If laughter is truly the best medicine then Ai-Ai Delas Alas could easily be an effectual stress-reliever by merely injecting a dose of her own brand of comedy which is, of course, addicting!
The Queen of Comedy remains unrivaled because of her consummate capability to tickle her audience’s funny bones and leave them dying of laughter while (still) craving for more. And, it couldn’t be denied that, aside from her well-conceptualized comedic routine and incomparable adlibs, Ai-Ai pays acute attention to the details of her stage costumes and obvious case of not shortchanging her audience, if only in this regard.
Aileen, as she is fondly addressed by friends, was born Martina Aileen delas Alas on November 11, 1964 to Engr. Rosendo delas Alas and Gregoria Hernandez (both deceased) but was later given for adoption to a spinster aunt, Justa.
A Mass Communications graduate from the Far Eastern University in 1985, Ai-Ai has had her own Cinderella-patterned life before she made it big in the entertainment industry. She worked as a saleslady in a department store while juggling school and comedy bars. It was in one of her nightly stints at Music Box along Timog Avenue where she was finally discovered for the mainstream entertainment that eventually changed her life dramatically.
An effective comedienne, they say, should prove that she can make fun of herself before she can creditably make fun of anyone else. Good- natured, tasteful, obscene, disgusting, offensive, satiric, slap-stick, stupid, and what-have-you…no doubt, Ai-Ai has done them all. She has perfected her own brand of humor effortlessly.
Ai-Ai catapulted to stardom capitalizing on her own imperfection—her elongated chin—but with innate singing prowerss and witty comedic talents to boot. She started as a co-host in Channel 7’s “Lunch Date” and “Salo-Salo Together” and her peculiar comic talent gave her broader opportunities with wide-ranging options. She has delineated various roles, (some even unimaginable), capably molding her to be competent and convincing in every character while simultaneously establishing her stature as an accomplished actress in the acting department.
With more than 50 movies (mostly lead roles) to her credit, “Ang Tanging Ina” series gave her the edge and character build-up although her numerous box-office comedy films remained unprecedented.
No comedienne, living or dead, has attained or surpassed what Ai-Ai has gainfully achieved. In 1998 she was awarded the Best Comedy Actress by Star Awards for Television which was duplicated the following year. The same award-giving body honored her with the Best Game Show Host in 2000 and after 3 years, during the 20thPMPC Star Awards for Movies, Ai-Ai was named Box-Office Queen. She finally owned the elusive Best Actress trophy in 2008 during the 24th PMPC Star Awards for Movies and another Box Office Queen title from the Guillermo Mendoza Memorial Foundation in 2009.
Ai-Ai, being a highly quintessence exponent in the comic area, is consummately creative and possesses a great deal of spontaneity and impulsivity which make her different from other performers who are merely delegated to exclusivity like drama or narration.
Her lovelife is as “theatrical” as her escalating showbiz career. Initially married to singer Miguel Vera (Romeo Arca in real life) with whom she has two children, the succeeding men that promised heaven only gave her hell and went kaput. The ace comedienne even successfully survived a devastating month-long relationship with a Filipino-American. Her current affair with a 20-year old remains a guessing game as to how long will it last.But on the contrary, Ai-Ai, in the eyes of her family, friends, and the public, has consistently been a perfect mother worthy of emulation.
From GMA Channel 7 where her television career took off, Ai-Ai was lured to move to ABS-CBN Channel 2 where she lorded it over the boob tube and silver screen for 2 decades. Her new home, in all fairness, gave her the treatment befitting a comic royalty…the best television projects, top money-making movies that catapulted her to such enviable status, and a lifestyle meant only for somebody who’s accomplished and successful.
But permanence was never a part of her career plan. Just recently, the restless comedienne returned to her home base and was accorded with a rousingly warm welcome as she was bestowed with the “Philippine Queen of Comedy” title.
