Yakov Smirnoff Happily Ever Laughter

When Yakov Maumovich Pokhis emigrated to the United Stated from the Soviet Union, he took jobs bartending at resorts in the Catskills. When he decided to do stand-up comedy, he took his American name from the vodka popular at the resort. Yakov Smirnoff returns with comedy about the very messy business of being human.

Smirnoff is a bit of a Renaissance man. He got his start in stand-up in the late 1970s and was a roommate of comedian Andrew Dice Clay. He began to work in films, appearing in Moscow on the Hudson. In addition to a small role, he helped Robin Williams with his Russian dialogue. He was also in The Money Pit with Tom Hanks and Heartburn with Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. He appeared in several other movies, on the sitcom Night Court, and on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He had his own show, What a Country, named after his well-known tag line.