Groland (, ; GRD) or the Présipauté du Groland is a

fictional country A fictional country is a country that is made up for Fiction, fictional stories, and does not exist in real life, or one that people believe in without proof. Fictional lands appear most commonly as settings or subjects of myth, myths, literature, ...

that is the setting for a series of

mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...

television shows A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platfo ...

and

films A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of Visual arts, visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are gen ...

. It is a micro-state at an undisclosed location, created as a satire of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

European microstates A European microstate or European ministate is a very small sovereign state in Europe. In modern usage, it typically refers to the six smallest states in Europe by area: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City. Andor ...

Benoît Delépine Benoît Delépine (; born 30 August 1958) is a French comedian and film director. He is known for his satirical activities on TV channel Canal+. Director of the TV program '' Guignols de l'info'' for many years, he currently writes TV programs ...

, Christian Borde and Christophe Salengro. Groland was first depicted in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

on ''Ce soir avec les nouveaux'', broadcast by

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

Development

A writer for the

satirical news program

Les Guignols de L'Info ''Les Guignols'' (, ''The Puppets''), formerly ''Les Guignols de l'info'' (, ''The News Puppets''), is a popular satirical latex puppet show on the French television channel Canal+. The show, which ran daily, was created in 1988 and drew insp ...

created the concept of ''Salengroland'' around 1990 with Christophe Salengro, drawing from the presidency of

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

. In 1992, Delépine joined the writing team of ''Ce soir avec les nouveaux'', a sketch comedy program. The co-writer on the show, Christian Borde, helped further develop the concept through his experiences of living in

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

and

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

Appearances

Sketch series

Groland first appeared as the setting of a recurring sketch called ''Les Nouvelles'' ("The News") on ''Ce soir avec les nouveaux'' in 1992, broadcast by Canal+ in France. Although ''Ce soir avec les Nouveaux'' was not renewed in 1993, Delépine, Salengro and Borde joined ''Nulle Part Ailleurs'' on the same channel where they continued to produce sketches as part of a recurring series from 1993 to 2001 called ''Les Nouvelles Neuves'' ("The New News"), later renamed ''CANAL International'', then ''20H20''.

Stand-alone news program

Since 2001, Groland is the setting of a stand-alone satirical news broadcast on Canal+, expanding and continuing the sketch series. They are broadcast on Canal+ internationally, as well as on

Be 1 Be 1 is a Belgian premium television channel, owned by BeTV. History Be 1 is the successor of Canal+ Belgique. On 2004, BeTV announced Canal+ will become Be 1 Organisation Capital The channel is owned 100% by the group BeTV. Programme ...

in Belgium and Luxembourg. Launched as ''Groland Sat,'' a weekly program, over the years it has changed names multiple times and is currently broadcast daily as ''Groland le Zapoï''.

Films

''Michael Kael contre la World News Company'' ("Michael Kael versus the World News Company") is a French film directed by Christophe Smith, released in 1998. In it, Delépine and Borde reprise roles created as part of the sketch series, respectively reporter Michael Kael and news presenter Jules-Édouard Moustic. ''Groland, Le Gros Métrage'' ("Groland, The Big Show") is a French telefilm by Benoît Delépine and Christian Borde, broadcast December 19th 2015 on Canal+

Books

* ''Le Guide du Groland: Pays joyeux, accueillant, et lâche'' ("The Guide to Groland: A happy, welcoming and cowardly country") by Jules-Édouard Moustic,Stage name of Christian Borde Michael KaelStage name of Benoît Delépine et Francis Kuntz, 1999, Michel Lafon * ''Groland l'Almanache 2012'' by Pierre Siankowski, 2011, Éditions de l'Amphore * ''Les 20 ans de Groland: Le livre inédit de 128 pages de l'exposition Gromiam'' ("20 years of Groland: The unprecedented 128-page book of the Gromiam exposition") by Christophe Salengro, Jules-Édouard Moustic, Michael Kael et Francis Kuntz, 2012, Ipanema * ''Grolivre – L’album souvenir de Groland'' ("Grobook – The souvenir album from Groland") by Christian Borde, Franck Benoist, Jean-François Halin, Benoît Delépine et Team, 2019, Hugo Desinge{{Cite book , last1=Borde , first1=Christian , title=Grolivre – L'album souvenir de Groland , last2=Benoist , first2=Franck , last3=Halin , first3=Jean-François , last4=Delépine , first4=Benoît , last5=Team , publisher=Hugo Desinge , year=2019 , isbn=978-2-7556-4400-5 , language=FR

References

Canal+ original programming Entertainment news shows Parodies Fictional European countries Wikipedia requested images of television programs