The main creative passions of the author of this book, Alexander Hort, mainly extend in the field of satire and humor. Therefore, his interest in the work of the masters of the “fun workshop” is not surprising. These are the three great comedians - Erast Garin, Igor Ilyinsky and Sergei Martinson. They can be considered the same age as the century, having gone through, together with their country, all stages of Soviet history: revolution, NEP, industrialization, the tragic 1930s, the Great Patriotic War, the Five-Year Plans... They were not outside observers, but full-fledged, one might say, active participants. They met while working together in the most revolutionary theater of the 1920s - the State Theater named after Vs. Meyerhold. Later they shone in the cinema and on the stage. With their performances, these actors lifted the spirits of countless spectators. However, in everyday life, fate did not always smile on them. The author tried to understand the reasons - objective and subjective.