A marathon birthday celebration for Joey

The birthday celebration for Joey de Leon took a whole weekend and this was a most fitting tribute for somebody of his stature: A legendary talent who has spent the last 40 years doing radio, television, recording and hit movies.

The festivities began on Eat, Bulaga! last Saturday and for the noontime show’s On the Spot segment, the staff invited talents who work or had worked with Joey de Leon. Well, I have the pleasure of still working with the Joey de Leon and was among the people they contacted to take part in the game.

When I got to the  Eat, Bulaga! Broadway Centrum studio, I was pleasantly surprised to see Alyssa Alano there with her manager, the well-loved Annie Ayroso. Alyssa and I were to play against each other and I thought that was going to be fun.

The contest mechanics were simple. We were to choose a number on the floor by standing on it. Alyssa chose 13. When I asked her why, she said that it was Oct. 13 and it was the birthday of Joey. Well, if that was her reasoning, I quickly stepped on 14 because Joey’s birthday was actually Oct. 14.  Eat, Bulaga! was celebrating it on the 13th because they didn’t have a Sunday edition.

Thirteen proved to be lucky for Alyssa because that number was called and she had her chance to play the jackpot. Meanwhile, the other celebrity contestants to my front, side and back were also winning and they were being asked questions before they were allowed to join the winners’ circle.

The questions were actually easy, but quite tricky. Modesty aside, I knew the answers to the questions because those were about Joey de Leon and I know everything there is to know about Joey. It’s like I have a doctorate on Joey de Leon. At one point, for instance, they played a video showing Vic Sotto and Joey in a rare dramatic scene. All the contestants had to do was answer the question: “What was the problem of Vic and Joey in this scene?” The answer was: Because Joey was getting married.

Now, I wanted to ask hosts Anjo Yllana and Pia Guanio why Joey’s decision to get married was a problem in that scene. Answer: Because Joey was marrying Vic’s ex-wife in the story and they were best friends. I knew that because it was one of  Eat, Bulaga!’s  Lenten presentations in the past and I saw that replayed only last Holy Week.

But to my frustration, my number was never called and never got the chance to answer any of the questions about Joey de Leon. I later found out that it was a computer that was choosing the numbers and the computer wasn’t even aware of Joey’s birthday (thus it skipped the number 14 — my number and Joey’s birthday) and was selecting numbers at random — proof that  Eat, Bulaga! never tampers with its gadgets.

In the end, it was Ian Veneracion who won the jackpot and it was just fitting he did. After all, he was the little boy in the Joey & Son series of the early ’80s.

As a consolation to me, since I was eliminated at once, I got to the Startalk set early. Of course, I never heard the end of it from Lolit Solis who kept ribbing me about having lost. I may have lost, but the important thing was — I had fun!

The Joey de Leon birthday celebration continued in Startalk and we’d like to presume he enjoyed watching the VTR tribute the staff prepared for him because some people thought he was teary-eyed at one point.

I don’t know about him, but I nearly cried with joy when I drove to Joey’s Green Meadows home that evening and saw the yummy spread on the buffet table because everything there was my favorite, especially the lamb, grilled prawns, oysters and a to-die-for spicy tuna dish.

Joey’s better-half, Eileen Macapagal, who still looks pretty and cute with her smiling eyes, did a good job of getting everyone to the party, which was mostly an  Eat, Bulaga! affair with shades of Startalk and Mel & Joey (co-host Mel Tiangco arrived early, but left ahead of everyone else).

I stayed mostly at the table of Malou Choa-Fagar (the official wine consultant) and Mr. Tony Tuviera and we were later joined by Allan K, Toni Rose Gayda, Ruby Rodriguez, Wally Bayola, Julia Clarete, Jose Manalo, Anjo Yllana and Jimmy Santos.

At the other table were former Sen. Tito Sotto, his brothers Maru and Vic, Pia Guanio (she was endlessly needled about not having been able to eat until Vic got there) and director Tony Reyes. Keempee was also around to help entertain his Dad’s guests.

The following day was a continuation of Joey’s birthday party in Mel & Joey and apparently people couldn’t have enough of it. Well, after 40 years in the business — and always on top of it — it was just proper that we gave Joey de Leon a marathon birthday celebration. More than anyone else, he deserves it for having given more than half his life entertaining millions of viewers.