Hosting 101: Read the script, read the room
Anyone with halfway decent speaking skills and a little chutzpah might think that hosting is as easy as holding a mic and reading from a prompter. And then they find themselves… holding a mic in front of a prompter.
Robi Domingo has had no shortage of encounters with such overeager hosting hopefuls with more social media following than experience. They act like they already know it all and think they can do a better job than he can. And to those, Domingo simply says, “Go ahead.”
Before long, they find themselves asking, “What do I do after?” “I’m like, ‘Di ba kaya mo? Gusto mo? Go,’’’ he says, laughing. “So it’s really a challenge to let everyone know that what we do isn’t easy.”
Know your audience
Indeed, Bianca Gonzales adds, there’s more to hosting than meets the eye—or ear. And she must admit, she used to be one of those people who thought that all that mattered was memorizing your lines and not fumbling the words.
But after more than 20 years in the business—hosting news magazine programs, reality shows, and everything in between—she’s convinced that hosting, “while it may not look like it,” is truly a multifaceted art form.
For instance, running a television show isn’t the same as doing interviews. Hosting a beauty pageant or a big live event is a completely different animal from doing a podcast. Regardless of platform or format, however, there are constants to hosting, as Gonzalez and Domingo will tell you—one of which is research.
And it all starts with knowing who your audience is.
“If it’s a live show with an audience, you need to know their profile. You might be given an English script, but if you feel like the people connect more in Tagalog, you adjust,” Gonzalez tells Lifestyle Inquirer. “More than just reading your lines, hosting is also about reading the room.”
No spontaneity without preparation
And this should go without saying, although some make it seem like otherwise: Read up on your subjects. While spontaneity is often romanticized, it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. You can’t ad-lib your way through something you don’t know in the first place.
“A lot of research goes into it. When I host ‘Pinoy Big Brother,’ I study all the housemates’ profiles so that when something interesting comes up on air, I can draw from what I have read and ask engaging questions,” says Gonzalez, whose expansive hosting credits also include “Y Speak,” “Umagang Kay Ganda,” and “Entertainment Live.”
This is especially crucial when hosting an event or covering subjects that are out of your wheelhouse—like the time in 2024 when Domingo had to host a fan meeting for the K-pop group Twice. He prepared for a month and a half, he recalls, listening to their music and using cue cards with each member’s face to help him remember them all. “I was like a toddler learning basic math with flash cards,” he quips.
In fact, so thorough was his research that he ended up becoming a full-fledged Once. “I still listen to their songs!” he reveals. At another event for the K-pop group Itzy, Korean handlers mistook Domingo for the writer and artist briefer after seeing him pore over the scripts so intently.
“They were like, ‘We need you here. Tell the girls what to do.’ And I got it,” he says. “If you know your content, you will be fine—kahit pagbali-baligtarin pa ‘yan.”
Opportunity for levity
But sometimes, all the preparation in the world can’t stop you from being human. Sooner or later, you will mess up. Or maybe it’s the universe’s way of keeping you on your toes—“ikaw ang bunot,” as Domingo puts it.
He will never forget the confused look on Christopher de Leon’s face when Domingo introduced him as ‘Crisostopher’ at a pageant almost 10 years ago. He might as well have gone back to puberty when his voice croaked as he called Sarah Geronimo and SB19 to the stage at a concert. There were also moments during his early years, he reveals, when director and starmaker Johnny “Mr. M.” Manahan’s exacting ways brought him to tears.
But what’s left to do in moments like these but shake it off and move on? “A bad day can happen to the best of us. That’s the beauty of live show,” points out Domingo, who was once a Myx VJ and is now a staple in pageants, talent searches like “Pilipinas Got Talent” and “The Voice Philippines,” and reality shows such as “PBB.”
Besides, making mistakes isn’t the end of the world. Sometimes, it’s an opportunity for levity, Gonzales says. “It’s not about being perfect—it’s also about personality and being quick on your feet. Minsan, ‘yong pagkakamali mo ang nagbibigay kulay or texture sa material.’”
“Preparation is key, but so is listening and reacting to what’s happening in the moment,” she adds.
A living, evolving craft
This brings us to Gonzalez and Domingo’s golden rule: A good host listens more than they talk.
“I once asked my seniors, Tito Boy Abunda and Luis Manzano, what makes an effective host. Is it knowing your spiels, cracking jokes, or building rapport with your subject? It’s being a great listener, they told me,” Domingo relates. “If you listen, you can ask the right questions and give people what they want to hear.”
And don’t just listen to what’s being said on air—listen to how people speak in real life.
“You have to keep your ear to the ground,” Gonzalez stresses. “Audiences in the mid-2010s were different from today’s. The slang and the way people talk have changed. If you’re not paying attention, you will be at a loss when your subject uses an unfamiliar expression or cultural reference.”
It’s for this reason, Gonzalez and Domingo agree, that hosting can never be fully mastered. It’s a living, evolving craft, and the only way to move forward is to keep learning and trying new things. “Iba-iba ang styles, and I try to embrace them all,” Gonzalez says. “We have to explore different ways to present ourselves as storytellers of other people’s stories.”
