HaGashash – The Tip Of The Kettle | Eliav Lilti

HaGashash HaHiver were an iconic Israeli comedy trio whose members were: Shaike Levi, Gavri Banai and Israel Poliakov, Produced by Avraham Deshe [Pashanel].

Yossi Banai, may he rest in peace, once said that there is nothing more Israeli than the HaGashash HaHiver. His younger brother, Gavri, was a member of the group, and Yossi himself wrote and directed some of the trio’s greatest sketches. And yet, the equation of HaGashah = Israeliness, requires no protection. It seems that over the years it has become a convention, an axiom almost.

In the new series we will examine, were the Gashash really the essence of Israeliness? Or did they serve an easy-to-digest dose of Israeliness in “as if” – to paraphrase one of their well-known sketches – such that all parties enjoyed believing that it was indeed real?

Through multiple interviews, classic and newly discovered archival materials we try and decipher – if this is indeed a refined essence of Israeliness, what does it teach about Israeli society? And how do they stand the test of time today?