Sasha Nezlobin: I’m Fine — an exiled comedian rebuilds his career in a new language at Edinburgh Fringe
What happens when a comedian loses his audience — and has to find a new voice? Sasha Nezlobin explores exile and reinvention in I’m Fine.
Russian-American comedian, writer and director Sasha Nezlobin brings his first full English-language stand-up show, I’m Fine, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August — a personal and comic exploration of exile, reinvention and what it means to begin again.
Before leaving Russia in 2022, Nezlobin was one of the country’s best-known comedy figures, with a career spanning television, stand-up, writing and directing. He was a long-running performer on Comedy Club, one of Russia’s biggest comedy programmes, created and starred in the sitcom Nezlob, produced his own televised stand-up special, and wrote and directed feature comedies.
That career changed dramatically after he publicly criticised Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He left the country with his wife and daughter, relocating first to the United States and leaving behind an established career and an audience who had followed him for more than two decades.
I’m Fine explores what happens when a performer who once had a familiar cultural landscape must rebuild from the beginning. For Nezlobin, this means stepping onto stage in English for the first time with an hour of material created for audiences who may not share the references, language and experiences that shaped his earlier work.
The show draws on the realities of starting again: adapting to a new country, explaining unfamiliar changes to his daughter, and finding humour in the strange details of life after displacement. Beneath the comedy is a more personal question — whether saying “I’m fine” is a genuine reflection of resilience or simply a way of coping with everything that has changed.
Although Nezlobin continues to perform successfully to Russian-speaking audiences across Europe and the US, I’m Fine represents a different kind of challenge: leaving behind the comfort of recognition and discovering how much of a performer’s identity can survive translation.
The Edinburgh appearance marks a new chapter for an artist whose career has been shaped by both success and disruption. Rather than looking back only at what was lost, the show examines the process of rebuilding — and the unexpected possibilities that emerge when a comedian has to find a new voice.
Sasha Nezlobin: I’m Fine
Venue: Pleasance Dome (10 Dome), Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Dates: 5–31 August 2026 ( not 15th, 16th, 17th & 18th August)
Time: 21:30
Information and tickets: www.pleasance.co.ukand https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/sasha-nezlobin-i-m-fine
Elena Leo is the Culture & Lifestyle Editor of Ikon London Magazine.
