About Kira Soltanovich
Loud, proud and telling it like it is, comedian, immigrant and mum of two Kira Soltanovich began her comedy career back in the late 90’s after asking her Russian parents to support her dream of becoming a stand up. Now best known for her work on ‘Sex In The City-meets Candid Camera’ show Girls Behaving Badly, as a series regular on How To Be A Grownup , and as a correspondent on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for over 8 years, Kira Soltanovich has also used her talent for finding the funny to write for Joan Rivers, Scott Baio, Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber.
After getting her half hour stand up special, Here Comes Trouble, on Showtime as part of the network’s Laugh Out Loud Festival, Comedian Kira Soltanovich’s latest full length solo is her proudest achievement yet: You Did This To Me was completely self-produced and shot while she was over 7 months pregnant. Elsewhere on screen Kira Soltanovich has appeared on The Jay Leno Show, Hello Ross! with Ross Mathews, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Last Call with Carson Daly, Hell’s Kitchen, Last Comic Standing, Set List TV, and The World Stands Up on Comedy Central.
A stalwart performer on the stand-up scene, Kira Soltanovich has appeared at Last Comic Standing, The Cape Town International Comedy Festival, Comedy Central’s Laugh Riots and at the highly regarded Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. And if all that wasn’t enough, Kira Soltanovich’s two children have inspired her to have her very own podcast. On The Kira Soltanovich Show, a weekly podcast about being a professional comedian as well as a parent, she interviews other fellow comics with kids, discussing all things comedy and colic related!
WATCH KIRA SOLTANOVICH: YOU DID THIS TO ME
Seven months pregnant and hormonally challenged, Russian-American immigrant Kira Soltanovich puts her bump on the line to share her experience of pregnancy pitfalls, birthing a 10lb baby and raising kids. Sleep deprivation, incontinence and parenting meltdowns are all met with Kira’s hilarious observational wrath. Hold tight, take a deep breath, and push (the play button).
Reviews and Awards
Kira Soltanovich has been a winner, finalist and semi-finalist in a myriad of comedy competitions and festivals, including Comedy Central’s Laugh Riots, California’s Funniest Female, Seattle International Comedy Festival, the Boston Comedy Festival and Montana’s Big Sky Comedy Festival.
‘Kira’s standup has brought me to tears. She’s just funny. There’s no other way to say it. Her material is relatable, and matter-of-fact. She sees things in the world around her that most of us just don’t notice or think of as funny, but when she shines a light on it, it is suddenly a revelation’
TheWrap.com
Kira Soltanovich Tickets
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Biography
Born in Ukraine, comedian, writer, and actress Kira Soltanovich grew up in San Francisco. The daughter of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Kira Soltanovich knew where her ambitions lay from a young age. She tells JWeekly.com “When I was 15 my parents asked what I wanted for my birthday… I said ‘Sneak me into Cobb’s Comedy Club.”
After graduating from San Diego State University with a degree in Theatre in 1998, and just weeks after moving to LA, Kira Soltanovich finally mustered the nerve to try an open mic slot. There followed years of gigs honing her craft, eventually performing at the prestigious Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal and finally landing a gig as a regular on the hidden camera show Oxygen Network’s “Girls Behaving Badly”. A kind of “Punk’d” sketch comedy show in which unsuspecting passersby get pranked, the show lasted two years in which they shot four or five seasons.
With various networks honing in on her talents, Kira Soltanovich’s pilot Weren’t You Scott Baio? was optioned by New Line Television, her hidden camera dating show Who’s Got Game? was optioned by MTV and her feature film What’s Your Sign? was optioned by Terra Firma at Universal. She’s also been a writer on Easiest Game Show Ever, How’d You Get So Rich? for TV Land, Warning: Men Thinking, Raising Whitley and Prankstars on Disney, as well as co-hosting the game show Winsanity with Donald Faison for the Game Show Network.
But as a stand-up first and foremost, how has Kira Soltanovich’s comedian voice developed over time? She tells azcentral: “I’ve been doing comedy since about 1998 and it definitely took me awhile. I’ll be honest, I feel like it still changes. After having a kid, my comedy voice has gotten louder because I’m yelling at my child more . It’s constantly moving and shifting as my life shifts, and I don’t know if I’ll ever really find it and then settle. I can say that I finally felt really comfortable after doing comedy for almost a decade. I really hope that most comics would be honest and say that they are still searching for their voice. Whenever a comic says, “Oh yeah, I totally figured it all out three months in,” I get really frightened for that person …I mean someone going to medical school doesn’t go through their first surgery and say, “I got this,” immediately afterwards. There’s like what, eight years of medical school. I think comedy mimics that, really well. A comic has to really put their hours in. You have to be in so many different situations, in different rooms and in front of different audiences … and I’m not saying that we are as important as doctors, I think we’re more important (laughs)”.
And Kira Soltanovich has certainly taken her dedication to comedy to the next level. In order to fund her self produced special, You Did This To Me, the creative comic decided to sell a variety of perks via a crowdfunding page. As well as offering up autographs, T-shirts and hats, she had one fan take her up on the offer to customize a joke and perform it during the taping for $2,500. For a $20,000 donation she offered the title of executive producer of the special, and the right to pick the middle name of then soon-to-be daughter. And for a $30,000 donation, you could get all of the other perks, as well as the chance to be in the hospital room when she gave birth, cutting the umbilical cord!“I know, it sounds insane,” she admitted to The Orange County Register. “When you have a kid in a hospital, they let so many people in that you’re so unaware of anyway…They have students and residents, nurses, the guy refilling the vending machines, the parking attendant even comes by while your feet are behind your earlobes. If this was my first kid, I’d never do this …Some people may think ‘Wow, you’re a bad mom,’ but if someone is willing to be that generous, it’s a great story and it will help me out tremendously to produce the best comedy special, which in turn will help my kids and my career. It is insane, but it’s so unlike me and has taken me so far outside of my comfort zone that it’s pretty funny now.”
Get More Kira Soltanovich
Want more of Kira Soltanovich? You’re in luck – her full stand-up comedy special is available to watch on NextUp – a digital comedy club where you can stream instantly over 120 comedy specials from some of the exciting names in comedy. Oh, and there’s a 7 day free trial.