Slashdot Mirror

Yakov has his own theater, hundreds of thousands of people go to it every year.

http://www.yakov.com/branson/

And Carrot Top has more money and bigger biceps than you.

http://www.yakov.com/tv/russianSong_sm.html

You can read a lot of his other work, as well as more information on this subject, on his web site at www.yakov.com. Hope this helps.

It appears that not only is he alive, he's online.

http://www.yakov.com/

Yakov Smirnoff.

Wikipedia Article

1980's comedian Yakov Smirnof who defected from Russia to America. His jokes mostly contrasted a comically-wonderful America vs comic-horrors of Russia.

The specific origin:
In California, you can always find a party. In Soviet Russia, the Party can always find you!
In America, you watch television. In Soviet Russia, television watches you!

-

"In Soviet Russia _____ You!" comes from comedian Yakov Smirnoff.

Moscow -- via Branson, MO

I have no idea why.

Haters make baby Yakov cry...

The "in Soviet Russia" jokes are a reference to the comedic stylings of Yakov Smirnov, a man who immigrated to the United States from Russia in 1977. Personally I never thought he was very funny, and other people think it's funny to use the "in Soviet Russia" jokes in situations where they make absolutely no sense to indicate that something is "backwards".

Next time use Google before making a complete ass of yourself. Google still works when you're drunk. Trust me.

In redneck Branson, dead horse beats YOU!

Yakov painted the great mural "America's Heart"
which was displayed over Ground Zero.
http://www.yakov.com

You had better luck with Google. This guy says that the Russian missions abort you.

Error numbers, IO control function names, and abstract type specifications? Repeated 6 times, once for each platform?

This is a joke. Less than a joke - this is like the framework of a joke, without the topics or punchline filled in. It's like Microsoft hiring Yakov Smirnoff to sue anyone on Slashdot who had a .sig that could be seen as somewhat like his humor style.

Ryan Fenton

... I thought they were talking about the Yakov Effect.

Yeah, but thats when he's not painting.

"...Yakov's movie credits include "Moscow on the Hudson" with Robin Williams, "Brewster's Millions" with Richard Pryor, "The Money Pit" with Tom Hanks and "Heartburn" with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. His many television credits include Showtime's ACE Award nominee "Yakov Smirnoff from Moscow...Idaho," as well as his own 1986 syndicated series "What a Country." In the early months of 2003, Yakov appeared in his one-man Broadway Show, "As Long As We Both Shall Laugh" at the American Airlines Theatre in New York City. During the show Yakov invites everyone to celebrate the differences between the genders..."

Don't know if you're just trolling, but in case you're not: it's a takeoff on the work of Yakov Smirnoff, former Soviet Russian comedian currently located in Branson, Missouri USA. He was/is famous for his wry observations on Soviet life and his use of the "turnaround joke": e.g. "In Soviet Russia, the television watches you!"

I forget whose joke it is (a Russian programmer, I think)

Thanks for reminding me why Yakov Smirnoff is such a washed-up, has-been, loser.

Yakov Smirnoff, a Russian comedian, established this joke as a portion of his routine:

"In America, you find the party. In Soviet Russia, the Party finds you."

Vhat a country!

Perostroika is SO 80's!

Um, no he didn't. He's just using the old Yakov Smirnoff joke from the 80s'.

The poster may give you a chuckle, but it's certainly not a "new form of humor".

Darn, this misinformation keeps going around!

Yakov Smirnoff has had only ONE (1, that's o-n-e) joke in this form, which is "In America you can always find a party. In Russia the party always finds you." This joke became famous in a beer commercial. As you might be able to tell, it's not just backwards, it's cleverly reversed -- the Communist party finds you -- wink, wink.

I mean, seriously, do you all believe a comedian could make a living saying crap like "the newspaper reads you!"? That doesn't even make sense! Wait -- don't answer that -- I forgot about Carrot Top.

It's a parody of the humor of 80's comedian Yakov Smirnov

Can someone explain the whole "IN SOVIET RUSSIA" joke to me? I've been away for a while.

It's a cliche joke of comedian Yakov Smirnoff.

In America, x does y. In Soviet Russia, y...does x!

In America you can always find a party. In Russia the party always finds you.

In Russia we only had two TV channels. Channel One was propaganda. Channel Two consisted of a KGB officer telling you: Turn back at once to Channel One.

I believe it originated with the Russian-turned-American comedian Yakov Smirnoff, who also gave us the famous quote "What a country!".

I beleive it's an allusion to comedian Yakov Smirnoff of 80s fame. Back then he had a one dimensional routine about the absurdities of the failing USSR, where many of the jokes began with what you quote. Why the latest slashdot crazy about it, I don't know, though I seem to remember it being mentioned in some post recently.

See also

Well met

Yes, they dug up his corpse in hopes of finding a vaccine for inane humor. Let that be a lesson to us all.

Does the soviet Russia thing bother anyone else?

No.

I suppose soviet USSR, or communist USSR could work, but soviet Russia?

Clearly, you just don't get it.

trolls moderate you!

You can't stop Yakov, you can only hope to contain him.

In Soviet Russia, phrase explains what is funny about you.

It was originally a joke by Yakov Smirnoff. Then it turned into a meme on Fark, got added to their filters, and moved to Slashdot. Basically, the idea is to take a sentence, switch it around, and add "In Soviet Russia" (e.g., "You watch television." becomes "In Soviet Russia, television watches YOU!").

It started with this comedian (Yakov Smirnov) who made jokes about the US vs. dead USSR right after the cold war. In particular the jokes would switch subject and object around the verb (which you can do by accident if you're Russian struggling with English). For example, "in South Cali, you can always find a party. In old Soviet Russia, the Party finds YOU!!!"

In any case, this was picked up by Family Guy and The Simpsons recently, involving a russian language feature of one of those navigation computers in a car. I assume this is where the Slashbots picked it up. Trolls use it at the drop of a hat now, without thought.

I, on the other hand, am genuinely trying.
::coy smile::

PS - The believe whole "insensitive clod" thing has an origin on British TV of yesteryear, and then later in crusty manpages and fortune files. It surfaces on slashdot because we're into that sort of crap. We spell demon with an æ (aelig) too!

Due to his extremely chipper demenaor and the fact that his routine rarely changed, he became an annoying cliche. In the years since the Cold War ended and stand up comedy became less popular he apparently retreated to Branson, Missouri and has a theater there.

Somewhat akin to the "all your base..." phonomeon, this "In Soviet Russia..." thing didn't become its own overused cliche until posters on FARK, the Slashdot of weird journalism, started adding Smirnov into their Photoshop contests, along with Admiral "It's A Trap!" Ackbar, the squirrel with the giant nuts, and that kitten that dies when you masrutbate.

All you need to know.

And I don't remember voting for comedian of the year. Maybe the Supreme Court appointed him.

Any child of the 80's knows that "In Soviet Russia" was Yakov Smirnov's schtick!
Now get out of my comic book store!

With apologies to Yakov Smirnov:

In Soviet Union, tetris plays you . . .

Nick