One of the founders of the "Club of merry and resourceful," the poet and writer Andrei Menshikov died in Moscow after illness at the 73rd year of life, Interfax was told in his family.

Menshikov was born in 1945, graduated from the Moscow Civil Engineering Institute. In the 1960s he was one of those who stood at the origins of the KVN, headed the team of his institute.

In 1986 he organized and directed the revival of KVN.

Andrei Menshikov is the author of more than a hundred songs and poems. For a long time he worked on Soviet and Russian TV, in particular, he was the creator of such programs as "And now, girls!", "Salute, festival!", "Sprint for all", "Virage", "Merry guys," " Our biography ".