“The Americans were outraged”: Klara Novikova explained why she stayed in Russia

The legendary artist is sure that she will not be able to live in another country

A native of Kyiv, Klara Novikova lives most of her life in Moscow, unlike her brother, who settled in the United States. The star comedian herself had a chance to go abroad. But she didn’t want to leave Russia. Klara Borisovna told MK correspondents about this.

“I never even considered this option – leaving Moscow,” says Novikova. “If I had such an internal need, then maybe I would go.” But I don’t have such a need, I can’t live abroad. It seems to me that I won’t be able to settle down anywhere.

– Why do you think so?

– I am a talking person. Communication is very important to me. Living in the country, I cannot communicate only with those who speak Russian. The country, its views, and the theater are important to me. How is it without language? I’ll just be a deaf-mute person! My parents also didn’t go anywhere at the time, although my brother called them to him: both dad and mom. They were already old enough to go. Medicine is better there, and the climate is warmer… But they didn’t go. Dad also said: “I’m deaf and dumb there.”

– Do you often visit your brother?

– I used to come often. One day a very funny story happened. I arrived for the New Year, and I wanted to surprise its guests with something. First, I made him buy a Christmas tree. He lives in California: there are no Christmas trees there. But my brother went somewhere and bought a Canadian Christmas tree. I brought our Christmas tree decorations from Moscow. We hung them up and put cotton wool under the tree to make it look like snow. And I also decided to organize a Russian table. I prepared a lot of our goodies, including horseradish. He invited his friends to the holiday: I arranged gifts for everyone under the tree. I did everything as expected. And horseradish stood among all sorts of drinks: there was whiskey, and various cognacs, and Californian wines…

My brother is a doctor, so among his guests were American doctors. They were poured my horseradish. They got so excited! They said that this was vodka with a snack at once! They ate vinaigrette and other food prepared by me. But they were wildly delighted with the horseradish. My brother decided that he would plant horseradish behind his house and would also cook horseradish. After some time, American neighbors began to come to him with a complaint that some unknown plants had grown up on their property and they could not understand what it was. They began to look for where these plants grow from…

– And the trail led to your brother!

– Yes (laughs). It turns out that horseradish grows wildly. He reached out to the neighbors in one direction and the other. They were outraged! But it’s not so easy to pull it out: it’s not grass! My brother had to call some special services to get this damn thing out. That’s how my story with the horseradish ended.