In Soviet Russia

In Soviet Russia is a joke template taking the general form "In America you do X to/with Y; in Soviet Russia Y does X to/with you". Typically the American clause describes a harmless ordinary activity and the inverted Soviet form something menacing or dysfunctional, satirizing life under a communist dictatorship, or in the "old country". Sometimes the first clause is omitted, and the second (or both) are often deliberately rendered with English grammatical errors stereotypical of Russians.[1]

Although the exact origin of the joke form is uncertain, an early example is from the 1938 Cole Porter musical Leave It to Me! ("In Soviet Russia, messenger tips you.")[2] Bob Hope used the form at the 1958 Academy Awards.[2] In the 1968–1973 television show Laugh-In, a recurring character, "Piotr Rosmenko the Eastern European Man" (played by Arte Johnson), delivered short jokes such as "Here in America, is very good, everyone watch television.[3] In old country, television watch you!" This joke alludes to "telescreens" from George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four which both reproduce images and monitor the citizenry.

The joke form is often credited to the Soviet émigré American comedian Yakov Smirnoff; an example is a Miller Lite commercial in which he appeared in 1985, wherein he stated: "In America, there's plenty of light beer and you can always find a party. In Russia, Party always finds you".[1][4] Another example is by Garry Kasparov: "Every country has its own mafia; In Russia, the mafia has its own country."[5]