Tropang Trumpo premiered on Philippine television on March 12, 1994 in ABC5, and it wasn't long before it became a household name. With a talented cast that included the wacky trio of Ogie Alcasid, Gelli de Belen and Michael V and a director like Jose Javier Reyes, what could possibly go wrong?
Other members of the cast in the pilot episode were Earl Ignacio, Manny Castaņeda, Noni Buencamino, Shielo Bharwani, Mhalou Crisologo, Ana Abad Santos and Lorna Gay Long.
Tropang Trumpo, a one-hour comedy program that featured gags, spoofs and lampoons, was known to be the "mother" of all local gag shows. It was the show that started it all, so to speak, and paved the way for all the comedy shows that followed thereafter.
Right from the pilot episode, the show gained instant popularity among different types of viewers. It's no wonder that Tropang Trumpo received regional acclaim as "Highly Commended" in the Best Comedy Programme or Series in the 1996 Asian Television Awards held in Singapore.
The show was in fact so popular that two of its lead castmembers, Ogie Alcasid and Michael V, were taken in by another network. It was then that Carmina Villaroel and Smokey Manoloto joined the show to complete the trio with Gelli de Belen.
In 1997, however, Tropang Trumpo was reformatted again and introduced a new powerful ensemble led by the ever-loyal Smokey Manoloto, Sunshine Cruz and Keempee de Leon. Backing up the main cast were Cholo Escano, Cheska Garcia, Meryll Soriano, Sherilyn Reyes and Marco McKinley. Since then, the program continued to dominate the ratings chart until it bowed out in the late 90's.
When it comes to local gag shows, Tropang Trumpo will always be in our memory as the show that made a mark and set a trend in the entertainment industry in the 90's.
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