Watch a clip from Israel’s Funniest TV show – Red Band

The story of Red Band, in short, goes like this: Red Band (played by Muppets…) was a successful band in Israel during the 60s. After a few years of local fame, the lead singer, Red (the Muppet with purple hair), decided to go to America and become a huge star over there. It didn’t work out as he planned but he did stay in America for 30-40 years doing whatever and now he is back in Israel trying, with his old mates, to put together a comeback tour. The band has a manger and a PR “whore”, a mouse called philip who’s in charge of the drugs, a shrink and many friends in the local music scene. Red speaks only English, everyone else on the show speaks Hebrew. Each episode is dedicated to an Israeli musician who comes in and tries to help the band with their come back. Usually it ends badly, since Red is a horrible person, rude and direct, arrogant, chauvinistic and mean…The musicians who came to the show agree in advance to check their pride and ego at the door, and so each episode makes fun of a different Israeli singer. In between jokes and offensive behavior, the band sings with the guest star, usually a cover to a famous sixty song. The clip I chose is from an episode with Mosh Ben Ari, a famous singer who has a dedicated followers tribe here in Israel. Check it out….

Isragirl Presents : Red Band & Mosh Ben Ari, Video by Hot ©

Red Band started as an Israeli street performers group who used Muppet and sang beautiful cover versions to American and English songs on Rothschild St, Tel Aviv. People who would stroll down the boulevard would stop, sing with them, throw some money at their collecting hat, tell their kids something educating about Bob Dylan or the Beatles and carry on… I saw them a few times and thought they were really cool, luckily, I wasn’t the only one… and this year with the help of talented writers like Sharon Kantor, Red Band made it to cable TV.  The first season was great, and you can download it on the internet and laugh your ass off… Remember, only Red, the main character speaks English…but he is the funny one, so if you are stoned enough you’ll be able to enjoy the show even if you don’t understand a word of Hebrew. Plus, the music is awesome!!!!

Trivia Tip: Red Band was the opening act in the Deep Purple concert in Israel this year.