LIFE IMITATES STAND-UP

There’s an old Bobby Slayton routine in which Bobby describes going down to the DMV, where he sees a fellow working the cash register, someone “from one of those dickhead Third World countries - Pakistan, India, Nicaragua...” who is wearing a name tag that says “Kashir.”  So Bobby says to the guy, “Isn’t that amazing?  Your name is Kashir, and that is what you do!”

As he puts it in his routine, “Twenty years of stand-up comedy, and this is the funniest thing I’ve ever said.”  The catch being, of course, that “...the son of a bitch doesn’t get it!”

A few weeks ago when I had occasion to hire the services of one of Cobb County’s finest, I found myself in a kinda-sorta similar situation.  This fellow was no immigrant - well, he was from New Jersey originally - but what amused me no end was that his name was Leo.

It’s an especially appropriate name for a shamus, since LEO is popular shorthand for Law Enforcement Officer.  So, of course I had to channel the spirit of Bobby Slayton and say to him: “Isn’t that amazing?  Your name is Leo, and that is what you do!”

At least this guy got the joke.

In somewhat unrelated  - yet strangely connected - news, Senator Arlen Specter passed away this past Sunday at the age of 82.  Which, presumably, gives Saint Peter (or whoever it is that checks tickets at the Pearly Gates) the chance to say, “Isn’t that amazing?  Your name is Specter, and that is what you are!”