This is a link post.

I’m a big fan of the Soviet comedy directors Eldar Ryazanov, Leonid Gaidai, and Georgiy Daneliya. Almost anything by them is worth watching, but here are my favorites (filtered for things that have a free YouTube version with good English subtitles, bold are the highest-recommended):

Scene from "The Garage"

Ryazanov

1966 Beware of the Car (Берегись автомобиля) [YouTube]
- Comedy about a benevolent car thief who steals to donate to charity
1975 The Irony of Fate (Ирония судьбы или с легким паром!) [YouTube]
- A New Year's classic premised on the uniformity of Soviet apartment buildings—a guy gets drunk on NYE and ends up in a different city but finds an identical building that his key can access
1977 Office Romance (Служебный роман) [YouTube]
- Romantic comedy and satirical portrayal of Soviet office life
1979 The Garage (Гараж) [YouTube]
- Comedy set in a single [...]

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Outline:

(00:32) Ryazanov

(01:55) Gaidai

(02:41) Daneliya

(02:56) Bonus recommendations

The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration.

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First published:
June 9th, 2024

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ZgfM4QLtQbswf7W7k/soviet-comedy-film-recommendations

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“Soviet comedy film recommendations” by Nina Rimsky

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“Soviet comedy film recommendations” by Nina Rimsky