There’s a pervasive meme on the SDMB, where if someone posts something like “I watch TV,” another poster will reply “In Russia, TV watches you!”
Where did this start?
(Of course, my example makes a sort of 1984 sense - maybe that’s where it started?)
Yakov Smirnof, comedian. Yakov Smirnoff - Wikipedia
The cold war humor of stand-up comedian Yakov Smirnoff.
The comedian Yakov Smirnoff popularized it as part of his stand up. He was from the Ukraine and used to do a lot of “in Soviet countries, X Xes you!” I don’t know if he invented the style, though.
*In America, you can always find a party.
In Russia, The Party can always find you! *
According to Wikipedia (I know) Smirnoff popularized it. Apparently had an earlier origin tho…
From wikipedia:
Russian reversal (“In Soviet Russia article reads you“)
Russian reversal or “In Soviet Russia” is a type of joke originated by Arte Johnson[citation needed] on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, and popularized by Smirnoff, and is an example of antimetabole. The general form of the “In Soviet Russia” joke is that the subject and objects of a statement are reversed, and “In (Soviet) Russia”, or something equivalent, is added. For example:
In America, you catch a cold.
In Russia, cold catches you!
In America, you can always find a party.
In Russia, The Party can always find you!
In particular, it’s called a “Russian Reversal” (which is made clear in the Wikipedia link).
Deleted: Beat by everybody.
He’s also the popularizer for observations about America that end in “What a country!”, and other ironic contrasts between the US and (Soviet) Russia.
For example: We have no gay people in Russia—there are homosexuals but they are not allowed to be gay about it. The punishment is seven years locked in prison with other men and there is a three-year waiting list for that.
In america, five people rush to answer your trivial question. What a country!
In former Soviet Union, question answers you!
Smirnoff was the originator of the theme.
But David Letterman was the one who grabbed that theme and started taking it to absurd extremes.
In the mid-Eighties, during lulls in a monologue, he’d put on a phony Russian accent, and roar, “In America, you eat pizza… in Russia, pizza eat YOUUUUUU!” Or “In America, you wash your car. In Russia, car wash YOUUUUUU!”"
After a while, that kind of silliness caught on (seemingly) everywhere.
Well done Sir.
I was just going to say:
From Russia