Yakov Smirnoff Brings Reagan-Era Optimism to the Age of Trump
In the span of a decade, Yakov Smirnoff went from entertaining tourists on an Odessa cruise ship to dining with President Ronald Reagan. He became, as former Reagan speechwriter and now Congressman Dana Rohrabacher told me on the phone, “one of the inner circle” of advisers who offered insight, context, and punch lines for the president’s speechwriting team, putting words in the mouth of “The Great Communicator.” “He was giving us information and material that was very well-done, valuable, and poignant—things that we could actually use.” A few years later, Yakov Smirnoff was often a punchline himself. Now, the Russian comedian is mounting what may be a timely comeback.
On a recent drive due north on the Van Wyck Expressway into Manhattan from JFK airport, Smirnoff was sitting in the passenger seat, looking svelte, tanned, well-groomed, and oddly color-coordinated, with his lime-green button-down shirt, lime-green cellphone case, and a lime-green luggage set, which he had just tossed in the trunk. The conversation was moving much faster than we were; it took us nearly three hours to get to Smirnoff’s hotel in Times Square, for a gig at Gotham Comedy Club at 7.
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