It’s sobrang funny, Pare

Watching S.O.P. (Sobrang Okay, Pare) on GMA 7 every noontime on Sunday has become a hard habit to break for Filipino viewers all these years.

However, with the introduction of one of its newest segments — Sobrang OJ (for Ogie and Janno) Pare — viewers have clung even tighter to the program, especially in this portion (the minute-per-minute ratings sheets prove it) where everyone drops everything (Sunday chores, Sunday meals — down with those spoons and forks — but hopefully not Sunday noontime Mass) to watch and listen to this hilarious musical act.

For those who have missed it (it’s not too late to catch up), Sobrang OJ is one of the newest innovations on S.O.P. This is where Ogie Alcasid and Janno Gibbs change lyrics of popular songs to express their views and commentaries about showbiz people or anything happening in the entertainment circle.

Since both Ogie and Janno are singers and comedians, the result is riotously funny and pleasant — musically.

Actually, this is not the first time this is being done on S.O.P. In GMA network launches abroad where some of the Channel 7 shows are brought by the station to entertain Pinoys there, Ogie and Janno have done this for S.O.P. both in the US mainland and Hawaii.

Since the response from the audience is overwhelming — riotous even — Darling de Jesus, GMA 7 assistant vice president for Talk/Musical-Variety/Reality/Specials, decided to do this on a weekly basis for S.O.P. Both Janno and Ogie begged off in the beginning, however, because that required a lot of work. Everything may look easy on screen, but there is actually a lot of work to do in order to complete the segment.

And now that they are doing it finally — after stalling for about a couple of years — Janno (who puts the act together) now has a weekly laborious assignment that begins with the selection of the song he and Ogie would be singing. Next is seeking permission from the publisher of the musical piece to change the song’s lyrics. Then comes that actual work of rewording the lyrics — by Janno — to something comical. The two only rehearse the songs during breaks on S.O.P. and after a run-through with guitarist Butch Elizalde they do the actual performance that same afternoon — and eventually bring the house down with their act.

More often than not, they tackle showbiz issues and do a recap of what went around in movie talk shows, particularly Startalk, which Janno watches with the rest of the Eat, Bulaga! cast every Saturday while having a late, late lunch.

Sometimes, they work the theme around special guests in a particular episode. Darling de Jesus suggested that they do one on Sharon Cuneta back-to-back with Joey de Leon one Sunday (when the two appeared as guests) and this is my favorite among all the Sobrang OJ Pare acts. Here’s how they changed the lyrics to the tune of South Border’s Ikaw Nga (used as the theme song of Mulawin):

Heto na naman

Heto at nagkakatuwaan lang

Si Ate Shawie kaya ating pag-usapan?

Kanyang nakaraan

Ay makulay, umibig, nasaktan

Gabby, Richard, Robin at ngayo’y Pangilinan

Nais kong ipagtapat sa iyo

Kaming dalawa ay tunay na inggit sa iyo

Puede bang makahingi ng balato? Woo-woo-wooh

Ikaw nang pinakamayamang artista

Pinay na Oprah

Sunod-sunod, hindi mabilang mga commercials mo, di ba?

May burger, mayroong instant mami, may ferry

May washi-washi

May gatas, may ice cream, may cell phone

Marami pang iba, di ba?

Sinali mo pa ang iyong yaya.

* * *

At si Pareng Joey

Ayaw paawat

Sobra siyang busy

Sa GMA, puro siya — araw hanggang gabi

Tuwing tanghali, may Eat, Bulaga!

Mayroong Takeshi’s Castle, may Mel & Joey pa

Mayroon pang Startalk, Nuts Entertainment pa

Ano baaaah?

Tama na at ipaubaya mo na sa ibang artista

Baka pati sa Master Showman ikaw na ang bida

Sobra na

Baka next week, kaming dalawa

Tanggal na.

Sobrang OJ Pare, however, is at its best when the song’s lyrics choose to stay close to home and work around stories involving S.O.P.’s cast members — and there are a lot of them with showbiz issues! Yes — starting with Ogie and Janno themselves. There’s Rufa Mae Quinto, who was "name-dropped" by Lolit Solis at the height of the Gretchen Barretto controversy. And believe it or not, even Regine Velasquez was not spared.

One time, they changed the lyrics of a song and played around how Asia’s Songbird was first linked to Janno and now to Ogie — with Regine watching by their side. Oh, how the live audience lapped it up.

You really don’t have to be an avid follower of showbiz gossip (but in this country, who isn’t?) to appreciate Sobrang OJ Pare because it is also entertaining musically. But it’s really its being a musical comedy that makes it so worthwhile to watch for every Sunday on S.O.P.

To borrow the language of the youth today, I daresay: It’s sobrang funny, Pare.