From “Tsar Nikolai, Go F*ck Your Mother!” to “Putin, Go F*ck Yourself!”

In oppressive regimes, expressions of public political dissent often carry serious personal consequences. Study of how people use musical humor to circumvent such outcomes may shed insights into ways people deal with difficult situations. Drawing on sources available on social media and YouTube regarding musical humor from the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and present-day Russia and Ukraine, this chapter analyzes musical humor as a tool to better understand coping processes in oppressive regimes. It argues that a serious analysis of humor in song may contribute to a deeper understanding of how people process feelings of oppression that result from censorship and state violence.