Toni Soler: "'Polònia' contributes to reinforcing Catalan difference"

BarcelonaThis year the program Poland Toni Soler celebrates its twentieth anniversary on TV3, boasting enviable ratings and a proven formula that has stood the test of time. We spoke with Toni Soler about his perspective on the show's evolution and the role it has played in his life.

You appear in the credits as the creator of the idea for PolandBut you left the front line a while ago. What is your current role on the show?

— I follow up and am in regular contact with the director and screenwriters. I used to review scripts more proactively; now I mainly do it to ensure there's measure and balance—in other words, everything that characterizes the Poland Always. And then, whenever I can, I preview the episode in the editing room.

What prompted you to step aside?

— I have this urge to leave places. I'm not a person who handles routines well, and I suffer from a certain addiction to novelty. I have this desire to leave places before anyone even thinks I'm in the way. It happened to me in radio, when we left Absolute minority at a very critical point, then in the Poland and also in theIt's happeningLeaving things tidy and running smoothly without me is what satisfies my vanity. I prefer that to thinking that if I'm not there, it won't work.

I've brought some phrases that I'm sure you've heard a lot of times in these twenty years of PolandI'd like to know what they make you feel. For example, "The Poland It is a state structure in Catalonia."

— It's a complete exaggeration. But in our country, which is half the country, these exaggerations are commonplace. Just as Vázquez Montalbán said that Barça was the unarmed army of Catalonia, now a TV program is being called a state structure... What is true, however, is that, for better or for worse, it has contributed to reinforcing the differences within Catalan society. Differences that we all know exist, but which are difficult to acknowledge in political or legal terms. The Constitution establishes regional equality, and there is... Coffee for everyoneOn the other hand, there cannot be Poland for everyone. There are no seventeen PolandAnd I think this is relevant and significant.

I propose a game. Life on Earth has become extinct, and some Martians arrive. By some strange miracle, the 3Cat platform is still working, and they look at each other. Poland the whole thing, which is their only source for knowing what Catalonia was like. What conclusions would they reach?

— They would discover a somewhat self-absorbed country, with a certain obsession with itself and also with an obsession with its relationship with its larger neighbor, which are the two factors that nourish the Poland of content. Both things are a source of conflict and, therefore, a source of laughter.

Another thing you've probably read often: the program is very expensive.

— I don't find it expensive at all. It has its costs and a profit margin that's regulated by TV3. If my focus were on profit margins or money, I'd be in another sector, I can tell you that right now.

You've met six directors from TV3. I imagine not everyone loved the Poland Similarly. Have you ever suffered because of its continuity?

— I've had a good relationship with all six of them: with some closer to friendship and with others strictly professional, but always based on respect. And it's always been a relationship, let's say, softened or even softened by unquestionable audiences. In the end, that's what somewhat guarantees a good relationship with your director!

You've never suspected, then, that someone wanted to destroy the Poland?

— There are many people who want to destroy the PolandBut it's not the people who are in charge of TV3.

Who wants to take the fall Poland?

— Go to social media and you'll find them quickly!

But aside from the noise on social media, there are powerful people who want to destroy the Poland?

— Not on TV3. Because we're not just a long-running program or one that brings them prestige, wins awards, and all that jazz. It's a program that, for twenty years, has meant that those who make the schedule don't have to worry about Thursday nights, because we don't produce 13 programs like... The Strangerbut we do more than 40.

What are the best and worst things that [the] has given you Poland?

— The best thing about it has been the job and financial stability. It has brought me joy, moments of great laughter, friends, popularity, and a very long list of satisfactions. And all this starting with the fact that it allowed me to do what seemed impossible when we began: combine my two great passions, which were politics and humor. Therefore, it's the show of my life. I've done other things in my life, but if anyone remembers me someday, it will be because of it. Poland.

And what about negative things?

— Well, I'd say none, because even when I've had enough—because I do get fed up with things—I've found a way to maintain the lifeline of my show so it continues to exist and provide work for those who work on it. With good ratings and without me having to be enslaved like that guy from... Saturday Night LiveLorne Michaels, who spends all day there, has been for fifty years. One of the merits is that the Poland We did it right so that it wouldn't depend on one person.

Have you ever visualized how the program might end?

— I remember saying years ago that my dream was that the Poland outlived me. And now I think: well, maybe so! Because the years go by and the formula remains. Since current events are constantly changing, as long as TV3's audience is strong and doing well, Poland It can keep going, and I can't imagine how it will end. It's also true that I've already shut down several programs. Or they've been shut down for me, because business is business. And also, like in Minoría Absoluta, we have to be prepared for when the time comes that they tell us: "That's it."

What are you preparing for the twentieth anniversary?

