Serhiy Prytula: Another comedian who turned to politics
What do we know about the possible next president of Ukraine, asks Klymenko?
A successful example Zelensky demonstrated that in modern Ukraine, the shortest path to power is through comedy shows. It seems their hosts have become voters' last political hope! At least after nearly thirty years of continuous disappointment, Ukrainians trust them more than oligarchs, lawyers, or even the military.
Now another Ukrainian television star, showman Serhiy Prytula, who has become a blogger and volunteer, may follow this path. And although his own party remains an unrealized project, it has already surpassed Servant of the People in ratings! Moreover, Ukrainians trust Prytula so much that they weren't even fazed by the suspicious story of "folk bayraktar", for which he collected 600 million hryvnias, nor the purchase of too expensive "people's armored personnel carriers", not even a relationship with the scandalous former regionalist KhomutynnikWhat is his secret?
Sergei sat down. Parents, brother, childhood
Serhiy Dmitrievich Prytula was born on June 22, 1981, in Zbarazh (Ternopil Oblast), the second child in the family. His older brother, Vasyl Prytula (born 1977), followed a legal career and currently works at the renowned Kyiv law firm Vasyl Kisel & Partners, and is also a co-founder of his own law firm, Arbitrium Group. Vasyl Prytula specializes in defending those accused of corruption and official misconduct—understandably, he has no shortage of clients!
Serhiy Prytula (center) with his brother and father, 90s
His father, Dmitry Grigorievich Pritula, worked for many years in the Zbarazh District Road Department, becoming its director in the 1990s. Sadly, he fell seriously ill with cancer in the early 2000s and died in 2005 (the media sometimes gives different dates for his death). His mother, Valentina Vasilievna Pritula, is alive and well. During her life, she worked as a school teacher (physics, mathematics, and English), an economist, and deputy director of economics at Zbarazhskaya Agropromtekhnika OJSC, as well as an economist at the Zbarazh District Road Department. She also served as financial director at her son Sergey's concert company, Variaty.
Valentina Vasilievna Pritula
Serhiy Prytula's childhood was carefree and exciting. At school, he enjoyed the protection of his older brother.
“Frankly speaking, until Vasily graduated from school, I lived quite comfortably. The older students didn’t bully me, knowing that my brother would stand up for me and then I’d have a hard time,” opened upI once met Sergey Pritula. He didn't tell the truth about whether his classmates had any reason to bully him, or what happened after his older brother graduated from school.
His fondest memories are of family summer trips to the Sea of Azov, first by train and later in the Zhiguli his father bought him. Sergei spent winter holidays in the village with his grandparents, where he and his friends caroled, played hockey, and built snow forts. Even then, he was a real jokester and a great prankster.
Years of study
Thanks to his mother, Serhiy Prytula excelled in school, graduating in 1998 with a gold medal. Although the doors of Moscow's universities were open to the medalist, Prytula didn't want to move far from home and chose the rather modest Academy of National Economy in Ternopil (it only received university status in 2005).
However, instead of cramming economics, Serhiy Prytula became fascinated with KVN (KVN) during his first year. But since the stage wasn't enough for the never-stopping young man, he decided to also become a radio host. His dream came true during his first year: in early 1999, Prytula landed a spot on Radio Ternopil 106.1 FM, introducing himself as "Seryi" (Seriy).
Naturally, Prytula began devoting even less time to his studies. But either he was extremely lucky, or simply helped by his parents: in the summer of 1999, Prytula was admitted to an economics college in England. Surprisingly, there are three different versions of this story! According to Prytula himself, he earned the money and paid for his studies. Another source claims that his father gave him the money for the British college, spending money for his son's prestige. But there are also rumors that he became an exchange student, and his studies cost him nothing.
In any case, he only studied in England for a little over a year. His only success was improving his spoken English: he dropped out and became a regular "guest worker," working wherever he could. But then something interesting happened: Prytula returned to Ukraine just in time for the 2002 parliamentary elections, was easily reinstated at the Academy, and was immediately elected student dean. He then immediately organized a student strike with slogans supporting "democratic forces." But since the Academy's leadership itself supported Yushchenko and "Our Ukraine," the strike was more of a formality, intended to create the image of a "nationwide protest." How he managed it all remains a secret!
