Editing Yakov Smirnoff (section)

==Early life==
The son of Naum Pokhis and Klara Pokhis, Smirnoff was born in [[Odesa]], [[Ukraine]], then part of the [[Soviet Union]] (USSR). He was an art teacher in Odesa, 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.<ref name="comedy couch">{{cite web |url=http://www.comedycouch.com/interviews/ysmirnoff.htm |title=Yakov Smirnoff interview |publisher=The Comedy Couch |date=5 February 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070829225032/http://www.comedycouch.com/interviews/ysmirnoff.htm |archivedate=2007-08-29}}</ref>

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 [[1973 United States–Soviet Union wheat deal|exchange wheat]] for Soviet citizens who wished to defect".<ref name="comedy couch" /> At the time, neither he nor his parents spoke any English.<ref name="comedy couch" /> On arrival to the United States, he was almost sent back to the USSR when his interpreter mistranslated his occupation, comedian, as "party organizer", which immigration authorities thought meant that he was an organizer for the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Buck|first=Jerry|date=9 December 1987|title=Comedian has last laugh|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19871209&id=kXJeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yWENAAAAIBAJ&pg=3044,1787128|work=Observer-Reporter (AP TV Writer)|access-date=8 April 2019|quote=He was nearly sent back to the Soviet Union on the next plane after the interpreter, groping for the right translation of comedian, came up with 'party organizer.' For a moment, the immigration people thought he was an organizer for the Communist Party.|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308200220/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19871209&id=kXJeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yWENAAAAIBAJ&pg=3044,1787128|url-status=live}}</ref>

Smirnoff spent a portion of his early days in the United States working as a busboy and bartender at [[Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel|Grossingers Hotel]] in the [[Catskill Mountains]] of New York and living in the employee dormitory.<ref>{{cite news|title=Didja hear the one about the comedian who defected?|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/1986/1208/ryakov.html/%28page%29/2|newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor|access-date=15 August 2013|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923224752/http://www.csmonitor.com/1986/1208/ryakov.html/%28page%29/2|url-status=live}}</ref>