On ‘Jeopardy!’ Phils Phanstormer goes for win No. 3

Thanks to a couple of furious comebacks, South Jersey's Brandon Libby returns on Jeopardy! tonight as a two-time champ.

The syndicated quiz show airs on 6ABC at 7 p.m.

Libby, 33, who grew up and lives in Mount Ephraim, was in third place going into Final Jeopardy on Thursday's and Friday's shows, but each time he alone came up with the right question.

(Want to test yourself? The answers were "1 of 2 American women authors nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938" and "The traditional inaugural lunch for this President & V.P. featured boiled stuffed lobster & prime ribs of beef au jus." See correct responses at article's end.)

So far, it's been quite a roller-coaster ride so far. After years without success, he finally passed the online test last January, then got invited to a New York tryout, before getting the go-ahead for the real deal in L.A.

On both shows (taped with only a short break in-between) he fell way behind - more than $1,000 below zero at one point Friday - before his glorious comebacks, scoring $31,600 in all.

Then he got ripped online for not fully defending the Phillies during Thursday's on-air mini-interview. Libby, an actor and improv comic, told host Alex Treberk about working for the Phillies as a Phanstormer, which involves helping with birthday celebrations, the Phanatic's hotdog shoots and prize giveaways.

Trebek said, "This year, the team didn't speak for itself quite as often . . ."

"Hey, hey . . . hey, hey, hey . . ." said Libby in a mock-warning tone.

". . . as it could have," said Trebek.

"Hey!" said Libby.

By phone this morning, Libby said he wasn't going to trash his boyhood idol for a pretty tame dig, but thought he still gave some attitude.

"Alex is the best," Libby said. During breaks, the host of nearly three decades, talked to the audience, the crew and contestants.

"He is a great, great guy. . . . He's very genuine."

"I really didn't care if I won or lost," Libby said " . . . It really was just an honor to be there."

Libby does improv with the N Crowd on Friday nights at the Actors Center, Third and Vine, in Philadelphia. He and city-dweller Mike Connor also performs parody songs - "folk, rap, funk, punk, rock, all the genres you can think of" - as the Hopper Brothers.

So far, Libby has no plans for his loot - which won't arrive till May, the show told him - except that "I'm going to try to use it make more money."

No, that doesn't mean a trip to the casinos.

"They already got enough of my money," he said.

As for the Final Jeopardy solutions: Pearl Buck won the 1938 Nobel Prize for Literature, and Libby correctly asked about the other nominee: "Who is Margaret Mitchell?" JFK and Lyndon Johnson - a New Englander and a Texan - went for lobster and prime rib.

To see past answers and questions on most Jeopardy! shows, go to www.j-archive.com. Libby's shows were incomplete as of this morning.