Ai-Ai’s funny and easy-going ways have painted for her as somebody who’s unproblematic without even considering that she’s also human with personal problems of her own. Her contagious laughter, funny antics, and amusing nuances are more than enough to obscure whatever anxiety or quandary she feels within. But she never allows negativity to impinge on her work or blight her public image.
Actually this writer had the opportunity to work with Ai-Ai in two occasions: in 1988 when one of my talents, Leandro Baldemor (who was then Seiko Films’ prime property) was billed with the comedienne in a musical-comedy concert in Kampo (along West Avenue in QC) aptly titled “Ang Tukso at ang Baba-e” (with screen sex goddess Rosanna Roces as guest) and in Ai-Ai’s birthday concert at the Music Hall in Greenhills. True enough, working time spent with the comedienne was breezily light, uncomplicated, and easy and everything swiftly transpired sans neither exhaustion nor tedium and dreariness.
If the comedienne has a tender heart, she could also be emotionally strong. Just last Sunday, August 16, after her hosting “Sunday PinaSaya,” Ai-Ai received the sad news that theater actor Rey Maltezo Dela Cruz and biological father of her eldest son, Sancho Vito, had died after suffering from an undisclosed illness. Despite being estranged for years without the benefit of a marriage Ai-Ai still holds the diseased in high esteem and decided to attend the wake of her son’s father. The comedy-actress clutches neither grudge nor hatred against her former partner but dismissed the depressing occurrence as mere fact of life.
The comedienne’s public life could be read like an open book and a few bits and pieces from within her private abode could have been magnified sans her awareness but in the innermost chamber of her domicile lives a celebrity without hang-ups who lets all cautions and cares fly out of the window.
As the domesticated Aileen, the award-winning comedienne could cook…as in really prove to doubting Tomases her mastery in the kitchen like a well-schooled chef. Her excellent preferences in furniture choice, interior accents, and in creating a cozy ambience in her house easily reflect her fine aesthetic taste. Her unrivaled motherly instinct and maternal liability more than consume her free time if only to make up for the long period she’s out on shooting or out-of-town performances.
Ai-Ai’s compassionate nature is best demonstrated through her charity works and uncovered community services… although a few saw print and, in some occasions, because of her celebrity status, being televised. Take the case of Jiro Manio, the award-winning “Magnifico” young actor who played one of her children in “Tanging Ina” and recently hugged the news due to depression, drugs, and family-related dispute. The kind-hearted comedienne frittered away no time in extending whatever help she could offer in order to save the young actor’s life and plummeting career. She even went out of her way to track down Jiro’s Japanese father.
And not to forget her being pious and an august devotee of the Virgin Mary. Although exhausted from her weekend overseas commitments, the super comedienne hosted a birthday celebration for her favorite patron saint last Tuesday, September 8. Attended by her family, closed friends, and, of course, her “kakambal” Marian Rivera, a Virgin devotee, herself, who came heavy with her first baby despite last minute invite.
Incidentally, Ai-Ai is all set to reclaim her box-office dominance in the forthcoming Metro Manila Film Festival where she’s paired anew with Vic Sotto (after their successful team-up) in the romantic-comedy with a working title: “Romcom-in Mo Ako.” The said 2015 MMFF entry will also feature Eat Bulaga’s trending love team: Alden Richard and Maine “Yaya Dub” Mendoza, most currently known as “AlDub,” which impressively garnered 3.6 million tweets in just one day.
Ai-Ai Delas Alas is raring to be a Golden Girl on her birthday soon but the Funny Lady doesn’t feel having completely achieved what she really wanted in life. At her current status as an established and award-winning actress, singer, and comedienne, aside from wallowing in luxury from the fruits of her labor, the multi-faceted performer still aims for more…not on the material side but more on the humanitarian…her own way of sharing whatever she was bountifully blessed with while trying to maintain her enviable standing in the society where she dwells and the entertainment arena, the source of it all and where she rightfully belongs.
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