Exiled Russian comic Sasha Nezlobin brings laugh therapy to Edinburgh Fringe

Sasha Nezlobin, a Russian stand-up comedian who fled Russia in twenty twenty-two, is bringing his first full-hour English set to the Edinburgh Fringe this month. Nezlobin left Russia after publicly supporting LGBTQ+ rights and opposing the war in Ukraine—a stance that put him at odds with the Putin regime. His show 'I'm Fine', per The Conversation's Jessica Tipton, mines dark comedy from exile and displacement, with jokes about authoritarian pressure and the euphemisms used to obscure political reality. For audiences affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the show functions as 'laughter therapy,' Tipton writes—a way to process shared trauma through humor. The run opens August fifth at Edinburgh's Pleasance Dome.

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