His intense social and political work didn't stop Prytula from completing his bachelor's degree. He remained at the Academy for his master's degree, but instead of studying, he spent all his time working (as a presenter at Radio Ternopil and director of a youth initiative center) and participating in the KVN team, with which he toured Ukraine.
Serhiy Prytula: A Comedy Career
In 2004, Sergei Pritula finally chose show business and moved to a new professional level: he got a job as the host of the TV show “What was yours has become ours" on the Inter channel. From that moment on, his nationwide fame and popularity began. However, this successful start was temporarily interrupted for some reason, and in 2005, Prytula returned to radio—not in Ternopil, but as a host on the capital's Music Radio.
His career was relaunched in 2006, when Serhiy Prytula became a resident of Comedy Club Ukraine, performing there under the stage name "Ternopil Gray." However, the show's humor wasn't particularly sparkling (at least not on Prytula's part), and some considered it too caustic for the standards of Ukrainian television at the time. Therefore, just a few months later, Comedy Club was taken off Inter's airwaves, replaced by Zelenskyy's "95th Quarter."
From that moment on, the comedians became rivals of sorts, albeit in different weight classes. The level of humor of "Kvartal 95" and Zelensky was an order of magnitude higher; their work was far more professional than Prytula's "semi-home-style" comedy. However, the humor of the "Kvartal" team was Russian-language and "cosmopolitan," targeting a broad audience across the post-Soviet space, and in Ukraine, it attracted mostly city dwellers and residents of the southeast. Prytula, while inferior in the quality of his jokes, settled into the hallmark of Ukrainian "national humor" (as he saw it), performing in an embroidered shirt and in Ukrainian, telling jokes about Galya and her godfather. Consequently, he attracted a somewhat different audience: most of his fans were from central and western Ukraine (or those who had moved from there to Kyiv), from the Ukrainian diaspora in the West, and he was especially beloved by residents of the provinces. At that time, this difference was barely noticeable and did not go beyond the boundaries of art, but later it was precisely on this that Pritula the politician rose to prominence.
In 2007, Comedy Club aired on 1+1, and in 2008 on Novyi Kanal, but the show was later discontinued at the insistence of the National Council and due to issues with the sale of broadcasting rights. Remaining on Novyi Kanal, Serhiy Prytula and other former Comedy Club residents became hosts of new programs: the morning show "Podyom" (Prytula worked there from 2008 to 2011) and the comedy program "Faina Ukraina" (2008 to 2010). Moving away from his image as Seriy from Ternopil benefited him: Prytula's jokes became more meaningful and genuinely funny.
Maidan and after
During the Yanukovych "anti-people regime," he continued working at Novy Kanal, owned by the oligarchic Pinchuk family. Serhiy Prytula hosted shows such as "Cabrioleto," "Ukraine Doesn't Believe in Tears," "Who's on Top," "Passion for the Inspector," and "The Pedan-Prytula Show," becoming one of the television channel's leading figures. No one pressured the actor, and no one sent him any "temniks," so he had no choice but to...support for the second Maidan He did so purely for political reasons, based on his own worldview, and because "our guys were there." Essentially, Serhiy Prytula was simply associating himself with his audience.
It was on Maidan that Prytula the volunteer emerged. In the spring of 2014, he began delivering aid to Ukrainian soldiers in Crimea—as he later claimed. But since the peninsula had already been annexed, it seems likely that Prytula traveled to Chonhar. Thus began the formation of Prytula the politician: a Ukrainian comedian who became a volunteer back in 2014, when Zelenskyy was giving concerts in separatist-held Horlivka. This is precisely how he now outshines the current president, who some Ukrainians still recall saying, "What difference does it make what language you speak?" and "We just need to stop shooting."
