It is an act where the past comes back to life and meet the present and future.
On Monday, November 6, ABS-CBN’s noontime variety show ‘It’s Showtime’ officially kicked off its ‘Magpasikat’ week to celebrate its 14th anniversary.
Held annually to celebrate the show’s anniversary, the segment groups the program’s hosts as they are tasked to prepare special production numbers. These are then presented live throughout the week.
The first group this year is the trio of Vhong Navarro, Jugs Jugueta, and Teddy Corpuz, collectively named as JTV for their presentation.
Their number began like a usual musical production, where the three hosts performed songs from the films of comedy icons Redford White, Babalu, and Dolphy. The number ended abruptly, only to resume with a playback of the earlier performance.
This time, the faces of the three comedy icons have been put on the faces of the hosts, thanks to artificial intelligence or AI technology.
At one point, they also paid tribute to more late comedy legends, like Bert Marcelo, Tia Pusit, Willie Nepomuceno, German ‘Kuya Germs’ Moreno, among many others.
Veteran actress Nova Villa also made a special surprise appearance on the number to partially reprise her role of Ason in Dolphy’s sitcom ‘Home Along Da Riles’. After the performance, Villa was brought to tears when she became sentimental over the fact that she had worked with many, if not all, of the legendary comedic stars.
Team JTV also shared that the performance was made possible after securing permission from the families of the late comedy stars, who gave permission to use the images of their loved ones.
On a lighter note, hosts Ogie Alcasid and Karylle also tried out the AI technology. Ogie became fellow ‘Showtime’ host Ryan Bang, while Karylle channeled Anne Curtis. Guest judge Jett Pangan was also transformed to host MC Muah, who he has resemblance with.
‘Magpasikat 2023’ on ‘It’s Showtime’ runs from November 6 to 10, 2023. The announcement of winners will be on Saturday, November 11.