Watch Me Entertain Myself!

Sacha Guitry once said, "You can pretend to be serious, but you can't pretend to be witty." Oh yes, I'm the great pretender.
(pilot episode: 20 January 2004)

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Post-Show Post

They were supposed to give the results to me by 4pm so that I have enough time to hammer out a winners’ script for the 7:30pm show. They gave the list almost an hour late, with new instructions and—gasp!—some inconsistencies that luckily I spotted before they burned the video onto DVD for the playback. Bottomline, I was to be on my toes beside the live voice over talent all throughout the show. (And I naively thought I would sit through the show as a spectator only.)

So what does a McVie do when faced with such pressure?

(“No, I don’t feel any preyshure. Rayt. Naw. Ahahahahaha!”)

He decides to write without bothering to double-check or assess what he just wrote. He changes the final lines of BB and adds an English word that’s a little difficult to read out loud if one’s not quite adept with the language. He adds the word “extraordinaire” to the last line.

Cut to the show.

Aside from a few technical glitches (nothing major), the show ran smoothly. Our host was a BBig hit from her first entrance. Because the theme of the awards is “Change is good”, we had her do several costume changes throughout the show, and each time she came out, the crowd let out an appreciative “Whoa!” She even flirted with the president of the Creative Guild and some of the cute boys in the audience.

But hearing her adlibs during her second entrance, I knew BB wouldn’t be spared of advertising folks’ more critical tongues. “Do you miss me?” she cooed to the audience. “Di ba dapat ‘Did you miss me’, hindi ‘do’?!” yelled someone from the back.

And finally she ends the show with a spiel thanking everyone for attending. She then launches into her segue to the after-show party spiel: “And now ladies and gentlemen, here’s Hit Production’s resident DJ extraorr… ay… extrodiiiex-tra-or-di-naire… DJ Brian Cua!”

*Ka-blag!*

But despite that, BB was a hit not only during the show but also throughout the whole island. The usually celebrity-blasé advertising folks would crowd around wherever she went, asking that their pictures be taken with her. She was a bigger hit with the regular folks. They came in droves to catch a glimpse of her, and perhaps have their photos taken with her. Given the crowds she was generating, I thought she should be renamed “Elsa Gandanghari… walang himala!” Maybe it’s the freak show mentality. But I do remember one tricycle driver who, upon seeing BB alight from the boat at the pier, yelled out, “Ayan na si mista!” Yes, Pinoys are celebrity obsessed.

5 comments:

Joaqui said...

I knew it, the world of advertising can be a bit too blatant and unforgiving for mishaps in grammar. hehehe

Wow, I'm surprised by her inadept tongue with the word extraordinaire.

Hmmm... or was it your plan to sabotage BB? hehehe kidding. :)

joelmcvie said...

@JOAQUI: My dear, we're TRAINED and PAID to be unforgiving for mistakes in grammar. The last thing you'd want to see is a print ad or a TV commercial with subject-verb disagreements. Having said that, not all advertising folks are that mean. =)

My press release is that I deliberately included the word. But truth be told, I honestly didn't think the word was difficult enough to cause problems, hehehe.

~Carrie~ said...

Change isn't overnight, too, and has to be managed well so that the metamorphosis comes out smoothly. Both of you must've gone thru a lot of pressure, but were able to handle the situation gracefully.

olive said...

since we are on advertising, who handles globe? their campaign "konek with everybody" in malay, translates directly into "penis with everybody" they even got the spelling correct. *lol* do you thing this is deliberate? hahahha...

joelmcvie said...

@OLIVE: Sa totoo lang, MALAY ko sa kanila, LOL!