2024-02-01 18:01:54
After years in which she mostly said no, in 2023 we received Yael Polyakov in almost commercial quantities. What caused the change (“There is a limit to how much you can refuse, let’s fly”), what is it like to return to action “right now” (“There was such an atmosphere that you have to say ‘I’m sitting and crying too, don’t worry’) and what she still doesn’t understand around her” Ahad Ha’am 1″ (“It’s not funny to me, I don’t understand what people want”)
At this point we can already say with full confidence: there is no one in the country who does not know Yael Polyakov. With behind her a repertoire full of programs and works that became an instant cult, it would not be unreasonable to say that Polyakov (similar to what her father, the late Israel “Poly” did with “The Pale Tracker”) helped to redefine the cynical Israeli humor that so characterizes us as a society. In fact, Polyakov is almost synonymous with what makes us laugh, and in 2023, more than ever, the audience wanted more and more of her.
Despite the rich resume that includes brilliant and heartbreaking dramas such as “All Honey”, disturbed comedies such as “Ahad Ha’am 1” and “Ahad Ha’am 101”, the docu-reality “Polycubs”, skits from the band Arba, as “Singles” and the list could go on at least A whole paragraph – this year was actually her year. Poliakov is known for choosing her projects with tweezers, if she even bothers to agree to them, and in recent years, she has mostly said no. Not for networks, not for television, not for interviews and not for formats. Something changed – her internal autocorrect turned the “no” into a “yes” and we got a year full of Poliakobi content.
She opened Instagram for the first time, joined “Machubarim”, started hosting a podcast alongside her mother-in-law Yehudit Milo, participated with her mother in “What You Say” at the corporation and of course – hosted a weekly night show here on Network 13 with Tam Aharon. This interview was conducted on the last day of filming of the show, but there is no reason to fear – Yael Polyakov’s year of “yes” continues into 2024:
“There is a limit to how much you can refuse and sit at home, you have to say yes to something at some point. I keep thinking – does it suit me? Is that right for me? Let’s fly!’
Befitting Polyakov, she immediately put on the table the obvious reason for all these projects – “I want to work in the end. I want to be active and help with the household. I like to laugh at myself, there is a lot to laugh at myself. I’m already an adult, I’m after all things. I was always a great heroine who said ‘I will never do it’ – we heard. Things change, you grow up and have a family, and you are less cynical.”
Yes, money is part of the issue, of course, but a woman like Polyakov also has to deal with things that concern us all – insecurity, self-doubts and fears that she might not deliver the goods: “No more worries, it’s a matter of age. This is a different view. Many times I didn’t take things just for fear of maybe I don’t know or I can’t eat and I won’t stand it.”
This answer of Polyakov can explain how she found herself in the chair of a waitress for the first time in her life, and more so during a war when tragedies happen around us on a daily basis. Probably, if the program had been filmed in the life of before the seventh of October, we would have received a completely different Yael, but if you ask her – the program could not have come at a better time for her. “This program saved me,” she says, “all of us here.” It took us out of the war. In the first two weeks there was panic, then the plan arrived. I was terribly busy and it saved me.’ But it’s not all pan and glitter, Polyakov should have done the most distant thing from her – think twice before she opens her mouth; “During the war, we had to go for drops. I don’t censor myself unless it really hurts someone, and I have no interest in hurting them. The program came up just as the abductees arrived and we prepared all kinds of things and canceled everything. We couldn’t say anything, we just thought, what are we doing here anyway? What should we talk about?”.
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Polyakov also understands, perhaps better than anyone, that without humor – it’s hard to see how we get through the day here: “You keep apologizing for the war period, if you spent it in some pleasant way. It became such an atmosphere that you have to say ‘I’m also sitting and crying, don’t worry’. I am very happy for those who managed to be saved from hell and have something to do and a job and the possibility to escape from it a little. If you have a moment does that mean you are not living it and hurting it? I don’t think we should apologize.’
