Alexander Maslyakov

What? Where? When? is an intellectual game show well known in Russian-language media and other CIS states since mid-1970s. Today it is produced for television by TV Igra on the Russian Channel One and also exists as a competitive game played in clubs organized by the World Association of Clubs. Over 17 000 teams worldwide play sport version of game, based on the TV show.

KVN is a Russian humour TV show and competition where teams compete by giving funny answers to questions and showing prepared sketches. The programme was first aired by the First Soviet Channel on November 8, 1961. Eleven years later, in 1972, when few programmes were being broadcast live, Soviet censors found the students' impromptu jokes offensive and anti-Soviet and banned KVN. The show was revived fourteen years later during the Perestroika era in 1986, with Alexander Maslyakov as its host. It is one of the longest-running TV programmes on Russian Television. It also has its own holiday on November 8, the birthday of the game, which KVN players celebrate every year since it was announced and widely celebrated for the first time in 2001.

The "Big Difference" is created not only for the audience, but also for those who became the hero of the parody - TV presenters and actors. A guest who comes to the studio seems to see himself through a magnifying glass, because all the details are taken into account in the parody: the character's manner of dressing, speaking, diction features, plastic, makeup, hairstyle. The uniqueness of the project is that in addition to entertainment, the program also has a developmental function. After all, our guest, who is being parodied, has a chance to look at himself from the outside, to see his shortcomings and advantages. Some people like themselves, and some don't. But the main thing is that no one remains indifferent.