Russian reversal

A Russian reversal is a type of joke, usually starting with the words "In Soviet Russia", in which the subject and objects of a statement are reversed, usually to indicate living under a harsh or oppressive tyranny.^[1]

Description

The jokes are usually told in broken English, without articles, in the way that a native Russian speaker might, which makes such reversals easier. A Russian reversal is an example of an antimetabole, a transpositional pun, and a chiasmus.

Examples include:

In America, you watch Big Brother.

In Soviet Russia, Big Brother watches you!

In America, you break law.

In Soviet Russia, law breaks you!

This type of joke has existed since at least the 1960s. 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. In old country, television watches you!" This joke alludes to video screens that both reproduce images and monitor the citizenry, as in Nineteen Eighty-Four.

The joke form is often credited to Ukrainian-American comedian Yakov Smirnoff, although he only rarely used Russian reversals. One exception was a Miller Lite commercial he appeared in in 1985, in which he states, "In America, there's plenty of light beer and you can always find a party. In Russia, Party always finds you."^[2]

References