Yakov Smirnoff solves the People’s Cube on second try
Last night I went to see Yakov Smirnoff at the Lakeland Center in Florida. In addition to having discovered America, Yakov has now also discovered personal relationships, and presents his findings the way you never looked at it before. And now he has also discovered the People’s Cube.
I spoke with Yakov before and after the show. He was very warm and friendly, and when I gave him the Cube, he immediately figured out the concept and tried to solve it, but failed on the first try. But then, with the words “What would Putin do?” he finally got it right.
When I told him that his name and his jokes frequently come up on our website, he asked me for the URL and promised to check it out. We also exchanged a few words in Russian, but since he hasn’t used that language in a very long time (he came to the U.S. in 1977 at the age of 26), we continued the conversation in an equally accented English.
At some point in his life Yakov took a break from comedy to get a degree in applied positive psychology, and now he teaches a course on The Business of Laughter at Missouri State University and Drury University. He also runs his own Yakov Smirnoff Theater in Branson, Mo., and goes on occasional comedy tours.
The show was hilarious, but also informative and heart-warming; not openly political, but with a rather conservative, pro-American vibe. During the show Yakov spoke of his friendship with Ronald Reagan, and how he was asked to write jokes for the speech Reagan gave in Moscow.
On a large screen, a picture was projected of Reagan and Yakov laughing together, followed by a picture of Reagan and Gorbachev laughing together, and Yakov said, “That was how the Cold War ended.” The next picture was of Putin and Obama frowning, as Yakov said, “And this is how it started again.”
The venue holds 2,296 seats (we’ll have to trust the theater website on that), and when I scanned the room, I saw no empty chairs. Afterwards there was an impressively long line to buy Yakov’s signed DVDs.
The demand quickly exceeded the supply and then a new line formed, in which those who didn’t get the DVDs waited to give their phone numbers to Yakov’s assistant, so that they could get them in the mail later.
Long lines and shortages! It felt like the old country all over again. But I was happy to see Yakov’s continued popularity with the audiences. He very well deserves it.
In the end he and I exchanged emails and agreed to stay in touch. I haven’t sent him anything yet; I first wanted to post this story with pictures so that I could email him the link. You know what that means: if you leave a comment, chances are that Yakov will read it.
