Her mother, Iraida Hazanova, is originally from the town of Skovorodino in the Amur region, where her parents were deported from Bessarabia for participating in revolutionary activities. Gennady Khazanov considers Arkady Raikin to be his teacher, who, since child- hood, had a great influence on the future artist with his work. He graduated from the music school named after Konstantin Stanislavsky, piano class. After the eighth grade, he worked as a mechanic at a radio plant. Since 1962, Gennady Khazanov tried to en- ter the theatrical universitiesin Moscow, including the Shchukin School, but failed in the exams and turned out to be a student at the Moscow Institute of Arts Kuibyshev. There he began to participate in student activities. Member of the KVN team ofthe Moscow Civil Engineering Institute of the 1960s. The first character of Khazanov was born at MISS - "a student of a culinary college". His work includes parodies of Russian and Soviet politicians, and mockery of various sub-cultural groups in modern Russia. After graduating from the Moscow Circus School in 1969, Khazanov worked as a master of ceremonies in Leonid Utosov Orchestra. He began his solo career in 1973 at Moscontsert, a Moscow state concert organization. In 1997, he became artistic director of the Moscow Variety Theatre. In 1999, he was president of the Security Foundation of the Russian Jewish Community.