Eretz Nehederet (Hebrew: ארץ נהדרת, lit. 'Wonderful Country') is an Israeli prime-time television satirical sketch comedy 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, The Daily Show and others. The program is one of the most watched and influential shows on Israeli television. It is also one of the longest-running scripted shows in Israeli television to date, running for 20 seasons as of 2022. Beginning with season 15, the program is aired on Keshet 12.
It was first filmed in Tel Aviv, and in later seasons, was filmed in the neighboring Herzliya.
The show features a regular cast of comedians and actors, including Tal Friedman (11 first seasons), Eyal Kitzis (the Jon Stewart-type host), Alma Zak, Orna Banai (6 first seasons), Shani Cohen (season 5 and on), Asi Cohen, Eli Finish, Mariano Edelman, Yuval Semo, Roey Bar Natan, Eran Zarachovitch, Yaron Berlad, Maor Cohen and Dov Navon (4 first seasons). During the third season, Asi Cohen started playing 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, Eretz Nehederet produced a satire feature film called Zohi Sdom (lit. 'This is Sodom').
Contents
Characteristics
The show includes satirical and humorous commentary on the events of the week preceding the episode, mainly through parodies, sketches, jokes, and satirical takes on the week's headlines. The show's format mimics a news television edition, where the sketches and various segments blend in as articles, interviews, and live reports seamlessly integrated within the "edition". In this manner, the program satirizes many of the characteristics of television culture itself and the broader mass media culture. It also lampoons the situations and figures that generate headlines and, in a broader sense, Israeli reality as a whole.
The show gained a high rating from the very beginning. Its creator and chief editor is Keshet's Content Director, Muli Segev. The program was given its name by Dana Modan, Segev's partner at the time, from a line in Yehoram Gaon's song "Shalom Lach Eretz Nehederet" (Segev recalls that Modan was inspired by the phrase "We have a wonderful country," which Benjamin Netanyahu used in an election campaign against Shimon Peres).
Eretz Nehederet first aired on November 2, 2003. The first season was broadcast on Friday evenings. Its basic format, relying on a team of actors and comedians, and combining satirical and comedic content proved itself and gained success. The Israeli entertainment program drew inspiration from the American shows Saturday Night Live and other programs like The Daily Show. The show has become one of the longest-running television programs in Israel, with 20 seasons produced as of 2022.
Format
"Eretz Nehederet" is structured like a satirical news edition, featuring politicians, public figures, celebrities, and fictional characters as guests every week. The host of the show, Eyal Kitzis, is presented as the sole serious figure who openly anticipates meaningful responses from his guests, often serving as the mediator and "the straight man" for most of the jokes. Additionally, Kitzis interviews the foreign correspondents, who appear intermittently throughout the program (until mid-season 11 when he was replaced by Sharon Taycker). At the end of each episode, Kitzis bids farewell to the viewers with the recurring phrase, "And don't forget, we have a wonderful country".
The show's team consists of regular participants who sometimes change between seasons, and is occasionally strengthened by guest appearances by other well-known artists from various fields. The actors portray a wide range of diverse and ever-changing characters that form the essence of the program. These characters are often caricatures of figures in Israeli politics, public figures, and familiar media personalities, presented in a satirical and exaggerated manner. Some of the portrayed characters are entirely fictional, representing stereotypes and common phenomena in Israeli society. In later seasons, the show introduced various sketches created by emerging comedians who were not part of the regular team and were not directly involved in current events. These sketches often began as viral videos on YouTube and other online platforms.
The show's structure, apart from special episodes and selected segments, remains consistent with minor changes between each season:
Main sketch: An in-studio sketch that opens the show, often characterized by extreme and provocative elements.
Main panel: Eyal Kitzis interviews studio guests from the week's political agenda.
Headlines satire: A collection of satirical news headlines. Starting from the 11th season, Alma Zack presented the headlines alongside Kitzis for a while. In the 13th season, the headlines became a separate segment called "Additional Headlines" airing on Fridays. In the 14th season, this segment returned with a different format.
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 Benjamin Netanyahu and American president Barack Obama, with Netanyahu trying to smooth over differences as they meet in the White House. 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 in a mock up peace treaty sketch, which satirized recent failed attempts in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. The video quickly went viral across the world. It received favorable coverage from a variety of independent blogs such as Digital Trends, Hot Air, and Intomobile, as well as from online news media agencies such as The Christian Science Monitor, Haaretz, The Guardian, and MSNBC.
In May 2016, the group created an "ISIS at the Eurovision" sketch.
In 2023, the group produced several viral sketches titled Eretz Nilhemet (lit. 'A country at war') in the wake of the Israel–Hamas war, which would go on until 2025. The 2023 sketches mocked how BBC reported the al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion, Gaza War protests at American universities and the UN Women investigation of sexual violence during the October 7 attacks. Another sketch featuring American comedian Michael Rapaport satirised the 2023 United States Congress hearing on antisemitism. In November 2023, the Eretz Nehederet sketch "Welcome to Columbia Untisemity", parodying US pro-Palestinian protests at universities amid the Israel–Hamas war, became a viral video on social media, garnering over 11 million views within 24 hours. The sketch featured student characters using the acronym "LGBTQH", with the "H" standing for "Hamas". The sketch was praised by some pro-Israel commentators, but also faced criticism for its usage of both anti-LGBT and anti-Arab stereotypes. On 13 December 2023, a song titled "Gaza's sky is black but Qatar is always sunny" was released; its accompanying video portrayed Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Khaled Mashal and Mousa Abu Marzook as billionaires living in Qatar.
Reactions
In a speech on March 21, 2013, President Barack Obama 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 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 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.
