*** Welcome to piglix ***

Yakov Smirnoff

Yakov Smirnoff
Yakov Smirnoff headshot.jpg
Smirnoff promotional image
Birth name Yakov Naumovich Pokhis
Born (1951-01-24) 24 January 1951 (age 66)
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, better known as Yakov Smirnoff (born 24 January 1951), 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.

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

Smirnoff was born to a Jewish family, as Yakov Naumovich Pokhis (Russian: Яков Наумович Похис) in Odessa, Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, 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. He only learned that he was Jewish when he was 15 years old. 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. At the time, neither he nor his parents spoke any English.


...
Wikipedia

...