Divertis is a Romanian Comedy Group that formed in 1981 by 3 students (Toni Grecu, Doru Antonesi and Florin-Viorel Constantin). In 1987, a new member named Ioan Gyuri Pascu joined the group and performed with them in Izvorul Mureșului. As time went by the group got more and more members (Ghighi Bejan, Doru Pârcălabu, Valentin Darie, Cătălin Mieruță, Cristian Grețcu, Valentin Gora, Ioan T.Morar and Silviu Petcu to name a few).
In the 80s, the group remarked itself on the fact that they were making subtle jokes about the communist regime. They continued this kind of subtle political satire in the 90s. The group also moveed on tv and get a short lived tv show on PRO tv (1999-2001) and a new show on the rival Antena 1 for the remainder of the 2000s were they would activate under different titles (Divertis Show, Divertis Mall and Divertis Mall și Prietenii (Divertis Mall and Friends). In 2005, they would also create a satirical adult cartoon called Animat Planet Show.
In the summer of 2009, the group left Antena 1 and returned to PRO tv. Because of a conflict over income, the group split up into 2 and made 2 separate shows. One was the less political Divertis-Land of Jokes made up of Doru Antonesi, Florin Constantin, Silviu Petcu, Cătălin Mireuță, Doru Pârcălabu, Cristian Grețcu, Ioan Gyuri Pascu, Valentin Gora, Ciprian Fanaca, Ela Prodan, Dalma Kovacs, Simona Stoicescu, Ana Maria Mirică, Cosmin Seleși and Petru Bogdan Cotleț and the other one was the more political Divertis - Serviciul Român de Comedie (Divertis - The Romanian Comedy Service) made up of Toni Grecu, Dragoș Stoica, Jojo, Valentin Darie, Claudiu Maier, Aniela Petreanu, Cosmin Natanticu, Cristi Martin, Andreea Doinea and George Dorin Andreescu.
In the autumn of 2011, Land of Jokes and SRC broke up with Land of Jokes leaving PRO Tv for TVR 1 under the new name of "Distractis". SRC remained however on PRO tv and was broadcasted every Wednesday at 20:30. In the spring of 2014, Divertis got another short lived show on Antena 1 first under the name of Happy Show and later known as SRC-Fun Factory.
In 2015, Divertis moved on Digi 24 were they made a new show called Superjurnal which was a satirical news show split into 6 segments: "Superjurnal Intern" (Domestic Superjurnal) which deals with news within Romania, "Spuerjurnal Extern" (Foreign Superjurnal) which deal with news outside the country, "Superfashion" which deals with well... Fashion, "Subcultura Generală" (General Subculture) which deals with the lack of general knowledge among Romanian people, "Supersport" which deals with sports news and "Superguest" which is a talk show hosted by Toni Grecu were Politicians and Celebrities are invited.
Divertis also released several audio tapes among them being to name a few:
- Sfîrșitorul (The Finisher) (1991)
- Așa ceva nu exista... (Something like that never existed) (1992)
- Corabia Speranței (The Ship of Hope) (1996)
- Vacarena (1996)
- Cioc, cioc, cioc la poarta Cotroceni (Knock, knock, knock at the Cotroceni gate) (1997)
- Reformania (1997)
- Vaideno! (Aweus!) (1998)
- Cine râde la urnă (He who laughs at the ballot box) (2004)
Divertis provides examples of:
- Bilingual Dialogue: In "Geta Bioenergeta" during Geta's phone conversation with Mariemar, she speaks Romanian but Mariemar speaks Spanish and yet they are still able to understand each other.
- Canis Latinicus: "Vaideno!" is a parody of Ameno so just like the original it's in dog Latin.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Done in many shows. Especially in their famous "Small Animals without Borderds" sketch by Ioan Gyuri Pascu.
- Funny Foreigner: Zdravku Shmekerov, the Bulgarian border patrol.
- Insane Troll Logic: In a 1999 sketch Gora belives that there needs to be introduced and "Ecliples Tax" because "The Moon added itself over the Sun".
- Laughing at Your Own Jokes: Toni Grecu is (in)famous for doing this.
- Other members are also shown doing it.
- The Mafiya: Hentzl and Gretzl are robbed by a group of Russian thugs while traveling trough Tiraspol.
- Misplaced Wildlife: In "Small Animals Without Borders" Ioan Gyuri Pascu claims that his association got 2 Groundhogs from Canada to keep safe from the Coyotes who chase them trough the mountains. While coyotes actually do live in the mountains, groundhogs prefer flat areas.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: They would often change the names of the politicians they parodied.
- Pun-Based Title: Some of their audiotape's titles.
- "Vacarena" is a pun on "Macarena" and Nicolae Văcăroiu (the prime minister at the time)
- "Vaideno!" is a pun on Ameno and "Vai de noi!" (Romanian for "Awe us")
- "Cine râde la urnă" is a pun on "Cine râde la urmă râde mai bine", the Romanian version of "He who laughs last laughs best". But "urmă" from "la urmă" (in the end) was replaced with "urnă" (ballot box).
- Regional Riff: Russians are always accompanied by Katyusha or Kalinka.
- Satire: Their bread and butter.
- Setting Update: Many of their parodies are fairy tale adaptations set in 90s Romania.
- Sketch Comedy: Their main brand of Humor.
- Static Electricity: Shmekerov caused it while rubbing the mouse on the table.
- Vast Bureaucracy: The "Small Animals without Borders Association" has one.
