny moved on and began staging his performances at the Moscow Variety Theater. Thanks to him, the productions “Monologues”, “How are you?”, “A kind word is nice to a cat”, “We are all fools”, “When finances sing romances”, “Family joys” and many others were released.
In his productions, Petrosyan often plays the main roles. Both the performances in general and the performances of Yevgeny Vaganovich were very popular in Soviet times (however, the comedian still attracts full houses).
Feuilletons, small skits, musical parodies, interludes, pop clownery and other types of humorous performances by Petrosyan were enjoyed by a wide contingent of listeners and received positive reviews in the press.
In 1979, the comedian decided to create the Petrosyan Theater of Variety Miniatures. Under him, the Center for Variety Humor was formed, in which the artist collected unique and rare materials concerning the history of pop music throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. These are posters, photographs, magazines and much more that have survived to this day.
From 1987 to 2000, Evgeny Petrosyan worked in the Full House program. And in 1988, the comedian received the position of artistic director and leading artist of the Moscow Concert Ensemble of Pop Miniatures. From 1994 to 2004, the comedian hosted his own program “Funny Panorama”, the symbol of which was a clay clown acquired by Petrosyan in Germany in 1995.
Among the popular feuilletons of this time performed by the artist are “We Live Fun,” “Searching for a Wife,” “The Country of Limonia, the Village of Petrosyaniya,” and “When Finance Sings Romances.” Later the numbers “I Want a Fool” and “Telephone for the Director” appeared. In addition to speech numbers, the showman’s repertoire also includes songs such as “Funny”, “Looking into my eyes”, “My way”, “Turn back time”.
Evgeniy Vaganovich is also known for the humorous theater “Crooked Mirror”, which he directed and in which he often played the main roles. The theater's performances were broadcast from 2003 to 2014. Karen Avanesyan, Igor Khristenko, Alexander Morozov, Mikhail Vashukov and many other popular comedians also took part in them.
Published by Armenia - Armenians of the World / Armenians in the World Thursday, November 22, 2020
Evgeny Petrosyan and his daughter
In 2012, the artist held a benefit performance in honor of the 50th anniversary of his stage career. The concert was called “Golden Jubilee”. His entry was later posted on the comedian’s official website.
In 2013, the first issues of the comedian’s project “100 Speeches” appeared, which collected Petrosyan’s best numbers “Academician”, “Aristocrats”, “Candidate’s Speech”, “Glasnost Booth” and others. A year later, the “Petrosyan Show” project was launched, and two years later, “Humor! Humor!! Humor!!!". Every year, the comedian organizes a performance dedicated to the New Year celebration. He also has feuilletons dedicated to the main holiday of the year.
In 2018, he mastered new technologies and even opened his own account on Instagram. However, on the Internet the comedian is better known as the progenitor of the meme, meaning unfunny and outdated jokes.
The words “Petrosian”, “Petrosianism” and the like acquired this meaning. Evgeniy Vaganovich is often accused of borrowing most of his jokes from the Internet. In response to this, the artist states that his jokes are so popular that they quickly end up on the Internet, which is why this impression arises.
In 2009, the comedian invited several popular bloggers at the time to a round table, who made fun of his style of jokes more than others. After the meeting, many of them admitted that the real Yevgeny Petrosyan made a much more pleasant impression than the television Petrosyan.
Nevertheless, the comedian’s work, as well as the performances of Full House and Distorting Mirror, are often ridiculed in other humorous programs - KVN, Comedy Club, Big Difference.
Some journalists believe that the reason for such dislike for Yevgeny Vaganovich is that for a long time he most often appeared on television screens. His monologues "Plumber", "Moonshine" and others at that time represented the best that was broadcast on television, since there was nothing else.
Rumor has it that in 2011 the comedian was almost awarded the comic prize “Silver Galosh”, awarded for dubious achievements in show business. But the day before the ceremony, Mikhail Zadornov personally asked not to do this: according to the famous satirist, Petrosyan takes such things so seriously that he could suffer a heart attack after receiving a comic award.
