Yakov Naumovich Pokhis, better known as Yakov Smirnoff, is a comedian born in the Soviet Union in 1951. After emigrating to the United States in 1977, he changed his last name to Smirnoff after the vodka. During the 1980’s and early into the 90’s, Smirnoff saw his brand of humor taking off and resonating with people outside of the Soviet Union. Much of his humor was aimed at living behind the “Iron Curtain” and he had a clever way of using word play and combining his limited knowledge of American culture and idioms.<\/p>\n
Here are a few examples of his jokes:<\/p>\n
“In America, you can always find a party. In Soviet Union, the party always find you!”<\/p>\n
“The ad in the paper said ‘Big Sale. Last Week!’ Why advertise? I already missed it!”<\/p>\n
“In Russia we only had two TV channels. Channel One was propaganda. Channel Two consisted of a KGB officer telling you: Turn back at once to Channel One.”<\/p>\n
“In America, you watch television. In Soviet Union, television watches you!”<\/p>\n
“In Russia is freedom of speech. In America, there is freedom after speech.”<\/p>\n
During the mid-to-late 1980’s, Yakov’s humor was quite well taken and popular in America. Even popular comedians like Rodney Dangerfield loved his act. He was featured on many television shows including The Tonight Show<\/i> with Johnny Carson and the sitcom, Night Court<\/i>. He also appeared in several 80’s comedy movies such as Moscow on<\/i> the Hudson<\/i> with Robin Williams, Brewster’s Millions <\/i>with Richard Pryor and John Candy, and The Money Pit<\/i> with Tom Hanks. Yakov was even the featured entertainer at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 1988.<\/p>\n
Here is a sample of his stand-up routine:<\/p>\n