A number of then-unknown comics appeared on this version before going on to greater fame; among them were Bob Saget, Howie Mandel, Vic Dunlop, Gallagher, Gary Mule Deer, Yakov Smirnoff, Bruce 'Babyman' Baum, Garry Shandling and Bill Kirchenbauer.
The characters include Nikolai, a Russian taxi driver (Yakov Smirnoff, whose catchphrase provided the show's title), Laslo (a retired Hungarian doctor), Ali (a Pakistani), Robert (the son of a deposed African king), Maria (the housekeeper working for a rich Beverly Hills family), Victor (a Hispanic in love with Maria) and Yung Hee (a shy Chinese woman).
Yakov Smirnoff | Karina Smirnoff | Smirnoff | Yakov Smushkevich | Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich | Yakov Yakovlevich Etinger | Yakov Vilner | Yakov Peters | Yakov M. Rabkin | Yakov Malkiel | Yakov Frenkel | 3925 Tret'yakov |
In a 2002 episode of Futurama, "Crimes of the Hot", Fry states, "That ice dispenser is so big, the ice crushes you! Yakov Smirnoff said that."
In a 2001 episode of Family Guy, "There's Something About Paulie", a car navigation system has a "Yakov Smirnoff" setting, in which it intersperses directions (in a Russian accent) with jokes such as "In Soviet Russia, car drives you!" (This may have been the first instance of such a joke with the exact "In Soviet Russia" phrasing.)