Yakov Smirnoff

Yakov Smirnoff
Smirnoff at a Hands Across America promotional event in 1986
Birth name Yakov Naumovich Pokhis
Born (1951-01-24) 24 January 1951
Odessa, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Medium Stand-up, television, art, books
Nationality Ukrainian-born American
Years active 1983–present
Genres Relationship humor, irony, word play, transpositional pun
Subject(s) Psychology, Russian-American culture, race relations, relationships, immigration, communism in the Soviet Union
Spouse Linda Dreeszen (1989–2001; divorced; 2 children)
Notable works and roles Yakov on Night Court
Nikolai on What a Country!
Shatov in The Money Pit
Website Official website

Yakov Naumovich Pokhis (Russian: Яков Наумович Похис; born 24 January 1951), better known as Yakov Smirnoff (/ˈsmɪərnɒf/), is a Soviet-born American comedian, actor and writer. After emigrating to the United States in 1977, Smirnoff began performing as a stand-up comic. He reached his biggest success in the mid-to-late 1980s, appearing in several films and the television sitcom vehicle What a Country!. His comic persona was of a naive immigrant from the Soviet Union who was perpetually confused and delighted by life in the United States. His humor combined a mockery of life under Communism and of consumerism in the United States, as well as word play caused by misunderstanding of American phrases and culture, all punctuated by the catchphrase, "And I thought, 'What a country!'"

The collapse of Communism starting in 1989, and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, brought an end to Smirnoff's widespread popularity, although he continued to perform. In 1992, he bought his own theater in Branson, Missouri, where he performed his last show on December 3, 2015. In the late 1990s, prompted by his divorce, he retooled his stand-up act to focus on the differences between men and women, and on solving problems within relationships.[1]

Smirnoff now teaches a course titled "The Business of Laughter" at Missouri State University and at Drury University.

Early life

Smirnoff was born to a Jewish family,[2] as Yakov Naumovich Pokhis in Odessa, Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union,[3] He was an art teacher in Odessa, as well as a comedian. As a comedian, he entertained occasionally on ships in the Black Sea, where he came into contact with Americans who described life in the United States to him. That was when he first considered leaving the country.[1] After two years of attempting to leave, he came to the United States with his parents in 1977, arriving in New York City. His family was allowed to come to America because of an agreement between the USSR and America to exchange wheat for Soviet citizens who wished to defect.[1] At the time, neither he nor his parents spoke any English.[1]

Smirnoff spent a portion of his early days in the United States working as a busboy and bartender at Grossingers Hotel in the Catskill Mountains of New York and living in the employee dormitory.[4]

Career

Smirnoff began doing stand-up comedy in the US in the late 1970s. He chose the last name "Smirnoff" after trying to think of a name that Americans would be familiar with; he had learned about Smirnoff vodka in his bartending days.[1]

In the early 1980s, he moved to Los Angeles to further pursue his stand-up comedy career. There he was roommates with two other aspiring comedians, Andrew Dice Clay and Thomas F. Wilson.[5] He appeared often at renowned L.A. club The Comedy Store. After achieving some level of fame, Smirnoff got his first break with a small role in the 1984 film Moscow on the Hudson; on the set, he helped star Robin Williams with his Russian dialogue.[1] He subsequently appeared in several other motion pictures, including Buckaroo Banzai (1984), Brewster's Millions (1985) and The Money Pit (1986). Among his numerous appearances on television, he was featured many times on the sitcom Night Court as "Yakov Korolenko", and appeared as a comedian and guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

He had a starring role in the 1986–87 television sitcom What a Country! In that show, he played a Russian cab driver studying for the U.S. citizenship test. In the late 1980s, Smirnoff was commissioned by ABC to provide educational bumper segments for Saturday morning cartoons, punctuated with a joke and Smirnoff's signature laugh.[6]

In 1988, Smirnoff was the featured entertainer at the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner.

From 1992-2015, he performed hundreds of times a year at his own 2,000-seat[1] theater in Branson, Missouri, featuring comedy acts and Russian dance performances.[6]

In 2003, he appeared on Broadway in a one-man show, As Long As We Both Shall Laugh. He is a featured writer for AARP Magazine and gives readers advice in his column, "Happily Ever Laughter". He guests at the Skinny Improv in Springfield, Missouri on occasion.

After a successful career in television, movies and Broadway, Smirnoff turned his mind to understanding the mysteries of happiness. In May 2006, he received a master's degree in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught classes at Drury University along with Missouri State University on this topic. He also gives seminars and self-help workshops on the topic of improving relationships.[1]

Comedy style

"America: What a country!"

Some of Smirnoff's jokes involved word play based on a limited understanding of American idioms and culture:

  • "I go to New York and I saw a big sign saying 'America Loves Smirnoff' and I said to myself, what a country!"
  • Reading employment announcements of "Part-Time Woman Wanted": "What a country! Even transvestites can get work."
  • Upon being offered work as a barman on a "graveyard shift", he remarks, 'A bar in a cemetery! What a country! Last call? During Happy Hour the place must be dead.'[7]
  • At the grocery store: "Powdered milk, powdered eggs, baby powder ... what a country!"
  • At the grocery store after finding "New Freedom" Maxi Pads: "Freedom in a box! What a country!"
  • "The first time I went to a restaurant, they asked me 'How many in your party?' and I said 'Six hundred million'."

