Editing Yakov Smirnoff

{{Short description|Ukrainian-American comedian (born 1951)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox comedian
| name         = Yakov Smirnoff
| image        = Yakov_Smirnoff_headshot.jpg
| caption      = Smirnoff in a promotional image
| birth_name   = Yakov Naumovich Pokhis
| native_name  = Яков Наумович Похис
| birth_date   = {{Birth date and age|1951|01|24|df=y}}
| birth_place  = [[Odesa]], [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| death_date   =
| death_place  =
| medium       = {{hlist|Stand-up|television|art|books}}
| nationality  = American
| active       = 1983–present
| genre        = {{hlist|Relationship humor|[[irony]]|[[word play]]|[[transpositional pun]]}}
| subject      = {{hlist|[[Psychology]]|[[Russian American|Russian-American culture]]|[[race relations]]|relationships|[[immigration]]|[[Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communism in the Soviet Union]]}}
| spouse       = {{ubl|{{marriage|Linda Dreeszen|1989|2001|end=div}}|{{marriage|Olivia Kosarieva|2019}}}}
| notable_work = {{ubl|Yakov on ''[[Night Court]]''|Nikolai on ''[[What a Country!]]''|Shatov in ''[[The Money Pit]]''}}
| website      = {{URL|yakov.com}}
|children      = 2
}}

'''Yakov Naumovich Pokhis''' ({{langx|ru|Яков Наумович Похис}}; born 24 January 1951),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rose |first=Mike |title=Today's famous birthdays list for January 24, 2023 includes celebrities Neil Diamond, Aaron Neville |url=https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2023/01/todays-famous-birthdays-list-for-january-24-2023-includes-celebrities-neil-diamond-aaron-neville.html |access-date=January 24, 2023 |website=[[Cleveland.com]] |date=24 January 2023 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124125731/https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2023/01/todays-famous-birthdays-list-for-january-24-2023-includes-celebrities-neil-diamond-aaron-neville.html |url-status=live }}</ref> better known as '''Yakov Smirnoff''' ({{langx|ru|Яков Смирнов}}; {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|m|ɪər|n|ɒ|f}}), is a Jewish<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yakov Smirnoff - Branson News Articles - Branson Tourism Center |url=https://www.bransontourismcenter.com/articles/bransonarticle76 |access-date=2024-08-23 |website=www.bransontourismcenter.com}}</ref> Soviet-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 (film)|Heartburn]]'' with [[Jack Nicholson]] and [[Meryl Streep]], and ''[[Brewster's Millions (1985 film)|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 life under [[Communist state]]s 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 [[Fall of Communism]] starting in 1989 and the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991 brought an end to Smirnoff's widespread popularity, although he continued to perform. In 1993, he began performing year round at his own theater in [[Branson, Missouri]]. {{As of|2024}},<ref>{{cite web |url=https://yakov.com/ |title=Yakov |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2024 |website=yakov.com |access-date=2024-05-02}}</ref> 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]], [[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>

==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.<ref name="comedy couch" />

In the early 1980s, he moved to [[Los Angeles]] to further pursue his stand-up comedy career. While there, he was roommates with two other aspiring comedians: [[Andrew Dice Clay]] and [[Thomas F. Wilson]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.phillymag.com/articles/whats-what-with-tom-wilson |title=What's What With ... Tom Wilson |website=[[Philadelphia (magazine)|Philadelphia]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924073315/http://www.phillymag.com/articles/whats-what-with-tom-wilson/ |date=December 3, 2008 |archive-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref> Smirnoff often appeared 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.<ref name="comedy couch" /> He subsequently appeared in several other motion pictures, including ''[[The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension|Buckaroo Banzai]]'' (1984), ''[[Brewster's Millions (1985 film)|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]]''.

