Does this schedule somehow affect the creative process?

[[email protected]]

Sure. Luckily, we have several authors, and we try to share the responsibilities. Sometimes I produce two videos, and Mark does other things at the same time. He has time to write and think, make sketches and then throw out the unsuccessful ones. And now - they are making a video there, and I am in Moscow, sitting at the table and talking to you.

And this is your main and only job?

Yes, I even stopped doing stand-up - I don’t have enough time.

And how does a video blog turn into a business? Hires people, pays them salaries...

To be honest, that's something we don't really understand. We have other people for that. We work for the channel, it doesn't belong to us. Luckily, there is a management that takes care of everything that concerns us companies board of directors email database running the business. Maybe it wouldn't hurt for us to understand it ourselves, but... That's not what we're about. We're comedians. I came to New York in 2000 to become a comedian. And we try to do what we're good at.

You said that you have recently moved away from political content. Why did this happen? Is there less demand for political satire?

I think so, yes, that's the thing. When we first started, there was less stuff on the internet, and there was less stuff on YouTube, and there was this real fever around the 2008 election campaign. The main contenders were Barack Obama, an African-American, and Hillary Clinton. Before that, we had only white men in the White House. I don't know if you remember, but they had this real duel that lasted for months. And that was the main story in America at the time. And after the election, the interest gradually died down.

Well, also, the YouTube audience was older back then. Adults are interested in politics. And young people watch YouTube for entertainment - they want pop music and stuff like that. So yeah, the climate has changed.

So now you're more likely to make a parody of "Gangnam Style" than to dedicate a video to Edward Snowden, NSA surveillance of users, or the aggravation of Russian-American relations?

Yes, absolutely. We try sometimes, but the audience has no interest in politics. And we are forced to adapt, to go with the flow for the sake of views.