Eli Yatzpan is an entertainer, standup comedian, impersonator, TV host, and actor who, in the 1990s and noughties was one of Israel’s most beloved comedians. Yatzpan spent his time in the military as a member of the IDF’s Ground Forces Command Troupe. After completing his service in the late eighties, he started landing his earliest TV roles, starring in the teen Sci-Fi series The Zazkans about a benevolent group of extraterrestrials. He later became a household name when he joined the ensemble cast of the hit late-night sketch comedy variety show, Saturday Night. In 1994, Yatzpan joined the cast of the hugely popular prank show Bloopers (‘fisfusim’), hosted by Yigal Shilon, and soon stood out as one of the most prominent cast members. Between 1996-1997, he had his own primetime chat show, Tonight with Eli Yatzpan. Then from 2001-2006, Yatzpan hosted his own eponymous chat show where he truly got to unleash his extraordinary mimicry skills, spoofing and satirising a host of senior political and public figures including Shimon Peres, Yasser Arafat, and then-Israeli Defence Secretary Shaul Mofaz.
Through the years, Yatzpan also appeared in a variety of stage plays, musicals, and entertainment specials. Highlights of his most prominent stage credits include Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, in the 2008 Habima National Theatre production that starred Yatzpan and Yaacov Cohen in the lead roles. Actor and comedian Meir Suissa was a long-time collaborator of Yatzpan’s and together, the pair were behind a number of hugely successful entertainment and comedy shows including First, Suissa and Yatzpan and Suissa and Yatzpan, Phase Two.
Highlights of Yatzpan’s big screen credits include Fictitious Marriage (Haim Bouzaglo, 1988), Shell Shock (Yoel Sharon, 1988), One of Us (Uri Barbash, 1989), Time for Cherries (Haim Bouzaglo, 1991), Max and Morris (Jacob Goldwasser, 1994), The Matchmaker (Avi Nesher, 2010), and The Electrifiers (Boaz Armoni, 2019).