[[Image:Yakof.jpg|thumb|right|Smirnoff at a [[Hands Across America]] promotional event in 1986]]
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 [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] to provide educational bumper segments for Saturday morning cartoons Fun Facts, punctuated with a joke and Smirnoff's signature laugh.<ref name="bio">{{Cite web |url=http://www.yakov.com/bio/ |title=Yakov Smirnoff official biography |access-date=5 July 2013 |archive-date=26 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126012705/http://www.yakov.com/bio/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

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. Reagan enjoyed telling such jokes 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, '[[Henny Youngman|Take my wife—please]]', you come home and she is gone."<ref>{{cite web |title=WASHINGTON TALK; Reagan and the Russians: The Joke's on Them |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/21/us/washington-talk-reagan-and-the-russians-the-joke-s-on-them.html |first=Steven V. |last=Roberts |date=21 August 1987 |work=The New York Times |access-date=22 April 2019 |archive-date=22 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422225135/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/21/us/washington-talk-reagan-and-the-russians-the-joke-s-on-them.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 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 (1988)|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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Yakov Smirnoff Brings Reagan-Era Optimism to the Age of Trump |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/theater-and-dance/227670/yakov-smirnoff-reagan-trump |first=Ross |last=Ufberg |date=23 March 2017 |work=Tablet |access-date=22 April 2019 |archive-date=22 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422225140/https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/theater-and-dance/227670/yakov-smirnoff-reagan-trump |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1988, Smirnoff was the featured entertainer at the annual [[White House Correspondents' Dinner]] and he appeared in some commercials for hotel chain [[Best Western]].

Since 1993, he has been performing at his own 2,000 seat, state of the art theater, and over the years has entertained more than five million people in a live setting. His 31st consecutive season was commemorated in [[Branson, Missouri]] in 2024. In the late 1990s he retooled his stand-up act to focus on the differences between men and women, and on solving problems within relationships.<ref name="comedy couch"/>

In 2002, Smirnoff appeared in episodes of ''[[King of the Hill]]'' ("The Bluegrass Is Always Greener") and ''[[The Simpsons]]'' ("[[The Old Man and the Key]]").

In 2003, he appeared on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] in a one-man show, ''As Long As We Both Shall Laugh,'' deemed by Lawrence Van Gelder of ''[[The New York Times]]'' as "warmhearted", "delightful" and "splendidly funny".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/16/theater/theater-in-review-land-of-the-free-what-a-country.html |title=THEATER IN REVIEW; Land of the Free? What a Country! |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 16, 2003 |access-date=11 August 2021 |archive-date=11 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811224102/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/16/theater/theater-in-review-land-of-the-free-what-a-country.html?searchResultPosition=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> Smirnoff was also a featured writer for ''[[AARP Magazine]]'' and gave readers advice in his column, "Happily Ever Laughter".

After a successful career in television, movies and Broadway, Smirnoff 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.<ref name="comedy couch" /> Smirnoff earned his doctorate in psychology and global leadership at [[Pepperdine University]], graduating in May 2019.

In 2016, Smirnoff produced and starred in a comedy special for [[PBS]], ''Happily Ever Laughter'',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/video/yakov-smirnoffs-happily-ever-laughter-happily-ever-laughter-preview/ |title=Yakov Smirnoff's Happily Ever Laughter |website=[[PBS]] |access-date=August 13, 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814053546/https://www.pbs.org/video/yakov-smirnoffs-happily-ever-laughter-happily-ever-laughter-preview/ |url-status=live }}</ref> which was named PBS Special of the Year.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

==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!'"{{sfn|Smirnoff|1987|p=5–6}}
* "One day the [bar] owner changed my hours and told me I'd be working the [[Shift plan#Graveyard shift|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!"{{sfn|Smirnoff|1987|p=17}}
* "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!"{{sfn|Smirnoff|1987|p=52}}
* "I was recently in a supermarket and I saw something called [[Kotex|New Freedom]]. Freedom in a box! I said to myself, 'What a country!'"{{sfn|Smirnoff|1987|p=55}}
* 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."{{sfn|Smirnoff|1987|p=40}}
* While holding a [[hot dog]]: "In Russia, we don't eat this part of the dog."{{sfn|Smirnoff|1987|p=36}}
* "Like all foreigners, when you start to learn the language, you will begin by speaking [[Pidgin|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.)"{{sfn|Smirnoff|1987|p=30}}

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

* "Thanksgiving is my favorite American holiday. I really like [[Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade|parades]] without missiles. (I'll take [[Bullwinkle J. Moose|Bullwinkle]] over a tank any day!)"{{sfn|Smirnoff|1987|p=123}}
* "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."{{sfn|Smirnoff|1987|p=120}}
* "They don't play baseball in the Soviet Union because there, no one is safe."{{sfn|Smirnoff|1987|p=108}}
* "There aren't any such things as credit cards in the Soviet Union, not even [[American Express]]. They do, however, have Russian Express—'[[American Express#"Don't Leave Home Without Them"|Don't leave home]]!'"{{sfn|Smirnoff|1987|p=5}}
* "America has many wonderful things we never had in Russia...like warning shots."{{sfn|Smirnoff|1987|p=88}}

