Yakov Naumovich Pokhis (; born 24 January 1951), better known as Yakov Smirnoff (; ), is an American comedian, actor and writer. He began his career as a stand-up comedian in the Soviet Union, then immigrated to the United States in 1977 in order to pursue an American show business career, not yet knowing any English.

He reached his biggest success in the mid-to-late 1980s, appearing in several films which include Moscow on the Hudson with Robin Williams, The Money Pit with Tom Hanks, Heartburn with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, and Brewster's Millions with Richard Pryor. He was a star of the television series What a Country! and was a recurring guest star on NBC's hit television series Night Court playing the part of Yakov Korolenko. 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 both life in the Soviet Union and its satellites, and of capitalist 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!'

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, he continued to perform. In 1993, he began performing year round at his own theater in Branson, Missouri. , he occasionally still performs limited dates at his theater in Branson while touring worldwide. Smirnoff earned a master's degree in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006 and a doctorate in psychology and global leadership from Pepperdine University in 2019. He has also taught a course titled "The Business of Laughter" at Missouri State University and at Drury University.

Early life

The son of Naum Pokhis and Klara Pokhis, Smirnoff was born in Odesa in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. His family was Jewish, and lived in an apartment with eight other families. Smirnoff eventually became an art teacher in Odesa,

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.

Career

Stand-up comedy

Smirnoff began performing stand-up comedy in the US in the late 1970s.

Film and television

After achieving some level of fame, Smirnoff received his first break with a small role in the 1984 film Moscow on the Hudson, where he also helped star Robin Williams with his Russian dialogue on the set. He subsequently appeared in several other motion pictures, including Buckaroo Banzai (1984), Brewster's Millions (1985) and The Money Pit (1986).

In November 1985, he made his debut on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and soon became a regular guest on the show. That same year, he appeared in an ad for Miller Lite beer. He also appeared in commercials for hotel chain Best Western.

Politics

In 1987, Smirnoff was invited to a party hosted by Washington Times editor-in-chief Arnaud de Borchgrave, which featured President Ronald Reagan as the guest of honor. Reagan and Smirnoff immediately hit it off due to Reagan's love of jokes about life in the Soviet Union, which he would tell in speeches, and Smirnoff became one of his sources for new material. An example of a joke Reagan later told that originated from Smirnoff was "In Russia, if you say, 'Take my wife—please', you come home and she is gone."

Smirnoff was enlisted by Dana Rohrabacher, who was then a speechwriter for Reagan, to help with material for Reagan's speeches, including a speech given in front of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev when Reagan visited the Soviet Union during the Moscow Summit in 1988. Rohrabacher later stated that Smirnoff became "one of the inner circle" of speechwriting advisers during Reagan's final years in office, due to the quality of Smirnoff's suggestions. Smirnoff was also a featured writer for AARP: The Magazine and gave readers advice in his column, "Happily Ever Laughter".

Education

In 2006, Smirnoff received a master's degree in positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught psychology classes at Drury University and Missouri State University and gives seminars and self-help workshops on the topic of improving relationships. In May 2019, Smirnoff earned a doctorate in psychology and global leadership from Pepperdine University.

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 saw something that told me this was the place for me. It was a large billboard and it had my name on it: 'Smirnoff...America loves Smirnoff!'"
  • "One day the [bar] owner changed my hours and told me I'd be working the graveyard shift. I thought to myself, 'Wow, a bar in a cemetery. What a country! Talk about your last call!' During Happy Hour the place must be dead!"
  • "On my first shopping trip, I saw powdered milk...you just add water, and you get milk. Then I saw powdered orange juice...you just add water, and you get orange juice. And then I saw baby powder...I thought to myself, 'What a country!' I'm making my family tonight!"
  • "I was recently in a supermarket and I saw something called New Freedom. Freedom in a box! I said to myself, 'What a country!'"
  • At Denny's: "When I went in to be seated, the hostess asked me, 'How many in your party?' I said, 'Two million.' She gave me a corner booth."
  • While holding a hot dog: "In Russia, we don't eat this part of the dog."
  • "Like all foreigners, when you start to learn the language, you will begin by speaking pigeon English. You won't mind, because old ladies will feed you bread crumbs. (The really hard part is learning how to crap on windshields.)"

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

  • "Thanksgiving is my favorite American holiday. I really like parades without missiles. (I'll take Bullwinkle over a tank any day!)"
  • "I only make fun of Cleveland because all Americans do. Every country has one city that everybody makes fun of. For example, in Russia we used to make fun of Cleveland."
  • "They don't play baseball in the Soviet Union because there, no one is safe."
  • "There aren't any such things as credit cards in the Soviet Union, not even American Express. They do, however, have Russian Express—'Don't leave home!'"
  • "America has many wonderful things we never had in Russia...like warning shots."

Russian reversal

right|thumb|2011 demonstration in Wisconsin, crediting Yakov (Smirnoff) with an example 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. An example occurs in one of Smirnoff's Miller Lite commercials from the 1980s, in which he states, "In Russia, party always finds you!" and The Simpsons.

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

The mural remained there until November 2003, when it was removed due to storm damage.

Personal life

Smirnoff became an American citizen on 4 July 1986.

In 1989, Smirnoff married Linda Dreeszen; they divorced in 2001. By January 24, 2026, Smirnoff's 75th birthday, he and Olivia had welcomed the birth of their first child, a son.

Filmography

Among his film credits, Smirnoff has co-starred in movies with Robin Williams (Moscow on the Hudson, 1984), Tom Hanks (The Money Pit, 1986), and Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep (Heartburn, 1986), in addition to single episodes of several TV series.

  • Moscow on the Hudson (1984) as Lev
  • The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) as National Security Advisor
  • Brewster's Millions (1985) as Vladimir
  • The Money Pit (1986) as Shatov
  • Heartburn (1986) as Contractor Laszlo
  • What a Country! (1986–1987, TV Series) as Nikolai Rostapovich
  • Up Your Alley (1989) as Russian Man
  • Night Court (1984-1990, TV Series) as Yakov Korolenko; appeared in five episodes
  • King of the Hill (1997-2009, TV Series) as Himself; appeared in one episode
  • Weekend Warriors (TBA)

References

Bibliography

  • Interview.