A more intimate night with Martin

MANILA, Philippines - A more personal, interesting and intimate Martin Late@Night premiered on ABS-CBN last month and is on every Friday after the late-night news, Bandila. A lot of viewers certainly missed Martin’s show, which used to air nightly for five years (1998 to 2003).

Earlier, there was also Martin After Dark (from 1988 to 1997). But now that Martin is back on late-night TV, viewers especially Martin’s fans and insomniacs, cannot be more thrilled.

The show expectedly opens with a song from Martin rendered live, with his long-time and favorite musical director, Louie Ocampo on the piano. Martin sings familiar songs, like You To Me Are Everything, which was one of his hit revivals or his original hit, Please Don’t Throw My Love Away.

Then Martin introduces his guest whom he engages in a one-on-one, intimate interview. Noticeably, every episode is devoted to only one topic for Martin’s guest or guests, like when former sweethearts Cristine Reyes and Rayver Cruz graced the show.

Now friends, Cristine and Rayver candidly talked about their erstwhile relationship and how they remained friends after they broke up, which was rare especially to showbiz lovers. They recently admitted their split in The Buzz.

Then with Martin, they revealed trivia about each other which they couldn’t disclose before. Like Rayver doesn’t clean his shoes or for Cristine, you can’t be late even for a minute. They both answered candidly without any trace of bitterness about the past. Apparently, both are happy with whatever happened about their relationship.

In a more recent episode, Xian Lim, “one of the prettiest boys in showbiz” and his mom Mary Ann joined Martin. Xian showed a different side and disclosed that he plays 17 instruments, including piano, guitar, trombone, cello and ukelele.

He also composes songs and can do that on the spot, like when he did songs about Manila traffic or his favorite superhero, Superman. Mommy Mary Ann shared how her son grew up in the US Bay Area. She gave him a bath until he was six. Xian was also bullied in school when he was younger so he sometimes ate his snacks in the men’s room.

On the pilot airing of Martin Late@Night, KC Concepcion was Martin’s guest. She talked about her travels abroad like when she went to Uganda for the United Nations World Food Program or when she studied college in Paris for four years. She also shared about her trips to Italy, Thailand and Hokkaido, Japan.

Toni Gonzaga joined Martin on the second episode. At 29, Toni still has curfew at home, which will probably surprise a lot of people. Unless she has work to do, Toni has to be home Cinderella time, at 12 midnight.

She cannot go out of town with her boyfriend, Paul Soriano, without a chaperone. Even in their house, Paul is not allowed to go up to her room or Toni’s Mommy Pinty would budge. Between Toni and her younger sister, Alex, there is no competition even if both of them are into showbiz. Alex is a talent of TV5.

On the third episode, Martin uncovered more of Aiza Seguerra, her dreams, aspirations, beautiful voice, her being a songwriter and great actress. She rendered the hauntingly beautiful ballad, Ano’ng Nangyari sa Ating Dalawa, the grand prize in the recently-concluded Himig Handog Love Songs.

With Martin, Aiza did a duet of Please Be Careful With My Heart, the Jose Mari Chan original hit which inspired the title of the daytime teleserye on ABS-CBN (where Aiza stars with Jodi Sta. Maria and Richard Yap). At one point, Aiza reminded everyone of her duck walk which she popularly did when she was small. When she was in her teens, Spencer Reyes became her love team.

Aiza told Martin she wants to be a forensic detective long before she watched CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) on TV. She says she is fascinated with the mind of a serial killer and wants to portray that one day. Is that the reason she has tattoos all over her arms? Her newest is from Kalinga Apayao, made from a needle that was lemon thorn.

In ordinary showbiz interviews, where stars more often than not only promote a TV show, movie or concert, viewers do not normally hear the amusing pieces of information that Martin gets to ask his guests.

What makes Martin Late@Night something to look forward to is the host’s ability to extract something personal from his guests, something out of the ordinary, which piques the interest and curiosity of his viewers. Not every talk show host is able to do that. No wonder, the program is worth an hour of your late-night time even once a week. And definitely, it is never a boring one hour.