The Israeli entertainment world is full of great and historic moments: ones that cannot be forgotten, ones that everyone asks “where were you when it happened”, ones in which Tzipi Shavit went on vacation to an alien. But alongside those monumental moments, for better or worse, there are also moments that everyone (especially those directly involved) would prefer to forget. To these moments is devoted this section, “Who Confirmed It?”.
What’s up here? We go back to 2004. There was a show called “Mighty Evening,” starring, but who, Mighty Miller. Miller received the then-prestigious slot of Friday night’s festive entertainment program. But the beautiful data that Miller brought to the “Network” franchise was not enough to fill the program with proper or logical content, and thus was born this corner, in which Miller hosts “two foreign workers” – Topai from Thailand and Agbobo from Senegal. As you might guess, it was not subversive content that went down to the weaker sections of society and brought from there a glimpse into the world of foreign workers, but a young comedian duo named Ami Valley, in Blackface and Vileface – a good few years before anyone thought it was not a spin.
Why is it embarrassing? Even if we put the politically correct aside, then the humor here has not aged well either. From the jokes about Agbobo’s penis length, through a confession that Shimon (the employer) beats a toffee with a stick, to the Senegalese’s (who doesn’t say too much) affection for “Chekchuka”. In short, not exactly a comic record moment in the career of any of those involved. Since then, Adir Miller has moved on to do much more mainstream things (i.e .: normal), and has risen to the rank of comedian of the country. Eli Ben-David went on to produce “Puppet of the Night,” grew a mustache and an afro wig and became a “chocolate,” the presenter around whom all the mess takes place. Ami Enidger has become an actor, appeared in movies and today stars mostly in children’s series, and presumably none of the three of them remember this evening too much.
So what did we learn? Not every opportunity to appear on Friday night on TV necessarily bodes well.