Remembering Ate Gay: Comedian known for song mashups

As tributes poured in for Ate Gay following his passing on Sunday, it wasn’t just celebrities and fellow comedians who mourned his death. Ordinary Filipinos also took to social media to remember the laughter he brought into their lives through his signature song mashups.

Born Gil Aducal Morales, the comedian tickled the funny bones of countless Filipinos with his signature song mashups, seamlessly transitioning from one tune to another and often blending local and international hits in unexpected and hilarious ways.

Following the announcement of Ate Gay’s death, Filipinos took to social media to share compilations of their favorite song mashups by the late comedian.

Among the fan favorites was a mashup of Bruno Mars’ “Just the Way You Are” and Fred Panopio’s “Kawawang Cowboy,” in which Ate Gay begins with the line “When I see your face” before abruptly switching to “May baril, walang bala, may bulsa, wala namang pera,” as featured in a 35-minute compilation uploaded to YouTube on Monday.

Some mashups feature songs released years apart, like when Ate Gay weaved together Jireh Lim’s 2013 hit “Buko” with the Neocolours’ “Tuloy Pa Rin” from the 1990s.

Ate Gay begins with the line “Dumaan man ang maraming Pasko, kahit na,” before seamlessly transitioning to “Tuloy pa rin ang awit ng buhay ko.”

In another mashup, Ate Gay combines Juan Karlos Labajo’s “Buwan” with Jaya’s “Wala Na Bang Pag-Ibig,” starting with “Sa ilalim ng…” before seamlessly transitioning to “Pag-ibig, walang hanggan.”

In another compilation shared on Facebook, Ate Gay hilariously transitions from Rihanna’s “Disturbia,” singing its catchy “Bum bum be-dum, bum bum be-dum bum” hook, to the Christmas carol “Little Drummer Boy” with the line “Come, they told me, pa-rum, pum-pum, pum.”

In another mashup, Ate Gay starts with the opening line of Beyoncé’s “If I Were a Boy” before unexpectedly switching to “sa puso’t diwa” from “Ako’y Pinoy.”

Ate Gay also put a humorous twist on another Beyoncé hit, the power ballad “Listen,” singing its opening word before seamlessly transitioning to “Sa iyong paglisan, ang tanging pabaon ko…” from Color It Red’s “Paglisan.”

Another video that resurfaced online shows clips from what appears to be Ate Gay’s guest appearance on a Sarah Geronimo show aired on ABS-CBN.

In the clip, Ate Gay begins with “Share my life” from Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing” before humorously transitioning to “All alone in the moonlight” from “Memory,” a song from the musical “Cats.”

Showing no shortage of witty song combinations, Ate Gay also puts a hilarious spin on Adele’s “Someone Like You” by blending it with Aegis’ “Luha.”

“Don’t forget me, I beg, I remember you said,” he begins, drawing from the English singer’s song before shifting to, “Pag-ibig at pagsuyo na kahit na sa luha mababayaran mo.”

Morales passed away “peacefully” on Sunday, his family announced in a statement. He was 55.

Ate Gay had previously battled cancer. On October 30, the comedian suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with septic shock and acute respiratory failure secondary to pneumonia.