Idrak Mirzalizade

Idrak Mirzalizade is a stand-up comedian born in 1991 in Belarus, of Azerbaijani heritage. He built his career on the Russian stand-up circuit performing in Russian. In 2021 he was jailed for 10 days and then permanently banned from Russia over a joke about racial discrimination in apartment rentals that was taken out of context. He now performs across Europe.

During a 2021 stand-up performance, Mirzalizade told a joke about his experience trying to rent an apartment in Moscow, where landlords refused to rent to non-Slavic tenants. The joke was about the xenophobia he faced as a person of Azerbaijani origin. A right-wing TV channel aired an edited version stripped of context, framing it as anti-Russian. Moscow's Taganka District Court sentenced him to 10 days in jail for alleged incitement of ethnic hatred; the Russian Interior Ministry then banned him from Russia for life.

Mirzalizade performs observational and autobiographical comedy, focusing on cultural identity, the experience of being a visible ethnic minority, and everyday social absurdity. His material is self-deprecating and often addresses uncomfortable social realities with dark humor. He performs in Russian.

He was born in 1991 in Belarus and is of Azerbaijani (Talysh) ethnic heritage. He is a Belarusian citizen. He performed primarily in Russia for several years before being banned from the country for life in August 2021. He now lives and performs in Europe.

His 2025 special "It's Not My Idea" is available on YouTube. He tours actively across Europe.