A comic tandem that works

It all started – or so it seemed – on the wrong foot. Ogie Alcasid and Michael V didn’t exactly jive the way two perfectly-fitting gears did the minute they first set their eyes on each other some 10 years ago.

Michael V. was then an eager but struggling contestant in a rap showdown and Ogie was established enough to act as judge in an Eat Bulaga tilt for amateurs. Come the most-awaited judgment time, Michael V and his companion’s jaws fell: the top prize went to their rival group! The culprit, they soon found out, was Ogie.

"All the judges gave us a high score except Ogie," recalls Michael V. now sounding more amused than vindictive.

Thus it was that Michael V gave Ogie the cold shoulder the next time they met on a movie set. And when he told Ogie why, the singer-composer was completely taken aback. Little did Ogie – and Michael V – realize that their paths would cross again and again, not once, but many times over.

Their first big screen teamup was in Ano Ba Yan. A string of comedy films, like Mama’s Boys, followed.

Even in the recording scene, Ogie and Michael V’s careers were inexorably entwined. No, make that complementary.

Ogie and Michael V were fellow recording artists of Octo Arts, until the former left the outfit.

Michael V gave Ogie the much-needed morale boost to release Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang as a single. The song, as we all know by now, became one of Ogie’s all-time best-sellers in the ’90s.

The duo’s lucky streak didn’t end there. In fact, it was just the beginning. On TV, the two hit it off well on ABC 5’s Tropang Trumpo, where their teamup was so good GMA 7 pirated them for the gag show Bubble Gang, now on its seventh year. Ogie and Michael V’s unexpected departure from the now-defunct Tropang Trumpo was a difficult time for the wacky duo, who had to parry brickbats for making that big career move.

But it turned out to be one of the best they’ve made so far. Ogie and Michael V emerged as two of the biggest draws of the award-winning weekend comedy show.

Now, Ogie and Michael V’s onscreen chemistry will go through an acid test once more. Unlike before though, when Michael V was billed after Ogie, the two are on equal footing this time. The movie: Maverick FilmsBestman…4 Better…Not 4 Worse! The role: would-be grooms whose many misadventures en route to the altar (e.g. their favorite car explodes and they land in jail several times) are the stuff of many a rib-tickling scene.

But don’t get them wrong. Ogie and Michael V may click together but they’re also two distinct comedians. The two have a way of describing their tandem: "Were not dependent on each other, but we’re better together." Thus, Ogie may have his Manolo & Michelle (where he co-starred with wife Michelle van Eimeren), but Michael has Rubberman. Ogie may have Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw and Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang, but Michael V has Maganda ang Piliin Mo.

Michael V has been named Star Awards Best Comedy Actor four times. Ogie, nominated in the same category this year (together with his Bestman co-star), makes no bones of the fact that he’s praying for his first award in this area.

Yes, the two can be that real with each other. There’s no need to put up a front to drown the other in false superlatives that have a hollow ring to them.

After all, giving each other the runaround is for those who don’t know each other well the way Ogie and Michael V do. Michael V is the godfather of Leila, five, Ogie’s eldest daughter. Michelle van Eimeren, on the other hand, is the godmother of Michael V’s youngest child.

Ogie and Michael V turn to each other when personal problems become too much for each of them to bear (they guard their privacy too fiercely they simply refuse to specify exactly what these woes are). They are together during each other’s birthdays, and are one in saying slapstick should never be part of their act.

They know how to fill each other’s needs and balance their strengths and weaknesses. "Ogie’s humor is high-brow, pang-intelektwal. Mine is more mass-oriented," Michael V describes their brand of comedy.

Their idea of a good comedian complements the other's. Ogie thinks it’s an ability to be charismatic; Michael V attributes it to the audience and how they take their brand of humor.

Their list of favorite funnymen is almost similar: Dolphy, Joey de Leon, Jim Carrey. Except that Ogie has Michael V in his list. Michael V. on the other hand, has the names of Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, The Bad Bananas, Adam Sandler and Charlie Chaplin, in his.

They are humble enough to admit one has strengths the other does not.

"Bitoy (Michael V’s pet name) has a talent for sculpture," Ogie simply states.

"Ogie can make any event come alive just by having a piano in the house," Michael V observes.

It’s this total acceptance and knowledge of the other that make Ogie Alcasid and Michael V the wacky team to beat. It’s also what makes the audience ask for more, close to a decade after this most unlikely tandem was born.