''Eretz Nehederet'' ( he, ארץ נהדרת; ) is an Israeli prime-time television satirical
sketch comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...
show, that premiered on Keshet's Channel 2 in 2003. It features satirical references to current affairs of the past week through parodies of the people involved, as well as the thoughts of recurring characters. The program's concept is inspired by ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'', ''
The Daily Show
''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...
'' and others. The program is one of the most watched and influential shows on
Israeli TV
Television in Israel refers to television broadcasting services in the State of Israel, inaugurated on March 24, 1966. Initially, there was one state-owned channel, operated jointly by the Israel Broadcasting Authority and the Israeli Educational ...
. It is also one of the longest-running scripted shows in Israeli television to date, running for 19 seasons as of 2022. Beginning with Season 15, the program is aired on
Keshet 12
Channel 12 ( he, ערוץ 12), also known as Keshet 12 ( he, קשת 12), is an Israeli free-to-air television channel owned by Keshet Media Group. It launched on 1 November 2017 as one of two replacements of the outgoing Channel 2.
History
Isr ...
, in
HDTV
High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...
.
It was first filmed in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
, and in later seasons, was filmed in the neighboring
Herzliya
Herzliya ( ; he, הֶרְצְלִיָּה ; ar, هرتسليا, Hirtsiliyā) is an affluent city in the central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In it h ...
.
The show features a regular cast of comedians and actors, including
Tal Friedman
Tal Friedman ( he, טל פרידמן; born 20 December 1963) is an Israeli actor, comedian and musician.
Biography
Friedman was born in Kiryat Ata, Israel, in 1963. His father was a holocaust survivor.
He served in the Israeli Navy on a missile ...
(11 first seasons),
Eyal Kitzis
Eyal Kitzis (or Kitsis, he, אייל קיציס; born on 7 January 1969) is an Israeli actor, comedian and TV host.
He is currently known for presenting the satirical sketch show ''Eretz Nehederet''.
Early life
Kitziz was born in Kiryat Ono, ...
(the
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts ''Th ...
Orna Banai
Orna Banai ( he, אורנה בנאי; born November 25, 1966) is an Israeli actress, comedian, entertainer and past member of the Tel Aviv-Yafo city Council.
Biography
Banai was born in Beersheba and raised in Omer. Her father was a judge in Be ...
Asi Cohen
Assi Cohen ( he, אסי כהן; born October 10, 1974) is an Israeli comedian and actor. He is best known for his appearances in the feature film '' Colombian Love'' (alongside Mili Avital), as well as for television performances in ''Love Hurts' ...
,
Eli Finish
Eli Finn ( he, אלי פיניש, born 17 July 1975) is an Israeli actor and comedian. He is well known for acting in the popular TV show Eretz Nehederet.Mariano Edelman,
Yuval Semo
Yuval Semo ( he, יובל סמו; born 20 June 1969) is an Israeli actor and comedian. He became well known for his roles in the popular Israeli TV show, ''Eretz Nehederet'' and later for '' Zanzouri'' and '' Hashoter Hatov'' (''The Good Cop''). ...
Eran Zarachovitch
Eran is an ancient town and archaeological site in the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, India. It was one of the ancient mints for Indian dynasties as evidenced by the diverse coins excavated here. The site has 5th and 6th-century Gupta era ...
Maor Cohen
Maor () is a moshav in north-central Israel. The word ''Maor'' means a light or luminary in Hebrew. Located near Baqa al-Gharbiyye, it falls under the jurisdiction of Menashe Regional Council. In it had a population of .
History
The moshav was ...
and
Dov Navon DOV or Dov could refer to:
''דב'' or ''דוב'', a Hebrew male given name meaning "bear", from which the Yiddish name "Ber" (בער) was derived (cognate with "bear") which was common among East European Jews.
People
* Dov Ber of Mezeritch (1700 ...
(4 first seasons). During the third season,
Asi Cohen
Assi Cohen ( he, אסי כהן; born October 10, 1974) is an Israeli comedian and actor. He is best known for his appearances in the feature film '' Colombian Love'' (alongside Mili Avital), as well as for television performances in ''Love Hurts' ...
started doing small roles on the show, and by the beginning of the fourth season (fall 2006), Cohen became a regular member.
''Eretz Nehederet'' won the Israeli Television Academy's "Best Entertainment Program" in 2004 and again in 2006, and attracts millions of viewers every season. In a May 2008 poll, web surfers selected all the Season 5 Eretz Nehederet actors from into the top 60 Israeli comedians list. The top 7 spots were all taken by Eretz Nehederet, as well as #9 and #20.