During the weeks that “Tam and Yael” was broadcast, we also got a lot of screen time of the full Polyakov family when the segments of the family became hysteria on the networks. But this is nothing new, certainly not for Polyakov. “I think my family is very televised,” she says, “the things that happen to us, happen to every family. This is very funny to me so let’s laugh about it. It is terribly encouraging to people that they see that all families are families of zeroes, that all fight over nonsense, all fight over money. It’s funny and what’s funny is holy in my eyes. There was no shortage of advertising here. You don’t come to be famous, you come to do something and stand behind it, with added value. My brothers are very natural in front of the camera. I already tried to take them there in ‘All Honey’.’
Above the collection of characters that make up the Polyakov family, one big star shines – Shush. Not everyone likes her style of speaking, not everyone agrees with her opinions, but one thing cannot be argued about – everyone wants another six. Everyone, at least judging by the comments on Instagram, wants to know – is Shula Nemirovich-Namir, the woman and Kara from “Ahad Ha’am 1”, based on Shush? “Obviously it’s based on Shush!”, she immediately clarifies, “In my first audition for Tel Aviv youth and a military band, I played the character of Shush. Even when I was four years old, I realized that there was a character here.’ Pretty quickly our hearts break when Polyakov sticks a pin in the balloon:
“I can’t stand Shola’s character. It’s not funny to me, I don’t understand what people want. I had no patience for that. Not to build on the unification of ‘Ahad Ha’am’, but maybe Ilan and I will do things, I wish.’
But Shush does not shine alone, almost everyone in the Poliakov family is a character and almost everyone feels comfortable in front of the camera except for one – Yael’s partner, Elad Milo. Back in “Poliakovs” he expressed his distaste for the glamorous world, but when you marry Yael Poliakov, you should already understand what you are getting: “My husband knows who he married, he understands that it is part of my job. I bring my family into the matter, and naturally my daughters got in there. We like to laugh at these things, he understands that he has no choice.”
In light of the family’s success in everything they touch, recently rumors surfaced about the official return of the “polycubs” to the screen. Is this more than wishful thinking by the family’s fan base or is there a real deal on the table? Polyakov answers directly and honestly, de: “Of course I want to – we don’t know ourselves.” In the end, it’s a job. We haven’t done it in years.’ Until then, the audience will have to make do with the content that Polyakov uploads on her networks, while she makes up her mind about the phenomenon and the people behind it in front of a growing number of followers. So is it only a matter of time before we see a coupon code? “Everything can be,” she replies, “whatever you stand behind is fine. If there will be something that comes to me on Instagram and it will be amazing, I will sell it with joy and fun. It all depends on how you do it without going out of your way.”
Contrary to what we are used to in “Polyakubs”, in the new version of the show we will see much fewer scenes about politics: “I avoid talking about politics, not from the point of taking sides. If you are a person who is politically involved and you know what you are talking about – then speak up. If I don’t know enough, I don’t have anything to come and be a politician, it’s not my job.” Maybe it’s not her job, but Polyakov also knows that it will be very difficult to give up the comedic potential in conversations about the explosive topic: “Sush is a crazy leftist, so you’re happy to turn her on “.
If there’s one thing that surprised me during my conversation with Poliakov, it’s the way she downplays the persona she is, the amount of projects she’s done in her life, and her position in a culture that’s quite clearly iconic. In short, I thought I was going to get a diva and I didn’t know how wrong I was:
“What do I have to be a diva for? What is diva today? What can I do with it? who are you and what are you So you did something nice on TV.’
Okay, still, we’re talking about a woman who’s done a thing or two in her life: ‘What career? Now I work but what career? I come from a home with a father who was really a star, who stood behind his stardom. He so instilled in us that it’s nothing, it’s work. The thing and life – this is the house.’ When I ask her what he would think of her and the family’s actions today, she answers honestly: “He wouldn’t have liked it at first, he didn’t like ‘All Honey’ either, but he would have given in little by little.” He understood that my mother was funny but she didn’t come out with it. The fact that he died gave me the opportunity to do things with her.’
So what will the continuation of 2024 look like for Polyakov? “I believe that it will be a good year, of doing and enjoying doing, all kinds of things that will arise. I want a lot of things. I want sketches, and to write a series – I will flow. Now I say yes to projects – the time has come.’
#Yael #Poliakovs #year