Ariana Lolaeva

Ariana Aslanovna Lolaeva (Ossetian: Lolaty Aslany chyzg Arianae; born 11 February 1998, Vladikavkaz) is a Russian comedian, stand-up comic and host. She took part in the projects "Comedy Battl" on the TNT channel and "Stendap Andegraund" on STS. She was previously a comic of Stand Up Club #1, and since 2022 has been part of the association Comigration. She is known for the shows "Razgony", "Debaty", "Samyi umnyi komik" and her own project "Velikie ledi". She gained additional recognition after an interview with Yuriy Dud, which came out on 11 November 2024. She was born on 11 February 1998 in Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia, into an Ossetian family. Her mother works as a dentist, and she never communicated with her father. She considers her Ossetian roots an important part of her identity. When the terrorist attack in Beslan happened on 1 September 2004, Ariana was six years old; in that tragedy her cousin died. She moved to Moscow at 17, enrolling at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.

In 2020, Ariana performed together with her colleague Aleksandr Ni at the show Roast Battle, dedicated to dark humour. The comic uttered a phrase from the stage that mocked an Ossetian pie in connection with Ariana. A video fragment with these words spread on social media on 9 October 2021. The joke outraged her compatriots, because for their people the traditional Ossetian pie has sacred meaning and is used in the rite of "three pies", which symbolise God, the Sun and the earth. That same day Ariana and Ni published their first apology videos, which provoked a new wave of criticism, and she became a victim of harassment. They apologised a second time on 12 October, reporting that because of the joke about the Ossetian pie they had lost their jobs. According to comic Denis Chuzhoy, people continued to write insults and threaten her with physical violence.

Ariana emigrated to Tbilisi in March 2022 because of the start of the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine; she admitted in an interview with "Verstka" that the main reason for the move was her signature under an anti-war letter from comics. Like other Russian comics, in Georgia she faced frequent refusals to perform from local bars. She took part in the project "Villa.Stage", in which she and her colleagues performed and lived in a large country house, with part of the earnings sent to funds helping refugees from Ukraine; later she became one of the main residents of Bukhari Stand-up Club. On 19 July 2022 she was fined 50 thousand rubles under the article on "discrediting" the army because of her anti-war posts. In January 2025 she moved to Belgrade.