“Welcome to Israel: Your U.S. Tax Dollars at Work” was pretty sharp, I thought. Other than that the jokes were mostly cultural rather than political or religious, but I think that’s typical of the show.
I thought so, too. Not a bad episode so much as they could have done so much more with it. A little too much of Cohen’s character in those scenes as well, a little way too much.
Bart getting beaten up was kind of funny, but this is one week after his heart was trounced by Sarah Silverman, so it seemed too soon.
Saw it. Liked it a lot.
Cohen, God bless him, spends a lot of time in Israel and speaks pretty decent Hebrew (all that “Kazakh” in Borat? Hebrew profanities). He really managed to capture a very specific type of Israeli personality. I thought he was hilarious, although I could see why others wouldn’t.
The writers actually did some research - for instance, the bit about Israeli hotel breakfast buffets, and Krav Maga’s emphasis on going for the groin. Of course, most of the humor was Jerusalem-centric (the rest of the country is very different), but that’s to be expected.
Incidentally, I’ve met several people suffering from Jerusalem syndrome. It’s sad, in a very funny way.
I have to agree with every bit of this as well. Well, except that I didn’t fast forward through any of it. I should have, though, right past the annoying tour guide.
One funny line in the whole episode: When Homer was drinking from the Dead Sea, and he’s like “sooo salty…maybe if I add a little salt”, and tears open a little packet of salt and dumps it in. That was so ridiculous, in a good way, that it made me laugh.
I’m sad that I found it kinda dull.
EXCEPT the whole 'we all eat chicken!" thing. That has cracked me up. I went and got falafel and chicken shwarma today for lunch and I couldn’t stop giggling.
I got a kick out of the camera being full of pictures of soft drinks, and it turning out to be Flanderseses camera anyway.
But over all, crap show.
So, what was the deal with the tour guide character? Is that some established Israeli stereotype that I am unaware of, or just an annoying performance by Cohen? It fell flat for me because I had no reference.
[quote=“JKilez, post:27, topic:534151”]
Is that some established Israeli stereotype that I am unaware of…
[QUOTE]
Yes, very much so - if the U.S. entertainment industry ever managed to establish an Israeli stereotype, that would be it .
It’s funny, but I’ve noticed that American media hardly ever portrays Israeli stereotypes, compared to, say, French or Japanese stereotypes. When Israelis are actually shown on TV or in movies - which is hardly ever - they’re usually portrayed essentially as either American Jews or as Arabs, neither of which is all that close to the truth. Cohen’s character, while over-the-top (it was, after all, Cohen), came closest I’ve ever seen in a U.S. comedy show to actually capturing some quintessential Israeliness.
Sure, he was pushy. YOU try living next to Syria for two months, then we’ll see who’s pushy!
Interesting. Would you maybe say a comperable stereotype to be whenever you’re in the carribean (cruise, whatever) people are constantly asking you if you need a “taxi” ride? (“Taxi” being a nebulous, debatable, sketchy term.) In some ports it’s so prevalent you can buy t-shirts saying “NO TAXI!”
No, I’m not saying he was a stereotypical Israeli tour guide, I’m saying he was a stereotypical Israeli. I mean, he was in no way accurate, but he wasn’t completely inaccurate, either. He was precisely as much a typical Israeli as Groundskeeper Willie is a typical Scotsman.