===Russian reversal===
[[File:In Soviet Russia, Bill Kills You!!! (5526520071).jpg|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 "[[In Soviet Russia|Russian reversal]]", in which life "in Soviet Russia" or "in Russia" is described through an unexpected flip of a sentence's subject and object.<ref name="Time">{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/3715747/bob-hope-russian-reversal |title=In Soviet Russia, the Oscars Host You |last=Rothman |first=Lily |date=February 22, 2015 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=August 17, 2023 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326122331/https://time.com/3715747/bob-hope-russian-reversal/ |url-status=live }}</ref> One example occurs in a 1985 [[Miller Lite]] commercial, in which Smirnoff states, "In America, there is plenty of light beer and you can always find a party. In Russia, party always finds you."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbP1DVeJCT0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/AbP1DVeJCT0| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=Yakov Smirnoff Miller Lite Commercial (1985) |work=[[YouTube]] |date=11 November 2007 |access-date=10 May 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Another can be found in his 1987 book ''America on Six Rubles a Day'': "Show business in America is different from what I was used to. Here you have to find an [[talent agent|agent]]. In Russia, the agent always finds you."{{sfn|Smirnoff|1987|p=120}} Despite Smirnoff rarely using the joke format himself, he has often been directly associated with it throughout pop culture, including episodes of both ''[[Family Guy]]''<ref>{{cite web |title=In Soviet Russia, Yakov Smirnoff's TV commercials watch you |url=https://www.avclub.com/in-soviet-russia-yakov-smirnoff-s-tv-commercials-watch-1798245921 |website=[[The A.V. Club]] |access-date=28 September 2022 |language=en-us |date=31 March 2016 |archive-date=28 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928192022/https://www.avclub.com/in-soviet-russia-yakov-smirnoff-s-tv-commercials-watch-1798245921 |url-status=live }}</ref> and ''[[The Simpsons]]''.<ref name="Time"/>

''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine observed that the earliest example of the joke can be found in [[Cole Porter]]'s 1938 musical ''[[Leave It to Me!]]'' and furthermore credited [[Bob Hope]] for first introducing the format to a wide audience while hosting the [[30th Academy Awards]] in 1958.<ref name="Time"/>

