Yakov Smirnoff
Yakov Smirnoff
Yakov Naumovich Pokhis, better known as Yakov Smirnoff, 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 eventually gained fame, and he reached his biggest successes in the mid-to-late 1980s, when he also appeared in several films and television shows, including his own 1986–87 sitcom, What a Country!. His comic persona was of a naive immigrant from the Soviet Union who was perpetually confused and...
NationalityRussian
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth24 January 1951
CityOdessa, Ukraine
CountryRussian Federation
If you have something important to say, Broadway and New York are great places to say it.
In America, you can always find a party. In Soviet Russia, The Party can always find you!
When the needs of one person are being met by the other, there is laughter.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, people thought I wasn't funny anymore.
We may have forgotten how to feel. Nobody is teaching us how to live happily ever after, as we've heard in fairy tales.
In America, your job determines your marks. In Soviet Russia, Marx determine your job!
A Russian Reversal quote on Uncyclopedia's Soviet Union article? How original.
I fed my ego, but not my soul.
In Soviet Russia, party always finds you!
I was not only typecast as a Russian, but I was typecast as Yakov Smirnoff. This is understandable, and I was very happy to get the roles, but it would be nice to be in a movie where I could be someone else.
Falling in love is a chemical reaction. But it wears off in a year.
Balance is so important in our lives. In our busy world, we can give ourselves balance between thinking and feeling.
In today's society we sometimes forget to balance our hearts and our heads; this is the reason we stop laughing.
Many people are surprised to hear that we have comedians in Russia, but they are there. They are dead, but they are there.