Jose Maria Ramos de Leon Jr. (born October 14, 1946), popularly known as Joey de Leon, is a Filipino comedian, actor, television host and songwriter. He is one of the members of the comedy trio, collectively known as TVJ with Tito and Vic, who used to host the longest running noontime variety show, Eat Bulaga!. He is one of the co-founders of TVJ Productions and is currently the main host of the noontime show, E.A.T. which airs on TV5 Network.
Early life
De Leon was the second child of Jose Seoane de Leon (1918–2008) of Spanish Filipino descent, and Emma Manahan Ramos (1925–2019). His paternal grandfather was the first mayor of Malolos, Bulacan. When he was three years old, his parents divorced. His father then moved to Madrid, Spain and eventually remarried.
Career
Prior to being an entertainer, de Leon earned his architecture degree from the National University in Manila. He was also a disc jockey for 12 radio stations when he was starting out. De Leon started his showbiz career in the 1960s as a radio disc jockey and announcer. He worked for 12 radio stations, including all seven radio stations owned by ABS-CBN Corporation as well as other broadcasters like KBS. His first big break on TV was IBC 13's gag show OK Lang.
Tito, Vic and Joey
In 1975, de Leon became a co-host of GMA Network's late afternoon variety show Discorama hosted by Bobby Ledesma. He invited his former co-stars at OK Lang, the Sotto brothers Tito, Vic and Val, to join him at Discorama. Only Tito and Vic accepted de Leon's invitation. The newly-formed trio began to do comedy newscast segments interspersed with Top 40 hit-song parodies. Originally, the trio's appearance was supposed to be a one-off invitation as Discorama was set to be axed but after getting good feedback from the viewers and ratings were high, the show was given a new lease on life by GMA management. The trio was later invited to become part of the noontime show Student Canteen as they released 12 albums based on their Discorama Tough Hits segment.
The sitcom Iskul Bukol gave them nationwide fame as comedians. Soon after, other TV and movie offers came knocking on the trio's door.
In 1979, Tito, Vic and Joey began hosting the noontime show Eat Bulaga!, which was pitted against the more established Student Canteen. Not long after, Eat Bulaga! toppled Student Canteen from the ratings. The trio is still active on both Holy Week Dramas every Lenten Season and also on comedy variety show on Eat Bulaga!.
Solo artist
Although de Leon continued to do movies alongside his showbiz teammates Tito and Vic, he started doing solo performances for other TV shows. He top billed Joey and Son in 1982, a sitcom on RPN where he played father to a young boy named "Jeffrey Laperal" played back then by Ian Veneracion. He was also one of the gag performers on TODAS where his co-stars included Jimmy Santos and Val Sotto. Other TV shows included Apple Pie, Patis, Atbp., the Sharon Cuneta Show, and Let's Go Crazy. He was launched by Viva Films as a solo comedian in She-Man: Mistress of the Universe. He also tried his hand at directing films like Romeo Loves Juliet and Small, Medium, Large.
De Leon's films include Starzan. De Leon did several TV shows for GMA Network and ABC. In 1995, he made a film comeback via the comedy Bangers for Viva Films as well as Pipti-pipti, Ang Tipo kong Lalake and Takot Ako sa Darling Ko. He hosts Eat Bulaga! which is now the longest-running TV program in the Philippines, and appears in other shows like Mel and Joey, Startalk, Nuts Entertainment and started a new show for ABC, the now-defunct Teka Mona, which replaced Wow Mali, his long-running TV show on the same network. He started hosting Takeshi's Castle with Ryan Yllana. He is also the resident judge of the annual reality-based star search StarStruck and writes the entertainment column "De Leon's Den" once a week in the Philippine broadsheet Manila Bulletin.
In December 2006, de Leon returned to recording with a novelty song he wrote titled "Itaktak Mo" ("Shake It Off"). Seen by critics as his answer to the other wildly popular hit "Boom Tarat Tarat" (written by Lito Camo and sung by de Leon's rival host Willie Revillame), "Itaktak Mo" was softly launched on Eat Bulaga! shortly before the Christmas season. In January 2007, the song was launched on de Leon's album, Joey to the World 2 and gained airplay in most FM stations. "Itaktak Mo" has also become part of Eat Bulaga!s segment "Taktak Mo o Tatakbo" that replaced "Laban o Bawi", and is also one of the official dances of the 4th batch of the reality talent search StarStruck.