It's Showtime is a Philippine noontime musical variety show produced by ABS-CBN. The show is also broadcast worldwide through The Filipino Channel (TFC).
The show is currently ABS-CBN's longest-running daily noontime variety show, having surpassed the original run of Magandang Tanghali Bayan (lit. Good Afternoon, Nation) which aired from 1998 to 2005. It's Showtime (originally called as Showtime) was initially aired as a variety talent show before Wowowee as a replacement for the SMS-themed game show Pilipinas, Game Ka Na Ba? with its contestants mostly comprising of dance groups from throughout the country.
The show became a noontime show from October 2010 to February 11, 2011 but reverted back on its original timeslot on February 12, 2011 with the premiere of Happy Yipee Yehey!. It went on a one week hiatus on January 28, 2012 as a preparation for its return to noontime for the second and current time. The drama series Mundo Man ay Magunaw and Kapamilya Blockbusters temporarily filled Showtime's timeslot from January 30 to February 3, 2012 and a finale episode of Happy Yipee Yehey! on February 4, 2012.
On February 6, 2012, the show was retooled (where the name of the show is now called as It's Showtime) with new long-term segments while the original competition format returned once again as one of its special segments, with the retooled show filled the timeslot of Happy Yipee Yehey! as well as becoming a noontime show again after 1 year.
As of 2023, the show currently airs on GMA Network's sister network, GTV, A2Z, and Kapamilya Channel. The show previously aired on TV5, but has since moved to GTV as ABS-CBN's blocktime agreement with TV5 expired on June 30, 2023. Following the cancellation of Tahanang Pinakamasayanote The show was previously aired as a continuation of Eat Bulaga! without the iconic Tito, Vic and Joey trio in 2023 until 2024 when they were forced to relenquish their rights to the trademark following a legal dispute. on March 2024 due to dismal ratings, It's Showtime now airs on GMA's flagship station itself, which is notable considering their previous network rivalry.
It's Showtime provides examples of:
- Ascended Extra: At least some regular cast members most notably Ryan Bang initially started off as guest judges during the show's first few seasons, only for them to be promoted due to their popularity.
- Artificial Intelligence: Used to great effect by Vhong, Jugs and Teddy in their Magpasikat 2023 performance where they paid tribute to veteran comedians of yore by deepfaking the faces of Dolphy, Babalu and Redford White as well as several other deceased comedians over their performances.note It was later explained how the deepfake performance was generated, where they used three separate cameras and high-end gaming computers (supplied by Filipino PC retailer PC Express) each running an Intel Core i7 13700F on an ASUS ROG Strix B760-F Gaming with 64 GB of DDR5 RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 GPUs and a fork👁 Image
of the roop deepfake software to alter Vhong, Jugs and Teddy's appearance against datasets culled from said deceased comedians. They did however put up a disclaimer in light of concerns that such emerging technologies could be abused to displace actual artists (case in point the recent Hollywood strikes where members of the Writers and Screen Actors Guild protested against the industry's use of generative AI algorithms) or used for misinformation e.g. fake news.note Which is unfortunately a rampant issue👁 Image
in the country especially considering how ordinary Filipinos are found to be more easily deceived by yellow journalism. As an added precaution, the show's staff obtained permission from the families of the comedians featured, some of whom were also in the studio audience during the performance. - Audience Participation Song: The theme tune, which is sung at the beginning of every episode, even ones like Anniversary Concert Specials. The lyrics ask the audience to scream and jump, but eventually they've stopped jumping — not due to waning enthusiasm, but more because it's hard for a dense crowd of many live viewers to leap in cue every morning, especially regular live viewers.
- Author Tract: Plently of them, really, both from the contestants and the hosts themselves.
- Jhong, Kim and Ion's performance in Magpasikat 2023 is an appeal to people about technology—particularly excessive smartphone use and social media consumption—serving to isolate people more than connect them if not used responsibly. It also cautions people to choose their words carefully as it can and will hurt those around them. Interestingly enough, their performance also (presumably) served as a counterpoint to the other hosts' use of technology in their numbers.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: A great amount of Vice's jokes are about hisnote Vice identifies as non-binary, so he doesn't mind being addressed👁 Image
using male or female pronouns. looks. - Beauty Contest: Miss Q&A, Mr. Q&A and Little Miss U.
- Brainless Beauty: Averted by the three female regulars.
- Brainy Brunette: See Brainless Beauty above.
- Break the Haughty: Vice, repeatedly.
- Cute, but Cacophonic: Anne and Mariel.
- Deadpan Snarker: Everyone, but Vice is the most constant and famous for his sarcasm.
- Double Entendre: Plenty of them, especially with Vice. Another example is Jugs, Teddy and Ion's performance👁 Image
in Magpasikat 2021, where they made thinly-veiled phallic gags e.g. "eggs and birds" and the ending song "Don't Touch My Birdie" by Parokya ni Edgar. - Encyclopedic Knowledge: "Kuya" note "Kuya" is used by Filipinos when addressing males older than them. Kim.
