The 'in Soviet Russia' joke is a long-running reversal gag in which an everyday action is flipped, so the object acts on the person instead. The car version became a staple of meme pages and soundboards because the image is instantly visual and easy to apply to driving clips, fails and gameplay. Shared as a short audio punchline, it survived because the format needs no setup: one familiar line instantly signals that logic has been turned upside down.