He first became famous as an impersonator and is known for his talent at parody and his duets with the famous Russian pop singer
Alla Pugacheva and
Ani Lorak.
During his University years Galkin appeared in
KVN (1961), the Russian youth stand-up comedy competition, which kickstarted his career. Recently, he acted as a judge on the show.
Maksim had a very classical and strict upbringing. His mother was a teacher, and he finished music and math school, and knows four languages, Russian, English, German and French. He is a gradúate of the Russian State University of the Humanities.