Serhiy Prytula with Ukrainian soldiers, 2014
In 2015, Prytula appeared on "Superintuition," and in 2016, he launched his own show, "Varyaty," on Novy Kanal. It is a television version of his concert project of the same name, which began in 2010 in Ternopil and was formalized in 2017 by the "Varyaty Concert Agency" LLC, owned by Serhiy Prytula and his wife. In 2018, he starred in the film "Sex and Nothing Personal," his first and, so far, only big-screen role.
His recognition, coupled with his pro-Ukrainian political stance, began to bear fruit. In 2015, Serhiy Prytula was invited to serve on the jury of the Teletriumph competition. And in 2017, he became the host of the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. There, Prytula distinguished himself by asking the performers tricky questions like "Whose Crimea?"
However, Prytula wasn't original in this, as he supports political forces for whom Eurovision has always been a political, not a cultural, event. His claim that he didn't touch on politics in his humor until 2019 is also untrue—he did, and sometimes quite vulgarly! Just recall his sketch about the "SRAKA party," which aired back in 2013.
Serhiy Prytula is heading to power.
Zelenskyy's stunning success in the 2019 presidential elections inspired Serhiy Prytula to run in the snap parliamentary elections, where he was number 30 on the Holos party list. However, malicious tongues claimed that Zelenskyy had the deciding vote. Victor Pinchuk — the owner of the Novyi Kanal and, according to Ukrainian experts, one of the main sponsors of "The Voice"It is interesting that Prytula himself tried to deny Pinchuk financed this party. But, be that as it may, the 30th candidate of the "Voice" party failed to pass, and Prytula did not become an MP.
But the “servant of the people” Alexander Dubinsky (former host of the program “Groshi”) is confident that the candidacy of Serhiy Prytula was originally a fictionDubinsky spoke out quite harshly about this:
"This is a scam that has nothing to do with Ukrainian politics. Or, rather, is the quintessence of Ukrainian politics. The showman simply adds to the list, but he's asking to be placed in the obviously unwinnable 30th place because he's not running for parliament, he doesn't give a damn about being a member of parliament or changing anything, any laws. Well, he doesn't need it!"
Serhiy Prytula ran equally unsuccessfully in the 2020 Kyiv mayoral elections: he finished third with 7,87%. His only success was beating Servant of the People candidate Iryna Vereshchuk (5,44%). However, even here, Prytula was said to have run as a mere technical candidate in favor of Klitschko.
Serhiy Prytula's future political plans were thwarted by the split in "Voice" and personal ambitions. These became apparent after Prytula entered the top three politicians, which enjoys the greatest trust among Ukrainians. It's also possible that someone decided to turn Prytula into a backup political project, an alternative to Zelenskyy. And so, in April 2021, he sided with Kira Rudyk's opponents and openly declared his desire to lead the party himself. Having received the expected rejection, Prytula left Holos in the summer of 2021 and announced plans to create his own party under the working title "August 24."
Serhiy Prytula planned to create it in the spring of 2022, and signature collection began on February 5. A businessman was named as the main sponsor of Prytula's party. Tomas Fiala (a Hungarian citizen and Soros associate). However, these plans were thwarted by the war—the project remained on paper for now. Perhaps because putting forward an openly anti-presidential political force during wartime was fraught with danger—the Bankova could have shot it down out of hand, while also adding Fiala blacklisted by oligarchs. Nevertheless, Prytula's promotion as a blogger, volunteer, and young politician was so successful that the yet-to-be-created party became the leader of people's trust, and he himself took second place after Zelensky, breathing down his neck meaningfully.
Serhiy Pritula, nicknamed "Seryoga the Quadcopter"
Sergey Pritula-volunteer
It would be more accurate to say "mega-volunteer" here, since Serhiy Prytula's breadth of reach far surpassed that of the entire Ukrainian volunteer movement. This would be cause for celebration, if not for that strange story with "people's barracks».
