On November 15, 2026, a creative evening of the People’s Artist of Ukraine Oleg Filimonov will take place in Karmiel. At the Karin club restaurant, he will present the program “Odessa Stories about the Main Thing!” — with Odessa jokes, life stories, and songs in five languages. Starts at 20:00.
On October 18, 2026, the restaurant published the artist’s official invitation. Filimonov particularly emphasized: this will be his only club concert in the current tour of Israel.
For residents of Karmiel, Haifa, Akko, and other northern cities, this is an opportunity to see the artist, familiar to several generations of viewers from the “Gentlemen Show,” not in a large theater, but in an intimate restaurant setting.
NAnews together with the cultural events poster of Israel sTDe | NAnews tell about the evening’s program, Filimonov’s biography, and the restaurant, which has already appeared in the posters of Ukrainian artists.
Odessa craftsmen, women, jokes, and songs in five languages
“Stories” — a word from Yiddish, meaning stories or tales. In Odessa, it became part of a special city language, where Ukrainian, Jewish, and other cultural traditions intertwined with local humor.
These are the kinds of stories Oleg Filimonov promises to tell Israeli audiences.
In a personal invitation published by the Karin restaurant, the artist announced that the program would be dedicated to funny episodes of his Odessa life, jokes, craftsmen, and Odessa women.
In the USSR, craftsmen were called entrepreneurs engaged in underground production and trade. For the port city of Odessa, a city of markets, trade, and enterprising people, this theme became a source of many stories — from criminal cases to urban folklore.
The musical part of the concert also promises to be diverse. Filimonov will perform famous hits in English, French, Italian, Ukrainian, and Russian.
Music accompanied the artist long before his television career. In his youth, he performed in restaurants and cafes, played the saxophone, guitar, piano, and accordion. Now this experience will come in handy on the Israeli club stage.
Unlike a theatrical performance, where actors follow a script, the program at Karin is built around Filimonov himself — his stories, songs, memories, and humor.
He ends his invitation with a characteristic phrase: “Come, we won’t start without you!”
This performance differs from the rest of the artist’s November tour in Israel. From November 5 to 14, 2026, Filimonov, together with the People’s Artist of Ukraine Diana Mala, presents the play “Odessa Alarm, or How One Mishpucha Gathered in the Shelter“.
Shows are scheduled in Netanya, Haifa, Be’er Sheva, Rishon LeZion, Petah Tikva, and Ashdod. The story is about a family gathered in a shelter during an air raid. The word “mishpucha” in Hebrew means “family” and has long been familiar to Odessa’s conversational tradition.
The last performance of the tour schedule is set for November 14 in Ashdod, and the very next day the artist will perform a separate musical and humorous program in Karmiel.
Oleg Filimonov: university, “Odessa Gentlemen” and life during the war
Oleg Nikolaevich Filimonov was born on February 26, 1952, in Nikolaev, but almost all his professional and creative life is connected with Odessa.
Not everyone knows that the famous humorist started with science. He graduated from the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology of the Mechnikov Odessa University, became a candidate of philological sciences, and taught English for about twenty years.
At the same time, music and the stage were present in his life since his student years.
Filimonov’s biography also includes a family story, which the concert organizers retold with Odessa humor. His wife Larisa is a former Ukrainian table tennis champion, a master of sports. The Karin publication jokingly suggests that to win her attention, young Oleg decided to demonstrate all his talents. Their family story has continued for decades.
Wide recognition came to Filimonov in the 1980s thanks to the KVN team “Odessa Gentlemen.” Since 1991, he has been one of the main participants in the television “Gentlemen Show.”
Later there were programs “Filimonov and Company,” “Camera of Laughter,” theatrical performances, and cinema.
Among the artist’s awards are “Golden Ostap,” TEFI, “Teletriumph,” recognition of the international festival of satire and humor “Master Gambs.” The concert organizers also call him an honorary member of the World Club of Odessans.
In 2020, Filimonov received the title of People’s Artist of Ukraine. In the same year, he participated in the elections for the mayor of Odessa from the “Servant of the People” party.
After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, the artist continued to live and work in Ukraine, publicly supporting his country.
In an interview with Latvian public media, published in April 2026, Filimonov talked about Odessa during the war — air raids, shelling, damaged houses, and simultaneously ongoing city life.
For the Israeli audience, these circumstances are especially understandable. Residents of both countries know what sirens, shelters, and the need to continue ordinary affairs even during the war are.
But at the concert in Karin, Filimonov intends to talk primarily about Odessa life, people, music, and humor.
Restaurant Karin: Ukrainian events, cost, and booking
The Karin club restaurant is located in the industrial zone of Karmiel at Ha-Haroshet Street, 27 (החרושת 27).
The establishment is known for hosting family celebrations, musical evenings, and small concerts. In Israeli catalogs, it is presented as a European cuisine restaurant with the possibility of organizing events for about 100 guests.
For the Ukrainian cultural life of northern Israel, this is already a familiar venue.
On May 17, 2025, a performance by Ukrainian comedians Andrey Rybak and Alexander Stepanenko, known for the projects “League of Laughter” and “Make the Comedian Laugh,” was planned here. The concert was part of an Israeli tour that also covered Tel Aviv and Be’er Sheva. Tickets in Karmiel cost 136 shekels.
NAnews reported on these tours in April 2025.
On August 2, 2025, the performance of Evgeny Chepurnyak and Alexander Dov “Two in One Boat” was announced in Karin. The program combined songs, poems, jokes, and conversation with the audience. The ticket cost 116 shekels.
Thus, the restaurant has repeatedly appeared in the posters of Ukrainian artists and Odessa musical and humorous programs. However, the announcements themselves do not allow independent confirmation of each of these events.
Despite such a cultural connection, Karin should not automatically be considered a Ukrainian cuisine restaurant. The establishment declares a European menu, and the presence of borscht, dumplings, cabbage rolls, and other Ukrainian dishes is not separately confirmed.
For Filimonov’s concert, the organizers promise a buffet and hot drinks included in the ticket price. Additionally, a bar will be open. The composition of the dishes is not yet disclosed.
For many immigrants from Ukraine living in Israel, Odessa humor remains part of cultural memory. And for Israelis who grew up in families of Odessa immigrants, such performances remind them of the language and atmosphere of the city where Jewish and Ukrainian traditions coexisted for generations.
When and where the concert will take place
- Date: Sunday, November 15, 2026.
- Start: 20:00.
- Place: Karin club restaurant, Karmiel.
- Address: Ha-Haroshet St., 27.
- Included: buffet and hot drinks.
- Additionally: bar is open.
The date information is confirmed by the publication of the Karin restaurant from October 18, 2026, where the artist’s personal invitation is posted.
Availability of seats, seating conditions, and buffet composition are better clarified by phone. The duration of the performance and age restrictions are not specified in the published announcement.
Other concerts, performances, and shows of Ukrainian artists in Israel can be found in the specialized poster sTDe | NAnews.
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