Only on OMG! - Hosting lessons from the King of Talk
King of Talk Boy Abunda looks so at ease before the cameras you think he can conduct interviews with eyes closed. Not quite. The truth is, Boy himself admits he goes through so much before the cameras start to roll. Like a choreographer who makes sure all his dancers are in sync, Boy studies every aspect of his work as if he just started reporting for work the day before.
“One of the most important things about my job is that it’s a dance which involves many things. It involves my audience, my producers, my guest, myself,” he explains.
All of these, he adds, must move to the same beat to make the most sense. And Boy describes his job as “listening to the rhythm of the falling rain.”
Yes, you need the wonders of the internet to research on your guest or the topic at hand. But Boy thinks these won’t amount to anything much sans the most important things: empathy.
“You need an open mind, a ready ear and a willing heart to get the best from your guest,” he says.
An open mind, for instance, makes Boy see how the color of a guest’s clothes can kick off a lively exchange on air.
“Once, I saw a guest in ‘The Bottomline’ (his ABS-CBN reality talk show) in red. I opened the show with, ‘ Welcome to The Bottomline! Why are you in red?”
The dance, er interview, flows naturally from there.
Boy knows his guests’ characters are as varied as the colors of the rainbow.
No set rules
“What works for one doesn’t work for the other,” he muses. “So there are no set rules for hosting.”
Figures why Boy once told fellow hosts who feted him on his birthday, “I don’t even know what the Abunda style is.”
Style, he tells aspiring hosts, is something no one can teach you. Only experience can teach you how to handle the art and the science of hosting.
“So I tell young people, just go on hosting and interviewing. Practice makes perfect,” Boy relates.
Of course, you can’t please everybody. Boy knows some people don’t like the way he hosts. Boy has learned to weigh these criticisms well.
“It took me a long, long time before I could sift through voices – kung sino ang pakikinggan ko, kung ano ang palalampasin ko,” he admits.
The deciding factor, he finally found out, is intent. Does the person mean well, or is he just out to bring him down?
“May mga tao na hindi ka lang gusto. So you have to be very sharp to delineate useful criticism from that which is purely disparaging.”
Boy trusts a select few -- led by long-time partner Bong Quintana -- to tell him the naked truth. Boy’s support system goes back a decade or so in his life. So he knows these trusted few only wants the best for him.
That’s the other secret of Boy’s success. He has longtime friends who tell him things the way they are – out of love, not out of anything else. They help keep Boy’s feet firmly planted on the ground.
“They tell the truth with compassion,” he relates. “You know, telling the truth is an art, especially yung masakit na katotohanan.”
It is this support group, Boy adds, who helps him review the tapes of his past interviews and lovingly points out where he could have done better.
A sister of Backroom Inc. staff and Boy’s longtime friend Bettina Aspillaga, for instance, provides the tapes of Oprah and Barbara Walters interviews which Boy watches intently.
Boy critiques himself for lapses of judgment.
“Baka mali follow-up (question) ko. Bakit ako napunta sa tanong na yon? Baka weak ang umpisa ko sa show,” he tells himself.
The self-inquisition (and the opinion of his support system) is usually enough for Boy’s goal of bettering himself.
When the results show, Boy doesn’t dwell on it. He just moves on to the next story.
Sure, it’s great to get collective nods or a slew of awards. But Boy admits “I don’t validate myself through others’ opinions.”
He just pauses to say thank you, I appreciate it. Then, he goes back to his chair as host, telling himself “you’re still trying to prove yourself.”
Eternal student
Amid all the praise he’s getting, Boy reminds himself he’s an eternal student of hosting – and life.
“It requires courage,” he owns up. It also requires humility to admit one’s flaws and inner peace that comes with accepting oneself, warts and all.
So bring on the next interview! Boy promises “the most riveting , the most engaging is yet to come.”
Meanwhile, Boy squeezes in time between hosting, teaching and studying (he’s taking doctoral studies) for his “Make Your Nanay Proud (MYNP) campaign. The dutiful son who went all the way to bring his Nanay Lesing to Germany for stem cell therapy, put up a foundation to honor mothers recently.
“There are groups that take care of the environment, the poor, the children and many other sectors. I want to focus on mothers because by taking care of mothers, we inspire people to be better people, we strengthen families and we build stronger communities,” he says.
In walking the talk, Boy can’t help but be as convincing as ever.
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