"Funniest Comedian YAKOV SMIRNOFF vs ARTHUR SMITH"

YAKOV SMIRNOFF

Yakov Naumovich Pokhis (Russian: Яков Наумович Похис; born 24 January 1951), better known as Yakov Smirnoff (Russian: Яков Смирнов; /ˈsmɪərnɒf/), is a...

Yakov Naumovich Pokhis (Russian: Яков Наумович Похис; born 24 January 1951), better known as Yakov Smirnoff (Russian: Яков Смирнов; /ˈsmɪərnɒf/), is a Ukrainian-American comedian, actor and writer of Jewish origin. 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!'" The collapse of communism starting in 1989, and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, brought an end to Smirnoff's 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 master's 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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ARTHUR SMITH

Brian Arthur John Smith (born 27 November 1954) is an English alternative comedian, presenter and writer. Smith was born in Bermondsey, south Londo...

Brian Arthur John Smith (born 27 November 1954) is an English alternative comedian, presenter and writer. Smith was born in Bermondsey, south London. His eldest brother is Richard Smith, a medical doctor, editor and businessman. His younger brother is Nick Smith, a civil servant who for a period of time was also a stand-up comic, but in more recent years has turned to amateur dramatics. Arthur was a student and school captain at The Roan School for Boys, a grammar school, now The John Roan School in Blackheath, London. He then studied at the University of East Anglia where he was chairman of the poetry society, wrote for the student newspaper and contributed sketches for the student revue. He graduated with a 2:1 BA degree in Comparative literature in 1976. Smith was one of many stand-up performers on the alternative comedy scene in the 1980s, and still performs today in much the same manner. He has regularly attended the Edinburgh Fringe comedy festival since 1977, and still comperes the long-running Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition final. He has also written a body of serious or semi-serious work, including stage plays such as An Evening with Gary Lineker. In addition to stand-up comedy, Smith has performed musical comedy shows such as Arthur Smith Sings Leonard Cohen (later broadcast on Radio 4). He returned to this theme for the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013 with "Arthur Smith Sings Leonard Cohen (Volume Too). He is also a radio presenter on such BBC Radio 4 programmes as Excess Baggage and Loose Ends, and appears on television comedy panel games. He took over as narrator of the TV series A Life of Grime after the death of John Peel and was one of the Grumpy Old Men in the television series of that name. Both of the latter two series used "What a Wonderful World" as their theme song. For Grumpy Old Men, Smith was one of the cast members who contributed to a montage rendition of the song. One of Smith's routines has been set to music by Mark Beazley, aka Rothko, for a CD curated by comedian and writer Stewart Lee. The CD, The Topography of Chance was guest-curated by Stewart for the Sonic Arts Network and Smith's track is called "I've Seen Your Arse" and contained extra vocals by Caroline Quentin taken from a live recording of Smith's show, Arthur Smith's Last Hangover.

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