Mike "C." Bucuvalas, in a familiar pensive pose, will host this week.
P. Wolf, Outfoxed by a Visitor, Will Host
So P. Wolf was hanging out at the corner of Whitman and Main today when this fresh-face chap walks by looking a little dazed.
"You look like a native," he says to P, who responds with an inscrutable tilt of the head. "I only give directions once a day," he says. "And then only if you grovel."
"I'm from out of town and I was just wondering if you can you tell me where Slices Pizza is?"
"Okay," says P, "maybe. But first, let's see how good you are at trivia."
"Shoot, Big Guy."
"Name three famous left-handed, Jewish bocce ball players who lived on Ocean Parkway in the late 'fifties." P says.
And damn if this guy didn't reel off Lefty Lefkowitz, Marty Berserkowitz and Sammy "The Ear" Levine like they were bosom buddies of his.
So P. and this chap start comparing notes and before you know it, they're going mano a mano about fakakta card games they've played in. P's says, "I'd invite you to our weekly not-poker-by-a-long-shot night, which is going to be at my house this Wednesday, but I'm afraid you'd never be able to catch on to the some of the intricate games we play."
"Oh, yeah? Like what?"
"Like Hexadexasuicide," says P.
"Well, I've got a few tricky ones up my sleeve myself," says this visitor, who introduces himself as David Seth Kotkin but says he goes under the stage name of David Cooperfield.
"Really," says P. "Well, nothing's too tricky for me."
"I'm sure. But I can tell your tells just from speaking to you here on the corner."
"Bull dingy," P. responds. "No one can tell my tells except, maybe, Bobaloo. And George the Greek."
"Tell you what," says Seth/David, "I'm going to send you an email just to prove I know exactly what you're doing at all times."
And so he did.