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Dr. Yakov Naumovich Pokhis, better known as Yakov Smirnoff, is a Ukrainian-American comedian, actor and writer. He began his career as a stand-up comedian in Ukraine, 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 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!'"
Birth Name
Yakov Naumovich Pokhis
Born
Wednesday, 24 January 1951
Actor Filmography
Title | Character | Year |
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Toon in with Me | Self | 2021 |
The Comedy Store | Self | 2020 |
Yakov Smirnoff: United We Laugh | Self | 2020 |
Dying Laughing | Self | 2017 |
Dice | Yakov Smirnoff | 2016 |
Yakov Smirnoff's Happily Ever Laughter : The Neuroscience of Romantic Relationships | Self | 2016 |
The Comeback Kids | Valdemar Steinberg | 2014 |
@midnight | Self - representing Russia / Self | 2013 |
Awful Nice | Himself / Yakov Smirnoff | 2013 |
AXS Live | Self - Guest | 2012 |
Actor Filmography
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Director Filmography
Producer Filmography
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