==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&nbsp;feet by 135&nbsp;feet (61&nbsp;m by 41&nbsp;m). The mural, titled "America's Heart,"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yakov.com/images/GAmericasHeartB.jpg |title=The mural in Yakov Smirnoff's official website |access-date=2005-07-16 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012112208/http://www.yakov.com/images/GAmericasHeartB.jpg |archive-date=12 October 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> is a [[pointillism|pointillist]]-style piece, with one brush-stroke for each victim of the attacks. Sixty volunteers from the [[Sheet Metal Workers International Association|Sheet Metal Workers Union]] erected the mural on a damaged skyscraper overlooking the ruins of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]]. The mural remained there until November 2003, when it was removed because of storm damage.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB107041376984327600|title=Trade Center Mural Is Retired|last=Frangos|first=Alex|date=2003-12-03|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=2017-05-11|issn=0099-9660|archive-date=13 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013185706/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB107041376984327600|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.semissourian.com/story/97253.html|title=Branson comedian Smirnoff's mural now hangs at NY's Ground Zero|last=Farrow|first=Connie|date=2002-12-27|work=seMissourian.com|access-date=2017-05-11|archive-date=30 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130204315/http://www.semissourian.com/story/97253.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He signed it: "The human spirit is not measured by the size of the act, but by the size of the heart."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.yakov.com/mural.html|title=Yakov's Mural at Ground Zero|website=www.yakov.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105155104/http://www.yakov.com/mural.html|archive-date=5 November 2012|url-status=dead|access-date=2017-05-11}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Smirnoff became an American citizen on 4 July 1986.<ref name="spreading joy">{{cite web |url=http://hooplanow.com/2013/03/14/yakov-smirnoff-spreading-joy-living-happily-ever-laughter/ |last=Nollen |first=Diana |title=Yakov Smirnoff spreading joy of living 'happily ever laughter' |website=Hoopla |date=14 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111205429/http://hooplanow.com/2013/03/14/yakov-smirnoff-spreading-joy-living-happily-ever-laughter/ |archive-date=11 November 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1989, Smirnoff married Linda Dreeszen; they divorced in 2001.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/television/2016/08/19/yakov-smirnoff-pbs-special-happily-ever-laughter/88795642/ |title=Yakov Smirnoff talks psychology of love, laughter on new PBS special |last=Cordova |first=Randy |date=19 August 2016 |website=azcentral |publisher=[[The Arizona Republic]] |access-date=14 January 2022 |quote=Comedian Yakov Smirnoff and his wife ended their marriage in 2001. |archive-date=14 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114083339/https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/television/2016/08/19/yakov-smirnoff-pbs-special-happily-ever-laughter/88795642/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2017/09/05/can-save-us-russia-yakov-smirnoff-still-available/ |title=Who Can Save Us From Russia? Yakov Smirnoff Is Still Available |last=Mullins |first=Luke |date=5 September 2017 |website= |publisher=[[Washingtonian (magazine)|Washingtonian]] |access-date=14 January 2022 |quote=After a divorce in 2001, he became fixated on the role of laughter in male/female relationships. |archive-date=14 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114083339/https://www.washingtonian.com/2017/09/05/can-save-us-russia-yakov-smirnoff-still-available/ |url-status=live }}</ref> They have two children: a daughter, Natasha, born in 1990; and a son, Alexander, born in 1992.<ref name="spreading joy" /> In 2019, Smirnoff married Olivia Kosarieva.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/entertainment/2020/08/23/get-ready-laugh-your-yak-off-mpac-promoting-yakov-smirnoffs-united-we-laugh-livestream/3426084001/ |title=Get ready to laugh your 'Yak' off: MPAC promoting Yakov Smirnoff's 'United We Laugh' livestream |last=Heupel |first=Shannon |newspaper=[[Montgomery Advertiser]] |date=23 August 2020 |access-date=16 July 2024 |quote=Yakov and Olivia Smirnoff were married a year and a half ago.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.discoverbranson.com/travel-guide/424934/branson-behind-the-curtain-yakovs-theatre |title=Branson Behind the Curtain: Yakov's Theatre |last=Redford |first=Emily |website=Discover Branson |date=27 June 2023 |access-date=16 July 2024 |quote=Yakov: Laugh Your Yak-Off also features music and dancing by Yakov and his wife, Olivia Kosarieva.}}</ref>

==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 (film)|Heartburn]]'', 1986), in addition to single episodes of several TV series.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://yakov.com/#about |title=YAKOV |access-date=15 June 2020 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615154532/https://yakov.com/#about |url-status=live }}</ref>

*''[[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 film)|Brewster's Millions]]'' (1985) as Vladimir
*''[[The Money Pit]]'' (1986) as Shatov
*''[[Heartburn (film)|Heartburn]]'' (1986) as Contractor Laszlo
*''[[What a Country!]]'' (1986–1987, TV Series) as Nikolai Rostapovich
*''[[Up Your Alley (film)|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

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

'''Bibliography'''
* {{cite book|last=Smirnoff|first=Yakov|title=America on Six Rubles a Day|date=1987|publisher=[[Vintage Books]]|location=New York|isbn=0-394-75523-5|author-link=Yakov Smirnoff}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.yakov.com}}
* {{IMDb name|id=0807025|name=Yakov Smirnoff}}
* {{Cite web|title=Yakov Smirnoff|url=http://www.bransontourismcenter.com/articles/bransonarticle76|publisher=Branson Tourism Center|access-date=12 June 2016}}
* {{Cite news|first=Scott|last=Simon|date=12 April 2003|title=Yakov Smirnoff, Laughing All the Way to Broadway|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1230137|work=[[Weekend Edition|Weekend Edition Saturday]]|access-date=12 June 2016}} Interview.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smirnoff, Yakov}}
[[Category:20th-century American comedians]]
[[Category:21st-century American comedians]]
[[Category:American stand-up comedians]]
[[Category:American male comedians]]
[[Category:Jewish American comedians]]
[[Category:Jewish Ukrainian comedians]]
[[Category:Jewish male comedians]]
[[Category:Drury University faculty]]
[[Category:Comedians from Missouri]]
[[Category:People from Branson, Missouri]]
[[Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States]]
[[Category:Soviet emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Entertainers from Odesa]]
[[Category:Odesa Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]
[[Category:1951 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]