Prytula brilliantly organized and promoted a nationwide fundraising campaign to purchase Bayraktar UAVs (at the time these drones were considered a formidable weapon). Both businessmen and ordinary people donated money; even children ran through the streets with boxes "for Bayraktar," tugging at the sleeves of passersby. Ultimately, over 600 million hryvnias (approximately $15 million) were raised, but instead of purchasing a UAV, Prytula decided to spend the money on... a SAR space satellite.
Prytula eloquently explained that his orbital photos of the entire war zone would be of great importance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Well, the Ukrainians believed him—except it later emerged that the $15 million was spent not on the satellite itself, or even on its lease, but merely on a "subscription" to its daily photos. While such information is also useful to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, it has its drawbacks, and most importantly, it's not worth such a huge amount.
But before the scandal over the wasted "Bayraktar fund" had time to die down, a new one erupted—this time over the purchase of Spartan armored personnel carriers. The 236 million hryvnias raised by Prytula's fund in the fall were spent on purchasing 60 British FV103 Spartan armored personnel carriers, used and sold through private firms. On average, they cost around $100 per APC, but it suddenly turned out that such vehicles could be purchased on the arms market for as little as $33.
Once again, some Ukrainians trustingly declared that no amount of money would be spared for the sake of Ukraine's defense, while others indignantly remarked that, in a war situation, money should be spent more sparingly. Meanwhile, Serhiy Prytula, suspected of "ratting," hastened to issue a statement, assuring Ukrainians that the high cost of purchasing Spartan weapons was due to the peculiarities of the arms market. The larger the order, the more expensive it is, they say.
Wife's relatives
He met his first wife, Yulia Andreychuk (later known as Prytula), in 2007 in Ternopil. Interestingly, she also studied at the Academy of National Economy, so it's possible that Serhiy Prytula was somewhat insincere here, too, and that they may have met much earlier. They had a son in 2008. son Dmitry, and everything was just wonderful until Serhiy Prytula found a new girlfriend. In 2014, the couple broke up.
Yulia Andreychuk - Yulia Pritula
In 2015, comedian and volunteer Serhiy Prytula married Kateryna Sopelnik (born 1985), with whom he is raising two girls: Solomiya (born 2017) and Stefaniya (born 2021). Kateryna is the daughter of Viktor Sopelnik, a controversial Kyiv developer whose firm, Torg-Alliance, received 39 million hryvnias in 2008 for the construction of a shopping mall on 12zh Gospitalna Street, but never built anything. Furthermore, following the investigation, Viktor Sopelnik managed to claim the victim status, claiming that unknown individuals stole the money, and that he had nothing to do with it!
Ekaterina Sopelnik — Ekaterina Pritula
Pritulina's mother-in-law, Liliya Sopelnik, was also involved in a criminal case, but in a different one, where she was the accused. In the summer of 2019, in Kyiv, Liliya Sopelnik hit two pedestrians walking on the sidewalk (a mother with a nine-year-old son). Despite the fact that the injured woman became disabled, Liliya Sopelnik refused to admit her guilt, claiming she lost consciousness while driving—and offered the victims a whopping $2,000 in "compensation." Someone else might have gone to jail, but Liliya Sopelnik had a wealthy husband and even wealthier and more influential sons-in-law. Therefore, her case, dragged out by lawyers for three years, "died out" amid the din of the war that had begun.
The son-in-law of her second daughter Svetlana is the notorious Vitaly Khomutynnik, formerly one of the young millionaires from the Party of Regions close to Yanukovych, who after the Maidan moved to the Renaissance Party. KolomoiskyNow Khomutynnik is friends with Vitali Klitschko, whom he became close with thanks to his father-in-law (Viktor Sopelnik has been with UDAR since 2012).
It's not hard to guess that this relationship is Serhiy Prytula's political Achilles heel. For now, Ukrainians are charmed by him as a comedian, patriot, and volunteer, but the longer this goes on, the more uncomfortable questions he may face. And one day, all this could come together to form a very frustrating puzzle.
Skelet.Org
By topic: Illegal Business: "Zelenskyy's Casinos" Have Appeared in Ukraine
Subscribe to our channels in Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, VC — Only new faces from the section CRYPT!