How it was №422 27.06.1998 (1998)

"Evening of fun questions", or at the origins of KVN, 1957.

From a special resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU: "On September 29, 1957, an unorthodox and vulgar program called "Evening of Cheerful Questions" was broadcast on Moscow television, which caused mass indignation and protest of viewers.

The "competition" included in the program for the fastest arrival of viewers in winter clothes to be shown on the air and receive awards was essentially a provocation that caused public disorder.

The program of the evening included questions, riddles and contests designed to stupefy and humiliate the dignity of the Soviet people..."

Of course, no one could have imagined that a whole crowd of people from all over Moscow, not to mention the construction dormitories located around, would rush to the building of the Moscow State University on Mokhovaya Street, from where the broadcast was conducted.

As a result, all these people broke through the police cordon, staged a stampede and completely blocked access to the DC. The broadcast of the program had to be stopped, the rest of the evening the audience saw only the screen saver "Break for technical reasons".

The Central Committee of the CPSU recognized "BBV" as a mockery of Soviet people, and the youth editorial office of the Central Television was dismissed almost in full.

The break for technical reasons, which began in 1957, lasted 4 years.

In 1961, Sergei Muratov, Albert Axelrod and Mikhail Yakovlev came up with another TV show, which was also later closed and revived only in 1986.

It was called KVN.

The guest host of the "provocateurs", that is, the creators of the program Sergey Muratov, Mark Rozovsky, Yuri Zerchaninov, Nikita Bogoslovsky and Ksenia Marinina, as well as the poet George Ferre and the usher Lydia Balakireva, who were direct participants in those events.

The program includes excerpts from the "Evening of Fun Questions" and the Czech program "Hádej, hádej, hadači", fragments of the News of the Day news magazine and the KVN-62 program.