- Fat and Skinny: Those Two Guys Jugs and Teddy encapsulate this trope perfectly. It's also why they were the most logical candidates for a pastiche of "Gangnam Style" by PSY back in the song's height of fame, with plump Jugs playing PSY and scrawny Teddy playing Yoo Jae-suk. (Obviously.)
- Fun with Acronyms: Mini Miss U judge Gladys Reyes, who would come up with various acronyms to describe her verdict towards the child contestants.
- Funny Foreigner: Ryan Bang, although this had more to do with his goofy personality, nasal voice, and unflattering teenage haircut than his foreign heritage.
- From the Mouths of Babes: One of the main charm points of segments like Little Miss U is the Brutal Honesty of innocent kids, such as when Vice asks the children if he looks like a Barbie Doll, obviously aware that they won't answer yes.
- Insult of Endearment: The main hosts have a plethora of inside jokes, not all of which are utterly flattering. These include Anne's singing voice and Vice's supposedly horse-like appearance.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Of all the people in the world, walking encyclopedia Kuya Kim used to be a bodybuilder👁 Image
◊. He's maintained some of his past fitness to this day, which occasionally pops up in the show as Fanservice from the last member you'd expect. - Long-Runner Cast Turnover: Naturally, although some of the departures don't last. As is the case of Kuya Kim, who left for a few years, citing the desire to increase his knowledge even more as a reason. He's returned as a host in 2019.
- Not So Above It All: Walking encyclopedia Kuya Kim has been participating in the younger hosts’ antics more and more as time passes. Case in point: Jhong challenging him to “backflip” down and up the main platform’s staircase, and Kuya Kim wordlessly obliging to both absurd dares.
- Odd Friendship: The program breathes on this trope. As Vice articulated in a 10th anniversary special feature, the Ensemble Cast of hosts consisted of public figures so disparate in personality that he himself didn’t believe it would work. To wit... the early roster of hosts included (and still do) a former politician who’s there on the show to recite fun facts in a cowboy hat (Kim Atienza); an actress known for being pretty but prone to mangling Tagalog due to the fact that she was raised in Australia, as well as having a discordantly shrill voice (Anne Curtis); a dry-witted, Camp Gay comedian in a local industry filled with many comedians marketed in similar ways, and who would yet to break through show business (Vice Ganda); an erstwhile celebrity dancer who was too short and not conventionally handsome enough to attain much fame as a star, best known at the time for playing the vicious abusive father in Kathryn Bernardo’s 👁 This example contains a TRIVIA entry. It should be moved to the TRIVIA tab.
star-making series Mara Clara (Jhong Hilario); and a random pair of vocalists from the rock bands Itchyworms and Rocksteddy, Jugs Jugueta and Teddy Corpuz, whose respective bands did have some major hits, yet neither were considered anywhere near attractive or interesting or charming enough to have media presence as individuals. But then their collective rapport turned out to be off the charts, and ABS-CBN finally had something solid to put in its noontime slot against Eat Bulaga!. - Progressively Prettier: Ryan was never really seen as hideous or anything, but his goofy personality and awkward pubescent looks made him a novelty act rather than another foreign-born heartthrob. Over the years, he’s grown into his looks quite well, and a lot of people appreciate how cute he is. There’s no changing that voice, however, which could be described — with affection — as similar in sound to a Muppet’s.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: Vice tearfully walked out of the set👁 Image
on a web broadcast upon hearing about the House of Representatives' decision to deny ABS-CBN of a franchise, owing to a controversy about alleged anomalies and abuses committed by the network. It is interesting to note that Vice has previously expressed support for Rodrigo Duterte, who has vocally threatened to have the network shut down but claims to have left ABS's fate to the NTC and Congress and wanted nothing to do with it — Duterte himself was a guest in Gandang Gabi Vice at one point prior to his election; whether the shutdown affected Vice's views on Duterte or not is anyone's guess.note If it's any indication, Vice publicly expressed support for Leni Robredo—whom Duterte wasn't particularly fond of despite her winning the vice presidency—during the 2022 presidential elections. - Talent Contest: Tawag ng Tanghalan, a revival of the singing contest of the same name which started off as a radio talent search in 1954. The show also features a lot of group dance contests especially in its first incarnation.
- Vocal Dissonance: Ryan’s extremely nasally voice.
- You Wanna Get Sued?: There are times where at least one of the hosts and/or contestants would slip up and mention a brand or two, by which the other hosts would cheekily retort "Bayaran mo yan!" (transl. "Pay for that!") in reference to potential royalty issues they would face with mentioning a product or service. That, or when one of the hosts or a contestant wants or tries to sing a certain song whose royalties are rather expensive e.g. those from Disney soundtracks or The Beatles to name a few.
