Alexander Maslyakov

Alexander Vasilievich Maslyakov - Soviet and Russian TV presenter. Honored Artist of the Russian Federation and full member of the Academy of Russian Television Foundation. Founder and co-owner of the AMiK television creative association. Since 1964, he has been the head and presenter of the KVN TV program.

In the biography of Alexander Maslyakov, there are many interesting facts from his life spent on stage.

So, before you is a short biography of Maslyakov.

Biography of Alexander Maslyakov

Alexander Maslyakov was born on November 24, 1941 in Sverdlovsk. He grew up and was raised in a family that has nothing to do with television.

His father, Vasily Maslyakov, served as a military pilot. After the end of World War II (1941-1945), the man served in the General Staff of the Air Force. The mother of the future TV presenter, Zinaida Alekseevna, was a housewife.

Childhood and youth

The birth of Alexander Maslyakov happened a few months after the start of the war. At this time, his father was at the front, and he and his mother were urgently evacuated to Chelyabinsk.

After the end of the war, the Maslyakov family lived in Azerbaijan for some time, after which they moved to Moscow.

In the capital, Alexander went to school, and then continued his studies at the Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers.

After becoming a certified specialist, he worked for a short time at the design institute "Giprosakhar".

At the age of 27, Maslyakov graduated from the Higher Courses for Television Workers.

For the next 7 years, he served as a senior editor at the Main Editorial Office of Youth Programs.

Then Alexander worked as a journalist and commentator at the Experiment TV studio.

KVN

Alexander Maslyakov appeared on television by a happy coincidence. Participation in the 4th year, the captain of the institute KVN team asked him to become one of the five hosts of the entertainment program.

The KVN program was first aired in 1961. It was a prototype of the Soviet program Evening of Merry Questions.

An interesting fact is that the decoding of the name of the TV show had a double meaning. Traditionally, it meant the "Club of the cheerful and resourceful", but at that time there was also a TV brand - KVN-49.

Initially, the host of KVN was Albert Axelrod, but after 3 years he was replaced by Alexander Maslyakov and Svetlana Zhiltsova. Over time, the management decided to leave only one Maslyakov on the stage.

During the first 7 years, the program was broadcast live, but then it began to be shown on record.

This was due to sharp jokes, which sometimes ran counter to Soviet ideology. Thus, the TV program was already aired in edited form.

Since KVN was watched by the entire Soviet Union, representatives of the KGB were the censors of the program. At times, the orders of the KGB officers went beyond understanding.

For example, participants were not allowed to wear beards, as this could be regarded as a mockery of Karl Marx. In 1971, the relevant authorities decided to close the KVN.

During that period of his biography, Alexander Maslyakov heard a lot of fables about himself. There were rumors that he was arrested for currency fraud.

According to Maslyakov, such statements are gossip, because if he had a criminal record, he would never appear on TV again.

The next release of KVN happened only 15 years later. This happened in 1986, when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. The program was continued by the same Maslyakov.

In 1990, Alexander Vasilyevich founded the creative association "Alexander Maslyakov and Company" ("AMiK"), which became the official organizer of the KVN games and a number of similar projects.

Soon, KVN began to play in secondary and higher educational institutions. Later they became interested in the game far beyond the borders of Russia.

In 1994, the World Championship was held, in which teams from the CIS, Israel, Germany and the USA took part.

It is curious that if in the Soviet years, KVN allowed jokes that ran counter to the ideology of the state, that today the program broadcast on Channel One does not allow criticism of the current government.

Moreover, in 2012, Alexander Maslyakov was a member of the "People's Headquarters" of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin.

In 2016, not only KVN celebrated its anniversary. The legendary presenter was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Chechen Republic, and was also awarded the Order of Merit for the Republic of Dagestan.

Also, Alexander Vasilyevich received a medal "For strengthening the military community" from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

TV

In addition to KVN, Maslyakov hosted several more television programs. He was the host of such popular projects as "Hello, we are looking for talents", "Come on, girls!", "Come on, guys!", "Funny guys", "Sense of humor" and others.

Over the years of his biography, Alexander Vasilievich has repeatedly become the host of festivals held in Sochi.

In the late 70s, the man was entrusted with leading the popular program "Song of the Year", which performed songs of Soviet artists. He was also the first host of What? Where? When? ”, Having carried out its first 2 issues in 1975.

At the same time, Alexander Maslyakov was involved in the creation of reports from various events that took place in the capitals of Cuba, Germany, Bulgaria and North Korea.

In 2002 Maslyakov became the owner of TEFI in the nomination “For personal contribution to the development of domestic TV”.

Alexander Vasilyevich has been successfully working on television for more than half a century. Today, in addition to KVN, he is in the judging team of the entertainment show "Minute of Glory".

Personal life

The wife of Alexander Maslyakov is Svetlana Anatolyevna, who in the mid-60s was an assistant to the director of KVN. The young people liked each other, as a result of which a romance began between them.

In 1971 Maslyakov made an offer to his chosen one, after which the couple decided to get married. It is curious that the host's wife still works as one of the KVN directors.

In 1980, a son, Alexander, was born into the Maslyakov family. In the future, he will follow in the footsteps of his father and also begin to conduct programs related to KVN.

Alexander Maslyakov today

Maslyakov is still the leading KVN. From time to time he appears on other projects as a guest.

Not so long ago, Alexander Maslyakov took part in the Evening Urgant program. He had fun talking with Ivan Urgant, answering all his questions and talking about what he is doing today.

In 2016, the man published the book “KVN - Alive! The most complete encyclopedia. " In it, the author has collected various jokes, interesting facts from the biographies of popular players and a lot of other information.

In 2017, the Moscow authorities removed Maslyakov from the post of head of the MMC Planet KVN. This decision was related to the investigation, during which it turned out that the presenter, on behalf of Planet KVN, transferred the Moscow cinema Havana to his own company AMiK.

In 2018, the release of the program "Tonight" was dedicated to the cult program. Together with Maslyakov, famous players took part in the program, who shared different stories with the audience.

Maslyakov is often asked what is the secret of his youth. It is worth noting that for his age he really looks very good.

In one of the interviews, when the journalist once again asked how Alexander Vasilyevich manages to stay young and fit, he answered shortly: "Yes, you need to eat less."

This phrase gained some popularity, and later it was repeatedly recalled on programs in which the founder of KVN participated.