Supreme letter for the better: Dear Joey & Willie,

We’ve got to admit, it was funny for a while. We got a kick out of the statement tees (“Cheating is...”), the cross-jab punch lines thrown at one another, and all those comedic shots at the crotch disguised as “teasing”. And hey, we took no sides — our Wil to laugh was as great as our love to Eat. Besides, such a rude rivalry was made for television as much as it actually made television — well, locally, anyway. You guys are the heavy cream of the comedy crop from opposing networks and it only seemed right that such epic showdowns came with the territory of such great showmanship.

Which is partly why, Mr. Revillame, you snagged this year’s Televisionary Award for your wowow-work on Wowowee. And why, Mr. De Leon, an all-encompassing monster media career that includes serving up the nation’s noontime belly-buster of a meal, Eat Bulaga!, got you, dear sir, our pop primo Supremo Award. So thank you both for all that “gag” reflex you’ve given us over the years.    

But when you guys got onstage at last Friday’s Supreme to the Extreme Awards, neither of you had the last laugh. Just a lot of laughs from the audience — and wows, of course — were audible when the two of you hugged it out at Embassy. And yeah, we know — of all, places, right? But then all that randomness just goes to show what pop culture and its dirty, sexually ambiguous brother entertainment are all about: that yeah, showdowns are prerequisites in showbiz but shows of comedic camaraderie are also possible, and sometimes in the strangest of places.

Thing is, we hope this rekindled bromance stretches out ‘til next year’s awards, which we’re damn excited about considering the s*it that went down this year, care of you two. We’ve already got two seats for you guys to sit front-row center beside each other, Pokwang on Joey’s right and one of the Supreme trophy girls Willie requested to his left; both of you maybe bonding over dirty GMA jokes and MTRCB run-ins. If this sort of thing can happen on awards night, we’re definitely pushing for the absurd next year: you know, maybe Stefano Mori and Serena Dalrymple presenting Comeback of the Year; or a half-time number where Rachel Lobangco gets lifted by a couple of Brazilian-slash-somethings (Brebanese, Brongolian — whatever) while twirling fire overhead; or hell, DJ Montano and Brian Gorrell kissing and making up onstageÖthen again, uh, maybe not. 

In any case, we just wanted you guys to know how much the comic timing of your friendship means to everyone here — and the entire nation. We’ve got an economic crisis (well, okay, slowdown) on our hands and there’s just no room for drama —although Katrina Halili loves to show that side of her nowadays. We hear even Gretchen wants to do something similar for STTE II next year, except that we can’t figure out exactly whom she wants to re-friend considering she’s got a lot of options and, well, there just isn’t anything comic in that.

Oh, and to strengthen your bond, we feel the next step would be for you to do something together. We don’t know, maybe a show on TV 5 called The Simple Laugh, where you guys get brokeback at a farm in Batangas. Or, off the top of our heads, a cheeky dance duet called A Big Willie Gives Lots of Joey just so four-year-olds have something new to bump their pelvises to. We know this is all new to you guys, but you’ll thank us later. Like we’re thanking you now for getting us on Ricky Lo’s column. That’s entertainment, right?

Yours supremely and extremely,

TEAM SUPREME

P.S.: Rachel Lobangco heard about the whole fire-spinning-while-being-lifted thing and is dead-set on doing it next year. We’ll need a few more hands for that as well, if you’re interested.