Reading Boys Night Out

Ideally, that is, given the adult topics often discussed, they should be on the air late at night or better yet, in the early hours of the morning. This is to safeguard the tender ears of young listeners who might unfortunately or on their end, luckily tune in to their show. This is also to protect this talkative trio from the watchful ears of the Kapisanan ng mga Broadcasters ng Pilipinas or KBP who might just find their show offensive and reprimand them, fine them or worse, yank them off the air.

On the other hand though, having Boys Night Out on the air over radio station Magic 89.9 from six to 10 in the evening makes driving home from work so much fun. You might just find Sam YG, Tony Toni and Slick Rick talking about current events, celebrities, relationships, sex or the best ever, confessions, theirs or by their callers and celebrity guests, who are only too eager to reveal their innermost secrets to these sympathetic, albeit mostly irreverent guys.

Boys Night Out is a radio talk show that has been on the air for nearly 10 years. It started as a short segment about hot topics, sort of a tabloid newspaper on radio with King DJ Logan and CJ the DJ. Public reaction was positive and it soon became into a full-blown talk show. DJs Tony Toni (Anthony James Bueno), the G.O.A.T. or The Greatest Of All Time and Slick Rick (Eric Virata), The Boy Next Door, were added to replace CJ who left for another show. Soon, Logan also opted out and rising comedian Sam YG (Samir Gogna), also known as The Original Indian Sensation was drafted to take his place. Thus was born the Boys Night Out triumvirate as we know it today.

To these guys’ credit, they do carry out intelligent discussions about assorted topics. Dished out with their sense of humor, these can be most enjoyable. They remind me of the naughty guys who use their brains and their mouths to gain laughs and of course, attention, instead of getting into dangerous scrapes to prove their point. Well, I admit they are not above making fun of people at times, but as long as they keep this in check and done in the spirit of fun, then I guess, it’s OK.

The popularity of the show and of the hosts has already translated itself into a weekly TV version, the talk show Boys Ride Out on Solar News Channel. They also have a clothing line of statement shirts and it is not unusual anymore to hear people using Boys Night Out terms in regular conversation. You know like MOMOL for “Make Out Make Out Lang,” which means nothing serious, we’re just making out or Feeling BFGF for casual, nothing serious but still feeling close relationships and others.

There are more of these hashtags in the book Boys Night Out in I Need Space. That’s right, Tony, Slick and Sam have written a book and it is out in the stores. That is the reason why I am writing this piece. I read the book and I laughed several times. So why not tell others about it? I am sure readers will get the laughs and maybe even learn something useful from the wacky threesome.

The boys have compiled the hashtags they make up in the show and turned them into topics for the book. For example, there is #Singledays, which talks about the advantages, makaka-gimmick ka anytime you want or of the disadvantages, ang laman ng kwarto mo ay puro lotion at tissue, of being single. There are also their takes on the assorted sentences that come after #iloveyoubut, like #iloveyoubut may boyfriend na ako!; or buntis na ako at hindi ikaw ang daddy; or pasaload muna; or the worst of all, #iloveyoubut I need space.

There are lots more of these in the book, which could be serious if you want it to be as it can also be informative. Find out what the new meaning of Hipon is or of #HuliKaBalbon. There are also topics like #itdidn’tworkoutbecause, #commitmentissues, #convincing lines, #WordsAfterBreakup and others presented in lively entertaining Taglish with pictures to boot, in the Boys Night Out book, I Need Space.

Word of warning, like the radio show, the book is not suitable for minors. It is the first release from ICON, a label of the Viva PSICOM Publication Corp.