"The Jews are coming" is probably the sharpest, the most irreverent, and the wittiest piece of Israeli satire over the last couple of decades. The premise is taking highlights of the Jewish and Israeli history, including the Bible, and build an absurd situation around them, often destroying national pride (yes, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is heavily featured as well) and religious sensibilities in the process.
The premise is already imaginative enough, but it's the brilliant script and casting that make the show so great. Pop culture references are juxtaposed with characters taken from the modern Israeli life and educational, straight-laced tone of the introduction (read by the same voice as actual educational history TV shows - not surprising, considering that the show was made by the state channel hosting history shows).
Moses losing it with the Sons of Israel over questions which, come to think of it, make sense.
An archetypal Israeli pain-in-the-ass passenger refusing to budge amid the gunfire during Operation Entebbe because the "boarding" takes too long.
Ben Gurion welcoming the first Yemenite immigrants with the tune from 'Encounters of the Third Kind'.
Baruch Goldstein writing a letter to God in a video parodying Eminem's 'Stan' (likely the most controversial sketch).
Noah being sued by Gilgamesh for plagiarism.
Joseph being an intolerable hipster douchebag.
Moses facing a rebellion of the Israelites sick of eating manna all the time and asking (again, a reasonable question) why the Almighty God couldn't provide a more varied diet (the god of manna?).
Dreyfus having his sword, his regalia, his unbreakable cutlery, and his favourite puzzle broken.
Moses smoking weed with his brother Aaron and discovering that Aaron is his alter-ego, Fight Club style.
It is rare that the humour translates well (even more rare when it's as crude as Israeli humour tends to be), however, the comments on the fragments translated to English and posted on YouTube are mostly enthusiastic, coming from all over the world.
Some of the sketches are cringeworthy (which is why I'm giving 9 out of 10), but then, so are those of Monty Python and South Park.
The premise is already imaginative enough, but it's the brilliant script and casting that make the show so great. Pop culture references are juxtaposed with characters taken from the modern Israeli life and educational, straight-laced tone of the introduction (read by the same voice as actual educational history TV shows - not surprising, considering that the show was made by the state channel hosting history shows).
Moses losing it with the Sons of Israel over questions which, come to think of it, make sense.
An archetypal Israeli pain-in-the-ass passenger refusing to budge amid the gunfire during Operation Entebbe because the "boarding" takes too long.
Ben Gurion welcoming the first Yemenite immigrants with the tune from 'Encounters of the Third Kind'.
Baruch Goldstein writing a letter to God in a video parodying Eminem's 'Stan' (likely the most controversial sketch).
Noah being sued by Gilgamesh for plagiarism.
Joseph being an intolerable hipster douchebag.
Moses facing a rebellion of the Israelites sick of eating manna all the time and asking (again, a reasonable question) why the Almighty God couldn't provide a more varied diet (the god of manna?).
Dreyfus having his sword, his regalia, his unbreakable cutlery, and his favourite puzzle broken.
Moses smoking weed with his brother Aaron and discovering that Aaron is his alter-ego, Fight Club style.
It is rare that the humour translates well (even more rare when it's as crude as Israeli humour tends to be), however, the comments on the fragments translated to English and posted on YouTube are mostly enthusiastic, coming from all over the world.
Some of the sketches are cringeworthy (which is why I'm giving 9 out of 10), but then, so are those of Monty Python and South Park.
