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Stephen Dubner, co-author of Freakonomics, has a question for you, prompted by a recent dinner at the midtown Benihana. Who is Celebrity X?

And one table over was a large party including someone that all of us recognized, whom we'll call Celebrity X. A year ago, I don't think many of us, if any, would have recognized Celebrity X — even though he/she was pretty well known some 20 years ago. You could even say notorious. But that celebrity dimmed quite drastically. If in recent years you thought of this person at all, you probably would of thought of her/him as somewhere between a has-been and a clown.

Thanks to a couple of recent television shows, however, Celebrity X is back on top. This would seem to be due in considerable measure to an impeccable sense of timing.

The first correct guess wins a copy of Dubner's book, hooray. The leading candidate seems to be Flavor Flav, and that may not be correct, but we enjoy the thought of Flav rocking the crap sushi joint. A better guessing game: Is Freakonomics so bottomed out in the remainder bins that Dubner is reduced to baiting publicity traps with toothless celebrity fluff?

Comeback Player of the Year? [Freakonomics Blog via Boing Boing]
[Photo: Getty]