In 1987 , Smirnoff was invited to a party hosted by '' Washington Times '' editor-in-chief Arnaud de Borchgrave which featured President Ronald Reagan as the guest of honor . Reagan and Smirnoff immediately hit it off , due to Reagan 's love of jokes about life in the Soviet Union . Reagan enjoyed telling such jokes in speeches , and Smirnoff became one of his sources for new material . An example of a joke Reagan later told that originated from Smirnoff was " In Russia , if you say , ' Take my wife - please ' , you come home and she is gone . " Smirnoff was enlisted by Dana Rohrabacher , who was then a speechwriter for Reagan , to help with material for Reagan 's speeches , including a speech given in front of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev when Reagan visited the Soviet Union during the Moscow Summit in 1988 . Rohrabacher later stated that Smirnoff became " one of the inner circle " of speechwriting advisers during Reagan 's final years in office , due to the quality of Smirnoff 's suggestions
Moscow Summit
Moscow Summit (1988)
Yakov Smirnoff