Celebrities, especially those on television, come and go. For every George Clooney, there are ten David Faustinos, so it’s easy to loose track of who’s still working in show business or is even alive.
So imagine the surprise that I had when I was watching High Stakes Poker on GSN the other night. A whole new breed of celebs - pro gamblers - is emerging so it was worth it to watch Sammy Farha do a bad job of bluffing and acting irritated when he got called on it.
With every show like this there are two hosts who I’ve usually never heard of. I looked at one of them and couldn’t place what was a very familiar voice. As he spoke the name Gabe Kaplan popped up on the bottom of the screen.
I stared at the screen. Nothing registered.
Then the theme from Welcome Back, Kotter started playing in my head. HOLY CRAP, IT’S THE GUY FROM THAT TV SHOW! I could barely make out the face after all these years. To be honest, it looked like a bowl of vanilla pudding with facial hair.
I had to investigate how a stand-up comic who had TV show that ended 25 years ago ended up here. Apparently, Gabe is a pretty smart cookie with money. He’s done some serious investing, and gained the poker version of street cred by playing - and winning - in poker tournaments.
That leads full circle back to the GSN show. He’s there to commentate on the antics of the gamblers and perhaps make a name for himself once again. And he’s even doing standup again. It’s cliche, but I’ll say it anyway: Welcome Back.