Alexey Shcherbakov vs YouTube
"Perhaps in 10 years, I'll also be joking about completely different topics," Alexey Shcherbakov said in an interview with Yuri Dud in 2020. At the time, he was discussing his views on humor and the reasons why his repertoire didn't include acute social jokes.
Six years later, all of the stand-up comedian's Russian concerts scheduled for 2026 were canceled without explanation. And his active presence on YouTube became a thing of the past – the projects that brought him nationwide love either closed down or moved to other platforms.
Alexey Shcherbakov's story is not just a tale of a comedian. It's a story of how a former subway installer became a YouTube star, argued with television management over money, experienced the collapse of his most successful projects, and ultimately found himself at the center of a scandal that ended his concert career in Russia.
Where did Shcherbakov go from YouTube? Why were his concerts canceled? And what do the FSB, GRU special forces, and his best friend's 50-year entry ban have to do with it? Let's find out.
Part 1: From Subway Installer to "StandUp" Resident
Working Youth: GRU Service and Underground Work
Alexey Shcherbakov did not have a "golden" youth. He was born in Zvenigorod, a town in the Moscow region. After graduating from the Moscow Institute of Management, he served in the 16th GRU Spetsnaz Brigade, stationed in Tambov.
After demobilization, to support his family, the young man worked two jobs at once: during the day on a construction site, and at night as an installer in the Moscow subway. This experience – physically demanding work, communication with ordinary people, the "kitchen" of the city's underside – would later form the basis of his stand-up monologues. It was this "working-class" sincerity that became his calling card.
Becoming Established on TNT
Shcherbakov began his stand-up journey in 2012. He tried several times to audition for "Comedy Battle," but the attempts were in vain. In 2015, he became a resident of the popular show "Stand Up" on the TNT channel, which brought him to a wide audience.
However, by 2019, there were noticeably fewer comedians of his generation on TV. As Shcherbakov himself explained in a 2019 interview, this was because "experience for jokes doesn't accumulate quickly." Comedians used up their past experiences, and it was difficult to accumulate new ones in a short period. Plus, more time was spent on tours and solo concerts.
At the same time, he and his colleagues actively began to explore YouTube because, in their opinion, "if there is so much unfunny junk and untalented people there, then why shouldn't talented people appear there?"
Part 2: The Golden Era of YouTube (2018–2023)
The Birth of "What Happened Next?"
In 2018-2019, Shcherbakov became a participant in the show "Prozharka" and a resident of the LabelCom YouTube channel. But the main project in his career was the show "What Happened Next?" (ChBD), launched in 2019.
The format was simple and brilliant: a guest tells a funny story from their life, and four hosts (Alexey Shcherbakov, Nurlan Saburov, Tambi Masaev, and others) interrupt them, make sarcastic comments, and try to come up with an original funny ending.
It was in this show that Shcherbakov's image, loved by millions, was formed: a gruff "simple guy" with a working-class past, who jokes about family, service, and everyday life.
The project became the most successful Russian-language comedy show on YouTube. Episodes garnered millions of views.
Part 3: Conflict with TNT and Departure from YouTube
Money, "VKontakte," and Loss of Trust
In 2023-2024, a split occurred among comedians. The show "What Happened Next?" announced its departure from YouTube to the "VKontakte" platform. The official reason given to viewers was problems with monetization on YouTube.
However, in an interview with the "Bukharog Live" podcast, Shcherbakov told a completely different story. It turned out that the reason was a conflict with TNT creative producer Vyacheslav Dusmukhametov. The team learned that Dusmukhametov received a large sum of money for "giving away" the show exclusively to "VKontakte." At the same time, the comedians were offered a fee that Shcherbakov called "the size of a couple of my concerts."
"We heard the sum from Slava, and then we heard the sum that Slava received for giving all of us to VK. And we didn't like that very much," the comedian stated.
He explicitly said: the departure from YouTube was not related to monetization, but to this financial conflict. "The most incorrect option [from the internet]: 'Monetization was shut down, so ChBD disappeared.' Are you idiots? A more serious situation happened," Shcherbakov was indignant.
The conflict led to Shcherbakov leaving the TV project "Stand Up" on TNT. He admitted that he had strained relations with Dusmukhametov: "There is Stand Up, but I am not there. Due to the conflict with Vyacheslav, I departed from Stand Up, I can't do anything there."
Repentance
However, two years later, in January 2026, Shcherbakov publicly apologized to Dusmukhametov. He admitted that he had expressed his dissatisfaction emotionally and thoughtlessly at the time.
"I still have good relations, but not friendly ones. Because we initially diverged in opinions on work, that's normal. And the friendly history was lost because I had the imprudence to say nasty things, which I still regret," he said in the show "For Money."
Part 4: 2026 Concert Cancellations
Nurlan Saburov Receives an Entry Ban
On the night of February 6, 2026, at passport control in Vnukovo, comedian Nurlan Saburov, Shcherbakov's colleague from ChBD, was handed a document banning him from entering Russia for 50 years.
Various reasons were cited: some media wrote about "criticism of the SVO" and "violation of migration legislation," while others wrote about "protection of traditional spiritual and moral values." However, a journalistic investigation showed that the Second Service of the FSB could have initiated Saburov's entry ban to Russia.
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