Other jokes mocked life under communism:

  • "We have no gay people in Russia—there are homosexuals but they are not allowed to be gay about it. The punishment is seven years locked in prison with other men and there is a three-year waiting list for that."[8]

Other jokes involved comparisons between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R:

  • "I like parades without missiles in them. I'll take Bullwinkle to a tank any day'"
  • "In every country, they make fun of city. In U.S. you make fun of Cleveland. In Russia, we make fun of Cleveland."
  • "Why don't they have baseball in Soviet Union? In Soviet Union, no one is safe."
  • Here you have American Express Card: "Don't Leave Home Without It." In Russia, we have Russian Express Card: "Don't Leave Home!"

He once told Johnny Carson, "I enjoy being in America: it's fun, you know, because you have, you have so many things we never had in Russia—like warning shots. In Soviet Union, they shoot you to warn the other guy."[9] When Carson asked if comedians in the Soviet Union can crack jokes about their leaders, Smirnoff replied, "Of course—once."

Russian reversal

Smirnoff is often credited with inventing or popularizing the type of joke known as the "Russian reversal", in which life "in Soviet Russia" or "in Russia" is described through an unexpected flip of a sentence's subject and object; a type of chiasmus. In truth, such jokes predated Smirnoff's act, and he rarely told them. One exception was a 1985 Miller Lite commercial, in which Smirnoff stated, "In America, there is plenty of light beer and you can always find a party. In Russia, Party always finds you."[10] Later parodies of Smirnoff's act often involved him telling such Russian reversal jokes, which may have contributed to the perception that they were a part of his act.

Painting

Smirnoff is also a painter and has frequently featured the Statue of Liberty in his art since receiving his U.S. citizenship.

On the night of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, he started a painting inspired by his feelings about the event, based on an image of the Statue of Liberty. Just prior to the first anniversary of the attacks, he paid US$100,000 for his painting to be transformed into a large mural. Its dimensions were 200 feet by 135 feet (61 m by 41 m). The mural, titled "America's Heart,"[11] is a pointillist-style piece, with one brush-stroke for each victim of the attacks. Sixty volunteers from the Sheet Metal Workers Union erected the mural on a damaged skyscraper overlooking the ruins of the World Trade Center. The mural remained there until November 2003, when it was removed because of storm damage.[12] Various pieces of the mural can now be seen on display at his theater in Branson, Missouri.

The only stipulation he put on the hanging of the mural was that his name not be listed as the painter.[13] He signed it: "The human spirit is not measured by the size of the act, but by the size of the heart."[14]

Personal life

Smirnoff became an American citizen on 4 July 1986.[15]

Smirnoff had a wife, Linda; they divorced in 1999.[1] They have two children: a daughter, Natasha, born in 1990, and a son, Alexander, born in 1992.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Yakov Smirnoff interview, The Comedy Couch, 5 February 2007
  2. ↑ The Jewish Mothers' Hall of Fame, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Feb 9, 2011
  3. ↑ Backalenick, Irene. "Yakov Smirnoff filling up an entire Broadway stage with his one-man show". All About Jewish Theatre. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2010.
  4. ↑ "Didja hear the one about the comedian who defected?". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  5. ↑ What’s What With ... Tom Wilson, Philadelphia magazine, 3 December 2008
  6. 1 2 Yakov Smirnoff official biography
  7. ↑ The Comedy Zone Humor Network. "Yakov Smirnoff profile". Comedy-zone.net. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  8. ↑ America on Six Rubles a Day; ISBN 978-0-394-75523-6 Smirnoff, Yakov; 1987.
  9. ↑ "Yakov Smirnoff Career Highlights". YouTube. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  10. ↑ "Yakov Smirnoff Miller Lite Commercial (1985)". YouTube. 11 November 2007. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  11. ↑ "The mural in Yakov Smirnoff's official website". Archived from the original on 12 October 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2005.
  12. ↑ Frangos, Alex (2003-12-03). "Trade Center Mural Is Retired". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-05-11.
  13. ↑ Farrow, Connie (2002-12-27). "Branson comedian Smirnoff's mural now hangs at NY's Ground Zero". seMissourian.com. Retrieved 2017-05-11.
  14. ↑ "Yakov's Mural At Ground Zero". www.yakov.com. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  15. 1 2 Yakov Smirnoff spreading joy of living ‘happily ever laughter’ Diana Nollen, Hoopla, 14 March 2013
  • Official website
  • Yakov Smirnoff on IMDb
  • "Yakov Smirnoff". Branson Tourism Center. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
  • Simon, Scott (April 12, 2003). "Yakov Smirnoff, Laughing All the Way to Broadway". Weekend Edition Saturday. Retrieved June 12, 2016. Interview.
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