In 2010, Erez Nehederet produced a satire feature film called '' Zohi Sdom'' ().
Ra'anana
Ra'anana ( he, רַעֲנָנָּה, lit. "Fresh") is a city in the southern Sharon Plain of the Central District of Israel. It was founded in 1922 as an American-Jewish settlement, 1 km south of the village of Tabsur, where an important ...
and
Likud
Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon ...
central committee member, by Eli Finish
*
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
Foreign Minister
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
Silvan Shalom
Zion Silvan Shalom ( he, ציון סילבן שלום, born 4 August 1958) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Likud between 1992 and 2015. He held several prominent ministerial positions, including being Vice Pri ...
, by Orna Banai
*
Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...
by Eli Finish
*
Pnina Rosenblum
Pnina Rosenblum ( he, פנינה רוזנבלום, born ) is an Israeli businesswoman, model, media personality, and a former politician. Former Knesset parliament member for Likud from 2005 to 2006.
Biography
Pnina Rosenblum was born in Petah T ...
, model and sometime politician, by Edelman
*
Shelly Yachimovich
Shelly Rachel Yachimovich ( he, שלי רחל יחימוביץ׳, born 28 March 1960) is an Israeli politician, who served three terms as the official Leader of the Opposition, a member of the Knesset, and a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defe ...
, journalist-turned-politician (under the name ''Helly''), by Tal Friedman
Characters
Following is a list of characters shown in Eretz Nehederet, both parodied real-life persons, and entirely fictional characters.
Notable sketches
In May 2010, a sketch played off tensions between
Israeli Prime Minister
The prime minister of Israel ( he, רֹאשׁ הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה, Rosh HaMemshala, Head of the Government, Hebrew acronym: he2, רה״מ; ar, رئيس الحكومة, ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief exec ...
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
and
American President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
, with Netanyahu trying to smooth over differences as they meet in the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
. A series of accidents caused Netanyahu to set the American flag on fire, stomp on it, and then torch a copy of Obama's proposed Middle East peace plan.
In November 2010, the group used the video game characters
Angry Birds
''Angry Birds'' is a Finnish action-based media franchise created by Rovio Entertainment. The game series focuses on the eponymous flock of angry birds who try to save their eggs from green-colored pigs. Inspired by the game ''Crush the Castle ...
in a mock up peace treaty sketch. The skit satirized recent failed Israeli-Palestinian peace attempts. The video quickly went viral across the world. It received favorable coverage from a variety of independent
blogs
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
such as
Digital Trends
Digital Trends is a Portland, Oregon-based tech news, lifestyle, and information website that publishes news, reviews, guides, how-to articles, descriptive videos and podcasts about technology and consumer electronics products. With offices i ...
,
Hot Air
''Hot Air'' is a conservative American political blog. It is written by the pseudonymous Allahpundit, Ed Morrissey, John Sexton, and Jazz Shaw.
Hot Air was founded by Michelle Malkin, a conservative author and blogger, in 2006, taking over ''h ...
, and Intomobile, as well as from online
news media
The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and th ...
agencies such as ''
The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
'', ''
Haaretz
''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
'', ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', and
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...
.
In May 2016, the group created the "ISIS at the Eurovision" sketch.
Reactions
Muhammad Abu Tir
Muhammad Hassan Abu Tir ( ar, محمد حسن أبو طير, also known as-Sheikh Abu Mus'ab, 1951) is a member of Hamas and a representative on the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) for his East Jerusalem constituency. He was elected to the ...
of
Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
has expressed his discontent with the way he was represented on the program (as a terrorist disguised as a
party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...
arranger, who constantly invites Israelis to his "parties" while rolling his eyes).
In a speech on March 21, 2013, President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
quipped that "any drama between me and my friend, Bibi, over the years was just a plot to create material for ''Eretz Nehederet''. ..That's the only thing that was going on. We just wanted to make sure the writers had good material."
Canadian journalist and podcaster
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Timothy Gladwell (born 3 September 1963) is an English-born Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1996. He has published seven books: '' The Tipping Point: How Little T ...
discussed the show on his podcast ''Revisionist History'' in an episode on satire. Gladwell discusses his own sadness at how American comedians like
Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1997–2006) and for creating the ...
use satire to mock but never wish to have their point get across, and cites ''Eretz Nehederet'' as a key example of political satire done right.
IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...