Michael V. (born
Beethoven Bunagan), also known as "Bitoy" or "Toybits", is a Filipino comedian, actor and parodist, who appears in the hit GMA Network show
Bubble Gang, and in his own TV show
Bitoy's Funniest Videos. He is known for his "translations" and parodies of Filipino and foreign pop songs, and has made original songs, such as "Sinaktan Mo Ang Puso Ko", in a way that can consider him the Weird Al Yankovic of the Philippines. He's the second Filipino to have graced the cover of Readers' Digest.
Background
Beethoven was born on December 17, 1969 in Pandacan, Manila, Philippines. An extremely shy young man, he was often pessimistic about his life, thinking that he was too dumb to have a future. Then one day, little did he know that while drunk and singing a certain song, his voice was actually being recorded by his wife.
Mr. Beethoven, aka Bitoy, is indeed an act
or worth of admiration. Unlike his peers in the industry, this writer and actor has an academic degree in Mass Communication from the
Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.
He has won the Asian Television Awards for the Best Comedy Performance by an Actor for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006.
The Bubble G Anthology
In 2006, Michael released his newest studio album,
The Bubble G Anthology, which is a compilation of his song parodies from the TV show
Bubble Gang. His new album can be described as "an audio-visual venture", with songs such as
Mamaw, which is a parody of Kamikazee's song
Narda, and
DJ Bumbay, a comical take at the Indian merchants that are doing business in the Philippines. Some the songs in his album, like
Wag N'yo Kaming Pansinin, poked fun at his gay colleague Diego, which is also a regular at
Bubble Gang. It was also said that he needed to re-master some of his song parody performaces, since, because it was first played on TV, it came out as mono, and to make it distinguishable from pirated versions.
Trivia
- He first started out as a rap artist, whose first single was Maganda Ang Piliin (Ayoko Ng Panget), which was a reaction to the hugely popular rap song Humanap Ka Ng Panget. Although the song and its accompanying album became a hit, it, along with his rap career, became largely obscured by his current career as a comedian.
- It was revealed in an interview with Sunday Inquirer Magazine that his stage name was derived from two performers that he admires: Michael Jackson and Gary V. It was also customary among Filipino male rappers during the early 1990s (see above) to reduce their stage surnames to a single initial, such as Francis M and Andrew E.
- Michael V.'s first movie appearance was in Regal Films' comedy flick, "Banana Split" topbilled by Joey Marquez. But his star shone more brightly when Octo Arts Films started to include him in several comedy flicks that cast him alongside Vic Sotto ("Ano ba Yan", "Ano ba Yan 2", "D' Sisters", "Lastikman"), Ogie Alcasid ("Ano ba Yan", "Ano ba Yan 2", "Manolo en Michelle", etc.), Francis M, and many more. But he has yet to appear in a movie alongside legendary comedian Dolphy, since this has been his longtime dream.
- Bitoy has also tried his hand in directing, when he was appointed as TV director for GMA Network's practical joke show "Ooops!" in 1999. The show was hosted by Bitoy's "Bubble Gang" co-stars Antonio Aquitania, Wendell Ramos and Jessa Zaragosa. "Ooops!" lasted for 2 seasons on the air.
- It was said that he made a parody of the song My Humps entitled "Anghang" (which was a hit among Filipino internet users), although it wasn't likely that he made the said spoof, judging from the quality of the recording.
