Ode to a wonderful country

Good comedy is hard to write, period. To keep it up for an entire TV season takes talent and effort. To maintain its freshness and bite for over a decade is rare genius. Israelis, like Egyptians, love to mock their politicians.  Many a TV program in Israel has targeted its leaders, often justifiably.  In my opinion, none has done it better than Eretz Nehederet, literally “a wonderful country”, a satiric news program that has been running since 2004, some 15 years. The secret to its success, most curiously, is not its aggressiveness and distain but its understated naivety and empathy, a strange formula for political satire.

In the program, the host, Eyal Kitzis, interviews various impersonated newsmakers, mainly political and cultural leaders, regarding the week’s events. The impersonations are physically a bit exaggerated but rather faithful to the personage in terms of tone and language. The humor and bite come from the answers to the apparently simple questions that are asked, such as “Why do you want to have a second round of elections?”. The answers in the show are much closer to the truth than the words that these people actually use, similar to the column in Canard Enchainė entitled Interviews that almost occurred. In other words, unlike political commentators like Stephen Colbert, the interviewer asks the questions that need to be asked so that the politicians can hang themselves. Moreover, Kitzis has no specific political agenda, stinging both the left and right. Finally, he treats all persons with respect, neither belittling nor dismissing them, but emphasizing their human foibles. The bite comes the characters, not the interviewer.

The other part of the program consists of various filmed short outtakes with various characters presenting average Israelis and their world views.  These characters include a Tel Aviv cab driver with an opinion on everything; a Russian supermarket cashier who insists on being treated with respect; two sales clerks who are outstanding in folding but much less so in service; two nouveau rich Tel Aviv couples one-upping each other in purchases and ignorance; a group of men discussing the world at a coffee shop, known as “the Parliament”, a pair of gay policemen dressed in pink shirts getting ready for the Eurovision;  and my favorite, the religious Reuben trying to explain and apply Jewish law to issues in modern life while using and distorting the language of the Halacha, the religious law. These are just a few. These characters are only slightly exaggerated and quite believable. As such, the criticism of Israel society is through the common attitudes they express, not because they are bad people.

Thus, at the end of the program when the host reminds people that we have a “wonderful country”, it is both sarcastic and sincere, which is how most Israelis feel about their own country. That is the magic of Eretz Nehederet even after all those years.