Biografia
Artur Janibekyan is the founder of Comedy Club Production. Born on February 29, 1976, in Yerevan, Armenia, he graduated from the PhysMath School at Yerevan State University and later earned a degree in economics from Yerevan State University.
He began his career in 1993, working as an advertiser, administrator, project coordinator, and film set director. In 2001, he produced the program "Good Evening with Igor Ugolnikov" on the Russian TV channel STS. Two years later, in 2003, he co-created the comedy show Comedy Club with his fellow comedy sketch artists, introducing Russian audiences to a new style of comedy. By 2006, Comedy Club ranked ninth among the most commercially successful Russian projects according to Forbes magazine. The show continues to air on the popular Russian channel TNT.
In 2007, Artur founded the multifunctional production center Comedy Club Production, where he serves as CEO and general producer. He also established 7 Art, the company behind popular TNT sitcoms such as UNIVER and The Interns. In 2011, the controlling stake of Comedy Club Production was sold to TNT for $250 million, marking a record sale in Russian television. By 2013, Comedy Club Production was ranked second among the largest companies producing content for major federal Russian TV channels, according to Forbes.
GQ Russia named Artur Person of the Year in 2007 in the "Producer of the Year" category.
Starting in 2015, Artur oversaw TV channels including TNT, TV-3, 2x2, TNT4, and Friday! (which launched internationally in 2017), as well as Comedy Club Production and A Plus production (formerly Good Story Media). Between 2016 and 2018, projects from TNT, Friday!, and TV-3 under his leadership won 19 TEFI awards, Russia’s premier TV accolades, in both Daytime Broadcast and Evening Primetime categories.
Under Artur’s guidance, TNT developed and launched premium TV series that boosted the channel’s audience share, improved nationwide audience measurement, and helped combat piracy.
In 2017, Artur shifted TNT’s programming focus from foreign content to Russian comedy series and original shows. This strategy supported production companies within the holding, increased long-term investments through copyright ownership, and allowed unlimited rebroadcasting across various media platforms.
Artur produced and sponsored the 2013 documentary film The Book, directed by V. Mansky. The film was featured in the official program of the "Free Thought" documentary section at the 36th Moscow International Film Festival in 2014.
Together with Valeriy Fedorovich and Evgeniy Nikishov, Artur produced the groundbreaking project Gogol. The Beginning (2017), the world’s first mini-series to be widely released in theaters. The series recouped its costs on premiere day and set multiple box office records, ranking among the top 10 theatrical releases in Russia in 2017. Aside from Russia and the CIS, Gogol. The Beginning was also released in the USA, UK, Germany, Spain, Austria, and Cyprus. Its promotional campaign earned several industry awards and diplomas and attracted professional attention during its presentation at Cannes at MIPCOM.
