Yakov Naumovich Pokhis Russian ???? ???????? ????? born 24 January 1951 better known as Yakov Smirnoff Russian ???? ??????? ?sm??rn?f is a UkrainianAmerican comedian actor and writer of Jewish origin He began his career as a standup 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 midtolate 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 Smirnoffs widespread popularity although he continued to perform In 1993 he began performing year round at his own theater in Branson Missouri where he remained until 2015 He occasionally still performs limited dates at his theater in Branson while touring worldwide Smirnoff earned a masters 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
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