The story “The Joke” is an example of modern satire, revealing the mechanisms of influence of new electronic media on political reality. The extraordinary development of events is reminiscent of the wildly twisted plots of the classic performances of Quartet I or the stories of O. Henry. At the center of the story is the governor of an average region of Russia. He is no different from dozens of “technical managers” like him. And then he sees that a post has appeared on the local telegram channel saying that he, the governor, has been arrested. The amazed head of the region begins to call the security forces with only one question: “What’s going on?”