It it…Ba!-“Eat Bulaga!”

“Eat Bulaga!” is one of the Philippines’ first, as well as oldest and still thriving noon-time variety shows. Offering comedic skits, dance numbers, and games, which thrill and entertain their audiences almost everyday.

It is also the starting ground for some of the country’s celebrities, most of which are comics. The funny guys that make one laugh most likely started out by performing or guesting, or hosting on this particular noon-time program.

For those out there not familiar with the history of this one program, one would think that it has always been a member of the daily line-up of GMA7. But in truth it has not always been so.

A brief background of this favorite among the masses television program is as follows:

“Eat Bulaga!” premiered on July 30, 1979 on Radio Philippines Network at Broadcast City, Diliman, Quezon City.RPN outsourced the idea to TAPE. At that time, comic troika Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon were the most popular movie comedians. They were hired together with Chiqui Hollman and Richie Reyes as co-hosts. In 1989 due to the sequestration of RPN, the show moved to ABS-CBN along with other TAPE-produced shows. The show once again moved to another network, this time on GMA Network due to the fact that ABS-CBN wanted to buy the airing rights of Eat Bulaga from TAPE, Inc.

What sets them apart from their current rival “Wowowee”, is that during the two celebrations held at the Araneta Coliseum, there were no deaths or stampedes. This may be considered as bad-mouthing another show, but it is indeed a fact.

Asides from the number of celebrities that have appeared on the show throughout the years, it is thanks to the fact that the Filipino people as a whole like to enjoy themselves. So “Eat Bulaga!” gladly caters and preys upon some of the shallowness of the people to keep them watching and for the show to garner and gather high ratings.