Long
If that fellow who has been winning this week on the “Jeopardy!” television quiz show looks familiar, it’s probably because of Lawrence “Skip” Long’s links to the local area including once working at a Pilot Mountain business.
“I always knew he was really smart,” Scott Needham, owner of The Living Room Coffeehouse and Winebar on East Main St., said of his association with Long, which began when that establishment, now closed, opened around 2012.
“He’s always been super-smart,” Needham added Wednesday, although the thought that Long — who lives in East Bend — would be a contestant on the long-running television program never really occurred to him.
“It makes a lot of sense now.”
Long was the winner on “Jeopardy!” Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights and entering the show on Thursday evening had amassed a three-day winnings total of $74,792. Those games actually were recorded in November and just now are being broadcast, with the eventual outcome of Long’s run not publicly disclosed until that runs its course.
He upended a three-day champion in his first appearance on Monday, Emma Saltzberg of Brooklyn. Long is billed on the show as a nursing student and “stay-at-home” uncle for the daughter of his sister.
Many people in the area who know Long have been tuning in each day for the show that airs at 7:30 p.m. on Channel 2 (WFMY).
Needham, a member of the Pilot Mountain Board of Commissioners, said he was notified about Long’s appearance on the TV show by Nicki Farrington, who also worked at The Living Room Coffeehouse and Winebar.
“He was one of our first employees,” Needham said, along with Farrington.
“We hired him because he had a lot of knowledge about wine, and was a sommelier (trained wine professional),” the Pilot Mountain man recalled. “And we had a wine bar, so that was really beneficial.”
Long worked at the Pilot Mountain business for several years, Needham said, until it closed.
“He was a really smart guy,” he mentioned, not just about wine but in other areas.
Long possesses a bit of a show business flair that has translated to the TV screen this week.
“I have a background in theater and he does, too, so we really hit it off,” Needham observed regarding that aspect.
“He’s part of an improv group out of Winston, The Bunker Dogs.”
Long also loved to entertain during open-microphone nights at The Living Room Coffeehouse and Winebar.
“He would always get up and sing,” Needham said, with Long being quite a crowd-pleaser with his choice of entertaining songs. “They were just hilarious.”
The Pilot Mountain man, who still stays in touch with Long, pointed out that his father is an attorney and he “comes from a pretty intelligent family.”
Witnessing him taking the Alex Trebek Stage under the bright lights of Sony Pictures Studios in California this week has been interesting, Needham said.
“It was kind of funny seeing him,” he disclosed.
“He had kind of an Alex Trebek moustache,” Needham explained in reference to the longtime host of the show who died in 2020, noting that Long usually is clean-shaven.
“I just wondered if he did that (grew some facial hair) for the show.”
The last person with local ties to make a splash on “Jeopardy!” was Hunter Appler, a six-game winner in 2016 who later appeared on its Tournament of Champions matching those who win five or more times.
Appler is a graduate of Mount Airy High School and the son of Dr. Mark and Kate Appler.
Tom Joyce may be reached at 336-415-4693 or on Twitter @Me_Reporter.