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Randy Hodgins and Steve McLellan’s lifelong love of comedy was kindled when they met more than 40 years ago in graduate school in Seattle. While managing family and professional work responsibilities, they hosted a one hour comedy radio program on Saturday mornings for 10 years on a small radio station in Olympia, WA and also co-authored two books on northwest popular culture – Seattle on Film (1995) and Wet and Wired (2000). Stuck at home during the early days of the pandemic with hundreds of comedy albums, cassettes and CD’s gathering dust on their shelves, they launched Laugh Tracks Legends of Comedy in May 2020, a weekly mini-program featuring a different comedy icon, with biographical bits and a nice slice of the comedy that made them famous. From standup stars, to stellar sketch teams, to novelty music maestros -- they are all part of our Legends.
Episodes
Tuesday Jul 25, 2023
Tuesday Jul 25, 2023
"What a country!" has turned into "What a career!" for Yakov Smirnoff who emigrated to the US from Ukraine in the 1970s and built a career out of playful but pointed jabs at Russia and great "fish out of water" bits about himself. Along the way, Yakov has also managed to become a US citizen, earn a PhD in psychology, become an in-demand keynote speaker, score a number of juicy film and tv roles, and establish a long-running comedy theater in Branson, Missouri. We're not sure where he finds time to sleep! As always, find extra cuts below and thanks for sharing our shows!
Want more Yakov?
In the 1980s headlining at Dangerfield's was a mark a comic had arrived (much like getting invited to Johnny Carson's Tonight Show couch). Here's a bit of Yakov (introduced by Rodney himself) from 1984. https://youtu.be/QboXCnKpgtU
In the 1980s, Chrysler/Plymouth was fighting for its financial life and its line up of inexpensive cars helped pull them back from the brink (along with some help from the government). Were the cars good? Not really. Were they cheap? Oh, yeah! And did they have Yakov as a spokesperson? Of course! https://youtu.be/hkcImMNx3SU
Yakov was a frequent and popular guest on American tv, including this appearance on one of Dick Clark's many variety shows, this one from 1988. https://youtu.be/22VI3eN5r9k
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