Name: Roman Hryshchuk
Age: 28
Education: biomedical engineer, National Technical University of Ukraine Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute
Profession: Founder of Mamahohotala
Did you know? He proposed to his girlfriend at a Mamahohotala show on stage, in front of a large audience.
After graduating from a middle school in Kyiv, Roman Hryshchuk entered the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, mainly for one reason — the university at the time had one of the best KVN (humor club competition) teams in the city.
“I liked to be on the stage,” Hryshchuk said.
In his student years, he put together and headed the new university team. The KPI team performed in the Supreme Ukrainian League on national television. They also launched a YouTube channel and posted funny videos and sketches, some of which went viral.
After graduation, Hryshchuk says the team realized they wanted to keep working together, so they created Mamahohotala (mother laughed) studio in 2013 and put on their first comedy show in Kyiv. The same year the studio started collaborating with the NLO TV channel, which now broadcasts their shows.
Apart from putting on comedy shows, the studio writes original scripts and shoots series and films.
Their two-season series “How the Style Was Forged,” about Ukrainian rapper Yarmak, won great popularity among youth. The internet series “New Police” gained a lot of attention for its perfect timing — the first episode was posted in July 2015, right after police reform started in Ukraine and was the talk of the country.
In 2017, Mamahohotala premiered their first feature film “Infoholik,” which was screened in cinemas all over Ukraine. The movie tells a story of a man who got addicted to information and couldn’t live a day without reading the news. The box office revenue hit $192,000.
Today the studio is working on shooting two new movies and one series. And every week, Mamahohotala performs their one-and-a-half-hour comedy show broadcast on NLO TV.
Since its founding, the studio has made three tours around the country and entertained Ukrainians in the main cities of every oblast. Their YouTube channel has 93,000 subscribers today.
The studio was founded to create Ukrainian comedy and movies, as well as to create a platform for turning ideas into real projects. “We wanted our group of talented people to be able to realize their ideas,” Hryshchuk said.
He says that he loves the comedy industry. When the audience applauds and laughs, he gets an emotional high. “It’s better than any money and gives the most joy in this kind of work.”
And Hryshchuk believes that humor is an important part of everyone’s life.
“Laughter is one of the best feelings,” he said.
