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Ahead of her October 12 special taping in Los Angeles, the Russian-born comedian wants audiences to meet the silly side behind the straight face.
Ksenia can say something ridiculous without giving her face away. That is part of the joke. But as she prepares to tape Big Problems at Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles on October 12, the comedian is looking forward to showing audiences how much more happens when she has a room to play with.
“Online I can come across very serious and straightforward, but I’m actually really silly and fun,” she said in written responses. “I think the special shows that side of me.”
The event is a live taping of her stand-up special. The performance will be filmed, and audience members may appear in the final production. For Ksenia, it offers the space to share more of the personality behind the short observations that have become her calling card online.
Big Problems began with a friend imitating her strong Russian accent and telling her, “You gonna have big problems.” The phrase stuck. She also sees a comic difference in what counts as a big problem in Russia and America. In her telling, Americans are a little softer, perhaps because they moisturize so much.
That mix of directness and mischief runs through her work. Born in Russia and now based in Los Angeles, Ksenia draws material from dating, relationships and the cultural differences she encounters. Her way into a joke is often an opinion that other people might prefer to keep to themselves. She says it plainly and lets the reaction do its work.
Her deadpan has roots in the culture she grew up in, although she is quick to qualify the description. “Well, I’m actually pretty animated for a Russian person,” she wrote. In comedy, she has made more of the distance between what she is saying and what her expression reveals. The less emotion she shows, she has found, the funnier a line can become.
Live performance adds another pleasure: an answer from the audience right away. Ksenia describes herself as being at her best on the spot, sometimes saying things onstage without knowing where they came from. “You know if you’re funny or not within five seconds,” she wrote. She also enjoys winning over people who make assumptions when they hear she is Russian.
Her work extends into acting and music. She holds an MFA in Acting for Film from the New York Film Academy and has trained in improv at UCB. She has performed at The Comedy Store and the Laugh Factory, and her musical-comedy work includes Ready for Hollywood, which combines stand-up, storytelling and live music.
She sees those pursuits as different ways to express the same comic personality. A joke gets a laugh in the moment; a song, she explains, can bring an emotion back and leave words repeating in someone’s head. She is also preparing new original pop releases. The attraction is having more than one way to make an idea land.
Her plans for Big Problems include touring and further original projects. She wants to create opportunities herself, a shift from arriving in Los Angeles hoping someone else would choose her.
The immediate next step is the taping. Ksenia hopes people leave her work entertained and feeling that someone else shares what they think or feel. Her outlook allows for failure and another attempt. “I’ve had to start again many times,” she wrote. That experience gives Big Problems its personal footing: a comedian making something out of the things that have gone wrong, and inviting an audience to laugh with her.
Big Problems tapes Monday, October 12, 2026, at Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles. Doors open at 6 p.m.; the show starts at 7 p.m. Pacific. Event details and tickets are available through the venue’s official listing.
Official event details and tickets
Follow Ksenia on Instagram: @thatksenia.
