Only this once will we ever see pseudo 'UP students' in skimpy dresses and stilettos or in muscle-hugging shirts, holding placards, enjoining the masses to denounce fear and embrace laughter.
"Huwag matakot! Makitawa!," chanted Rufa Mae Quinto, Ara Mina, Diana Zubiri, Maureen Larrazabal, and Francine Prieto, and Ogie Alcasid, Michael V., Antonio Aquitania, Wendell Ramos, and Boy2 Quizon. They were onstage at the UP Theater, their comic playground last October 24 for the show's 10 th anniversary big concert blow-out.
Outtakes from their mock TV commercials (PLDT Glovelines, KSP, Zide, etc) played on video wall screens all throughout the two-hour long show, pepping up short breaks. The Bubble Gang members took turns at humoring us, in segments
that have come to define the show.
There was Ogie Alcasid as know-it-all Doc Zossimo, with ready answers to the audience's questions. There he was again as the host in "Yabang o Panget" to the near-brain-dead characters of Rufa Mae, Antonio, and Michael V.
"'Hari ng 'ano' ang pamagat ng kanta ng Sugarfree?" asked Ogie. " Ito'y nagsisimula sa letrang S!"
"Surot! Hari ng surot!" Michael V exclaimed, even with the audience prompting him, " Hari ng Sablay!" Ogie's character countered any wild guesses from the flaky trio by churning out the correct answer, which was just as equally inane.
There was one hilarious turn after the other, owing in part to the perfect comic timing of Ogie, Rufa Mae, and Michael V. Of the 10 mainstays, these three sure can ham it up in laugh-a-minute gigs. Wendell has eased into his role of as the male counterpart to Rufa Mae's eye-candy comic. Maybe if the other stars can try to be less self-conscious, they'll be just as effective as these four.
Mock impersonations have become Michael V's trademark, and none of the Bubble Gang's special guests that afternoon was spared his special brand of aping-as-art. He clambered onstage and belted out, dressed alike, and sang, even yodeled, like Faith Cuneta, South Border, and Regine Velasquez.
The audience went wild that evening with the appearance of the much-loved Brod Pete and his quasi preacher-partners of "Ang Dating Doon." A huge hit back in the mid-‘90s, and possibly the segment with the longest-running turn in the show, Ang Dating Doon presupposes that answers to all and any questions that its "followers" in the audience throws at the trio can be found in Brod Pete's huge and heavy tome.
There always is a kernel of truth to the answers, and it is Brod Pete's imaginative interplay of wit and wisdom from nursery rhymes, newspaper clippings, or a pop song that his followers cheer him on, chanting after him, "Alien!"
In between gags and spoofs, the show also had its hosts sing along with top bands. Ogie Alcasid who had, earlier in the program, sang along to "Stay" by Cueshe, toward the latter part, rocked along with Batman-masked Chito Miranda of Parokya ni Edgar.
But in a turn that made me blush silly, Ogie, Michael V, Wendell, and Antonio dressed up in tight leather shorts, boots, collar, cuffs, and ties. They were, I guess, in a, uhm, mock 'homage' to The Sexbomb dancers, gyrated their silly best as The Sexballs. Ogie and Michael V so unself-consciously performed their silly stunts in full monty-like mode, and I just had to squeal or squirm or do both at the same time.
They, at least, injected some humor into heir sexy stunts, if you listened really well. In that infamous ditty "Bulaklak," which, in the Sexbombs' version, objectified women in general, the Bubble Gang four's version was safe, humorous, owing to their mocking mostly men and their love affair with chicharon bulaklak.
"Ambango-bango, ang sarap sarap ng chicharong bulaklak. Ma-cholesterol, nakamamatay..." it went on. Where else have you heard a sliver of anti-cholesterol, pro-health campaigning in a ditty?
But that is just how we like our jokes to be – heavy on the message (if and where it's needed), light on the treatment. And who could do it better these days than the creative tandem of Ogie and Michael V.?
We've been on a laugh trip with Bubble Gang for a decade, and the jokes still keep coming. Who wouldn't want to hop onto the bubble and stick along for the ride for keeps?