Yakov Schmirnoff....A LAUGH A MINUTE!

Chris and I were up and did our workout in the Radisson exercise room....then got ready for our morning show with Yakov Schmirnoff. He was so wonderful, funny and, yes, inspirational. He came to this country with his parents in 1976 to New York, in 1986 became an American citizen, all the while holding a statue of the Statue of Liberty on his lap. He was sworn in on Ellis Island by the late Chief Justice Warren Burger. He had been an art teacher in Russia. He is so profoundly proud of being an American. This is a self portrait of himself.

This is a huge painting with his quote, some of you may recall, hung about 18 floors tall next to Ground Zero on the first anniversary if 9-11. He spent $100,000 of his own money to get it up there. He didn't have his name attached; it was done annonimously. He didn't want anyone to think that he was doing it for monitary gain. Paul Harvey finally let the cat out of the bag. (pssst....that little square on the statue of liberty is not part of the painting; they had small parts magnified hugely on the walls of his theatre.)

I had to take any pictures from a great distance and with no flash; so pics are not the best. He was in this when all of his Cosak dancers were doing their thing.

Here one of his skits involved being president...if he could be if he were not foreign born. He took questions from the audience as if in a press confirence. He was asked the usual about economy, etc, and had us rolling in the isles. He was asked about the white house dog: he said it would be a shitzu and a poodle...and be a shit-poo; asked if he wore boxers or briefs: he answered "I wear English Leather, or nothing at all..." (even he rolled with that one)

When he got to the end of the whole show he was so unabashedly proud to be an American and was very encouraging to everyone to be kind to each other. (He got his masters in Psychology a couple of years ago.) Tears were rolling down his cheeks as he told about the 80 year old landlord in his apartment the night his parents and he came to New York. She knocked on his door at the night (and it wasn't the KGB!) and she had everybody in the apartment behind her bringing gifts, food, furniture, etc. Everything that these new immigrants needed. He never forgot that....and was very moved when he told about it.

Then this little treat waited for each lady in the rest room....had a little ditty about putting down the curtain and he won't look or something like that.... :)

Then this hung above the toilet paper dispenser.

It was a fun morning....and once again, the audience was probably 90% over 6o yrs. of age.....

I'll post the rest of the fun from today by tomorrow morning....then we pack up and head out of town.

So, until we connect again....