— The anniversary is on February 16th, and a few days before, a gala will be recorded at the Teatre Victòria, which will air that Thursday in our time slot. A large audience, many guests, many surprises... We don't want it to be a rebroadcast television program: we're looking for a different format, and we have a team that's been working on it for many weeks. When we first launched it before the summer, my idea was to do nothing, you know?

Because?

— Ugh, because the celebrations, the birthdays, the endless plans... It all ends up being a real drag... Let's see, how can we put it, a...

There are no protected hours in the press: you can say autofellatio.

— So, yeah. Or a self-referential tribute, I guess. I've already done some specials on some shows and I always think: "Yeah, okay, you've been around for five years. So what? It's just a TV show." But they've been convincing me that we'll do something more fun than just a show.

We're conducting the interview in your office, where this tenth-anniversary photograph is displayed, featuring politicians from all parties, including Ciudadanos and the PP. It would be difficult to recreate this image.

— Yes, of course. Especially since, for example, Toni Comín and Carles Puigdemont can't set foot in Catalonia. And as for the rest, we're no longer in that critical phase where, above all, the PP and Ciutadans, and later Vox, targeted TV3. They singled us out as the enemy to be defeated every week, and back then everything was really complicated. The situation has calmed down now. I don't know if a photo of that caliber would be possible, but we expect people from all political backgrounds at the gala.

In this picture, squatting, is a 50-year-old Toni Soler, smiling. How is he different from the man he is now?

— Well, look, if I were in that position, when I got up I'd go, "Aaaah!" Yes, yes. Ten years have passed and I don't know what to tell you, I don't know what to say. I feel very good and full of gratitude. Age is a bitch, but in my case, age has made me come back very grateful: you put the things that went well far ahead of the things that went badly. I'm doing well and savoring the little embers of popularity that I have left. Every now and then someone—usually an older person—tells me they miss me on TV and I appreciate it very much, but I'm also very grateful not to have the pressure of having to be live on a television set.

We were talking earlier about this relative political calm, compared to the times of the Process. But perhaps we are on the verge of a PP-Vox government in Spain. How might this scenario impact the PolandIs it more rewarding to make jokes about this?

— Here I have to separate my citizen self from my self as a producer of PolandWhat I think as a voter is one thing, and what the other person thinks is another. Poland It welcomes novelty, it welcomes conflict, and it welcomes extreme positions. The program thrives on explaining the two great obsessions of Catalans: who we are and how we relate to Spain. This is what it exploits. Poland And that's what we try to make people laugh about, because it really does make us laugh. And then there's the conflict in general, which is potentially humorous. If things are going downhill in politics, it can be good for a comedy show, even if it's not good for the country or for society. It's also true that every conflict has its aftermath. And we've experienced that here with the 2008 crisis, with the Catalan independence movement, with the pandemic... There have been many times when people have said, "I don't want to laugh right now," or "I don't want to be made to laugh right now."

Another phrase you've surely heard a thousand times: "These politicians of today are handed everything on a silver platter."

— Yes, it's a very unfair stereotype about screenwriters. I value them a lot, and there aren't many, especially comedy screenwriters, and particularly not many women. The entire audiovisual sector has become more feminized, except for comedy screenwriting. In the Poland There's parity or a female majority on all the teams, but on the other hand, we have a really hard time finding female comedy writers. In any case, your obligation is to explain things to people in a different way. It happens to us with Trump: how do we create a sketch that's crazier than the reality he creates? But precisely, we have to find a way to go further.

"I get my information from Poland.

— Wow, when they told me this, I didn't believe it. I always thought it was a kind gesture, a compliment. Because it's perfect that he's there. Newscast Cruanyes explains the truth every night, and then we have a half-hour each week where we satirize and twist the news. Without Cruanyes's introduction, we wouldn't exist.

Humor allows you to say things you couldn't say seriously, but it can also be a smokescreen, an anesthetic. Do you experience this dilemma?

— Absolutely. Right now, I have a love-hate relationship with humor. I've tried to write about it, but it always comes out longer than an article but too short for a book. I increasingly find that humor, like all drugs, needs to be measured. And yes: sometimes humor is used to camouflage reality, to avoid uncomfortable situations.

Humor as protection.

— It's okay not to be happy. You don't need to be constantly cracking jokes and making funny faces to lighten the mood. Sometimes situations need to be tense. The beauty of humor lies in its anti-dogmatic nature. If humor itself, or the comedian, becomes a defender of a religion based on laughing all the time... I'm not one of those people. Maybe it's my age; I've turned 60.

But you laugh a lot, you.

— I love hanging out with friends and laughing, that's for sure. But I laugh less and less on TV or at the movies.

Who makes you laugh, still?

— He Poland, evidently, theIt's happening...! [laughs] Some American stand-up comedian, or Ricky Gervais... But if we're talking about comedy films, sitcoms Or classic comedy shows... It's like I've already figured them out. It's one of the bargains of the trade, too. I suppose a butcher, when he sees the umpteenth tenderloin mignonIt impresses him less than it impresses me. But I don't know if it's a phase or his age.

