Joey: "Ano sa tagalog ang grasshopper? Five seconds…"

Contestant: "Ahhh… (thinking)… ahhh… Huling Hapunan!"

The next thing was a riot in the studio, as if it was the Last Laughter. The hosts were floored and the floor director was hosting trying to put back things in order in the show. There were tears in my eyes. There was uncontrollable laughter of amusement and shouting. It became the talk of the town the next two weeks and now it belongs to "Eat Bulaga’s" collection of classic amusing moments.

There’s nothing really funny about a tipaklong or a grasshopper, except maybe it’s "klonky" sound in tagalog. It’s never been a cartoon character or featured in any funnies. The nearest representation of its kind would be Jiminy Cricket who is Pinocchio’s conscience. And that’s about it. What more about Leonardo Da Vinci’s masterpiece The Last Supper? Nobody expected there would be "fireworks" when the two meet. It was indeed a Da Vinci goad… to the funny bone! "Tipak" talaga sa kakwelahan for a Long time. We were Hopping with laughter, para bang naka-Grass!

And speaking of an unexpected "Da Vinci goad," the next one is another unforeseen Da Vinci encounter. This is the real thing. I did not really expect to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper in one of my European trips. Here’s what happened…

When "Eat Bulaga" did two concerts in Italy called "Bulagaan sa Italia" in May of 1994, I was with Vic Sotto, Joey Albert, Ruby Rodriguez, Chiqui Pineda, Richie D’ Horsey, Francis Magalona, Christine Jacob and my wife Eileen. We did a show at the Tenda Strisce in Rome and another at the Palatrussardi in Milan. During our wait in the fashion capital of Italy and while everybody was marveling and enjoying the sights around Piazza del Duomo, Eileen and I decided to break away from the main group and went on our own. We visited the Teatro La Scala and some small museums nearby. And as we continue walking around, we came across a church and as we always do in our travels, we spend a little time praying in the first church we see. It was the Chiesa Di Santa Maria Delle Grazie. As we entered, we noticed a lot of people silently standing on a dimly–lit area on the left looking up a wall with scaffolding. The platform was about five or seven meters high from the ground. And as I move closer, I could see something like colors and design on what it seemed to be a very old wall. And little by little, the design on the wall started to become familiar to me. Then the goose bumps! Yes, it was The Last Supper of the great Leonardo Da Vinci! I was awestruck. All I could do was mumble and stood still. It was a huge mural. I learned later that it was undergoing painstaking restoration since 1977. And five years after the visit, the restoration was finally completed.

And if there would be another unexpected Da Vinci link–up in the afterlife, I have readied two questions for him –first, what is the truth about the so-called Da Vinci code… and the other question: Ano ba talaga sa tagalog ang grasshopper?