Lior Schleien

Lior Schleien is an Israeli satirist, the creator and host of the popular prime time TV show State of the Nation. President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Joan Rivers (in a special episode taped in New York) were some of the guests on the show, which won the Israeli Academy Award for Best Comedy Show twice. Its seventh season, which recently ended, received average ratings of 24%.

 

Schleien (born in Tel Aviv, Israel, 1978) is known for his sharp humor and original political analysis. In 2013 he was chosen by Ha'aretz as the fourth most influential person on Israeli television. He started his TV career in 2002 by writing and hosting a satire segment on Yair Lapid's Talk Show (Lapid is now Israel's Minister of Finance), and later joined the writing staff of It's a Wonderful Country (Israel's SNL equivalent). Since 2004, Schleien has been creating, producing and hosting his own shows, including Tonight (HaLayla), an Israeli version of The Tonight Show, that won the Israeli Academy Award for Best Talk Show.

 

In addition to his TV career, in 2011 Schleien initiated, produced and hosted a prominent event named, "When Will the Cops Come? – The Freedom of Speech Prom." It was a gathering of comedians and media personalities in protest against new laws of the Israeli government designed to restrict freedom of speech. During the event, which took place in Tel Aviv, every speaker was allocated five minutes to say anything on his or her mind, without reprisal, in the eleventh hour before the new laws were enacted.   

 

Schleien holds a law degree from Tel Aviv University, and is a life partner of Merav Michaeli, a Member of the Israeli Parliament.