Well, it must be age. During the pandemic, in conversation with Empar Moliner, you were already showing signs of this change in perspective with humor. You told her: "Perhaps in five years we'll talk again and I'll say that humor is the only thing that saves us." Five years have passed and I still see you stuck in the past.

— Yes, I'm still skeptical. But I also have to tell you something: there's nothing like laughter. And besides, laughter has the value of universality. It transcends all limits, borders, and divisions. Because humor, at its core, is nothing more than anti-dogmatism. That's why I'm worried about the dogmatists of humor: those comedians who talk about humor as if it were a religion. And no, we shouldn't believe that anything is sacred.

Do you think that, especially on social media, humor is shifting towards the right and far right? It used to be associated with the left, but I'm not sure that's still the case.

— I don't believe in labels. Or that humor is progressive or not. There are right-wing comedians I like too. It is true that Poland He's had more problems with the PP, with Vox, with Ciutadans, or with Carles Puigdemont back when he wrote his memoirs. They were more critical than other parties in Catalonia.

Have you tried to talk to Puigdemont and explain yourself?

— No, but I have a very good relationship with Junts leaders. In fact, I try to maintain a more or less fluid relationship with leaders of all parties, because it's important that they know that the people of Poland We are receptive; we are people willing to talk about what we do. It's content intended for public television that parodies real people, and therefore they have every right to express their opinion if they find something disproportionate, unfair, or cruel. They are the ones being parodied, satirized, but they have the right to have their say.

Beyond this part of, let's say, therapy, have you ever seen a gag that aired and thought, "Maybe we shouldn't have thrown this one away"?

— Yes, of course. Sometimes it's not so much a specific sketch as a misguided repetition. Something might have struck us as funny, and we've repeated it three or four weeks in a row, and perhaps we're overdoing it. Or a line that feels out of place, and you realize there was no need to be so cruel. It's things like that, more than a specific sketch. But come on, each show has a dozen segments, that's 40 shows a year, and that's 20 years. Do the math. We'd be surprised if we hadn't made mistakes. But we've always been receptive to the feedback we've received from TV3 and those involved. And for me, that's not a form of censorship. We believe in discussing our content with those affected.

And you would say that the Poland Does it repel the country or polarize it? Or is it something you don't consider because you don't feel responsible?

— Exactly, I don't feel responsible for this. But I'd like to think that Recodo is one of the programs with the most diverse and pluralistic audience. It's true that, right now, language in Catalonia, given the current situation, is a very strong factor of identification, and therefore, a program in Catalan has the bias it does. But I'd like to believe that it's not an exclusionary program. If it were polarizing, it wouldn't have lasted twenty years. And that doesn't mean it doesn't have enemies, adversaries, or detractors: it's a program whose mission is to stir things up, so it's normal that it has them. More than polarizing, it's been a program that has helped to demystify the various polarizations in Catalonia.

At first you told me you had combined your two passions. We've already talked about how you feel about humor now. And what about politics?

— I'm just as interested as ever, but... how can I put it? Before, I was interested like Barça, that is, passionately for the game but also very passionately to see what the result would be. And now I'm interested like an NBA game. Passionately for the game, but I don't care who wins. No, no! I do care, of course. [laughs] But I don't feel as invested in the final result, because with the years and the changes in government and the evolution of everything, skepticism has been inevitable... and almost healthy. You can't live like a teenager your whole life, you know? The process took a huge toll on us. I didn't shy away from my involvement in this issue and, therefore, I was also among the victims of the subsequent disappointment. This is inevitable and leaves a mark, but it's part of learning about life.

In fact, you even considered entering politics openly. Now I don't see you doing that.

— To continue the football analogy: who wouldn't want to experience scoring a goal at the Camp Nou? It's a world you've followed for so many years with such curiosity that it's natural to want to know what it's like on the inside. But the moment you take a moment to reflect, and consider the cost involved and whether you could actually contribute anything... I think I'm more useful doing what I do than getting involved in politics, which demands a different set of qualities that, frankly, I don't possess.

After so many years, you know the Corporation well. Give me a quick diagnosis of its situation.

— Look, the Catalan Broadcasting Corporation (CDC) truly is a state structure, and not just figuratively. It's very important for the language, for cohesion, and for Catalonia to project its own narrative. I think that in the last year or year and a half, we've perhaps lost sight of what was important, which is the content, and a rather absurd debate has begun regarding the name and whether the triangle is prettier or uglier, whether things should say 3CatInfo... I think these nomenclature issues are very interesting. The real debate is about the content. Now, the transformation of TV3 into a platform was a necessary process. Later, if there are dysfunctions, they can be corrected, but in general, the approach is logical and even obvious. I only hope that, with all the talent that continues to emerge in Catalonia, TV3 will serve to develop, promote, and consolidate it.