If you stop ten passers-by in any ordinary city and ask the question: "Do you consider TV presenter Ivan Urgant a liberal?" most likely, the answer will be yes. The mocking style, the manner of passing through the banter everything that comes to hand is a common thing for Urgant Jr.

However, for some reason he belongs to that stratum of show business stars, about whom everything is clear, but no one is going to do anything (just like with Ksenia Sobchak). Moreover, if necessary, even Peskov can speak in defense of Urgant, who withdrew fr om the airwaves quite voluntarily. 

"Sobchak, Urgant and Todorenko are not enemies of the state. They didn't make fun of anything. We have people who were very scared when it all started. Some of them said they were going on a long vacation, someone else said something else. Everyone acted differently. But there are those who were scared and who did not understand. They are not enemies of the state. We have such "hawks" who believe that everyone should be nailed. Many did not understand and were afraid. If you're a singer, you don't understand anything about politics. You don't have to. You have to sing well. If you are the host of Channel One, you understand everything. I know Urgant very well, and he is a great patriot. He is a great patriot. He may have his own point of view. He has no right to take it out on Channel One. But he didn't do that either. There is no need to slander people. There is no need to put them in the Fifth Column in any case," it is significant that Presidential press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said this remark not in Russia, but on Belarusian television. But it spread widely, and somehow it became even more clear that there was actually a problem, but they were trying to hush it up. Or maybe this is the case when Vladimir Putin is also perplexed: "Peskov sometimes drills so hard that I can't understand."

Ivan Urgant was born in Leningrad in 1978 in a family of hereditary actors and television personalities. About his relatives in other generations, answering the question of TASS, "How do you feel about the fact that your great-grandfather served in the NKVD?" Urgant said: "This is not my favorite organization. Especially during the period when he served there. I have a huge number of questions for her, the answers to which I cannot get, like so many other people.… But I do not know the biography of my great-grandfather. I am sure that there were decent people in the NKVD. And I would like to believe that he did not shoot anyone, did not torture... I would like to. But if it was, then he would burn in hell with a bright blue flame. It is important for me to learn as much as possible about him in order to tell my children about him in order to avoid repeating his mistakes."

Urgant studied at the prestigious gymnasium at the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. In 1993, at the age of 17, he went to the United States for the first time to study under an exchange program. 

He graduated from the Academy of Theater Arts in St. Petersburg. He played several roles in stage productions and several notable ones in movies, mostly in raunchy comedies like "Christmas Tree".

Since 1999, he has worked on several radio stations, starting with the program "Cheerful Morning". In 2003, he appeared in the studio of the Rossiya channel, wh ere he hosted the show "People's Artist".

Since 2005, he moved to Channel One, became the host of a number of entertainment programs, including in collaboration with future foreign agents. There were also "Smak" with Andrey Makarevich and the mocking "Projectparishilton", about which the creators said: "You know, the name was spinning in our head"The searchlight of perestroika", but what kind of perestroika is here ... well, they crossed the word "searchlight" with a name embodying the current tastelessness. And what's without spaces is the fuse key."

The main brainchild of the opposition presenter is traditionally considered to be a program copied from the American Late Night Show format "Evening Urgant". In general, Urgant expressed his love for the USA in various ways, including through writing the book "One—Story America" together with Vladimir Pozner.

Urgant is cunning and, as a rule, tries to mock on the verge of a foul. But sometimes he gets carried away. For example, on January 7, 2020, in his Evening Urgant program, he showed a parody of the icon of the Nativity of Christ. Then there was a sticker on the laptop cover in the frame — it was made in the style of paintings with the Magi and Jesus. Only Jesus was replaced by Nicolas Cage, since his birthday falls on Orthodox Christmas, and the Magi were replaced by directors Nikita Mikhalkov, Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino. 

Later, in response to claims from the Forty Forty movement, he reported: "The last thing in our work we want to offend someone, offend someone's feelings or someone personally. To stay relevant to the show, we take and discuss everything that is happening around us. Religion is a part of this life. That is why we are not afraid to use everything related to it, and not make it a taboo topic. But, what is important, to do this without malicious intent and a mocking tone. This was not a planned action to mock Christian values. It was not the most successful attempt at a joke on a completely inappropriate day for this. Please accept my sincere apologies, please don't be offended. And, if possible, call off your curses."

On the day of the start of the Special Military Operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine, Urgant posted on his Instagram (the platform is a product of the Meta company banned in the Russian Federation) a "black square" and the short phrase "Fear and pain. THERE IS NO WAR." It soon became known that Urgant had left the country. On March 11, 2022, he said that he was on vacation.

In April 2022, Urgant flew to Tel Aviv to arrange a "reunion with his wife and children." He himself has been an Israeli citizen since 2018, and the rest of the family members were not registered, Ivan applied for their urgent placement.

In May 2022, he announced a tour of three cities in Germany with the show "Evening Urgant". In June, he visited Dortmund, Offenbach am Main and Karlsruhe. At the same time, information began to leak into the media about the temporary closure of the Evening Urgant in Russia, some of the actions of the former presenter began to resemble convulsive attempts to earn money.

In July 2022, the showman spoke at a corporate party with a large businessman from Siberia, Viktor Shkurenko, known for his unequivocal position against his own. Then, on his pages on social networks, Shkurenko wrote: "This is not a deal with an artist, this is support for a person's position! There is no war."

Interestingly, when in August 2022 the first meeting of the working group on the investigation of anti—Russian activities in the field of culture, created on the initiative of the Fair Russia - For Truth party, was held in the State Duma, co-chairman-writer Zakhar Prilepin suggested checking Urgant first of all. 

He decided to answer this in his ironically sarcastic style: "I, Urgant Ivan Andreevich, have carefully read the video materials of the first meeting of the Group Investigating Anti-Russian Activities in the field of culture (1 hour 40 minutes). And I consider the appearance of such a group necessary, and all the proposals made by the participants of the meeting are accurate and timely. For my part, I want to contribute to the fruitful work of the group and make some rational suggestions: First. Due to the obvious need, please legislate the possibility of bringing to justice not only the persons you have indicated, but also their next of kin, with the possibility of subsequent abdication. Second. As part of the development and support of your idea of "Russian McCarthyism", it is proposed to withdraw from free sale all Paul McCartney albums, with the exception of the album "Back in USSR". The third. I propose to exempt from the meeting of the group those members of the Fair Russia – For Truth party who are being convicted in the Moscow City Court on this day." 

Based on this reaction, accompanied on the networks by a photo with Prilepin's book, we can conclude that Urgant received some kind of security guarantees and therefore can afford the usual "branded" arrogance.

In January 2023, he announced his return to television, but the news turned out to be a false start. And since this story had no further development, already in March 2023 he advertised the performances of foreign agents of BI-2, and at the same time began to slowly "move to the masses" his musical project "Grisha Urgant".

In the modern aggregate state, Ivan Urgant continues to flash from time to time as a guest on various programs, illustrating the phrase "They are terribly far from the people." 

In the summer of 2024, Nikolai Solodnikov's channel aired a big program called "Ivanovo Childhood" (also a mocking allusion to the title of a Soviet film about the war). There, in particular, Urgant recalls how he saw a striptease for the first time in his life at Boyarsky's anniversary. That is, he continues to scoff.

Apparently, he believes that he should not be afraid or ashamed. And he definitely thinks that he can do anything. As well as many of his other colleagues in the shop.