Have blonde - will travel

Hard to believe, but supercomputer Watson isn't the only game show debutant on Valentine's Day. Second City alumna (gotta get the Latin gender right) and improv comedy specialist Beth Melewski will take the wheel for the first time on Cash Cab this Monday.

The taxi-bound quizzer has ventured to Chicago for a new season, which will premiere after new episodes from old reliable Ben Bailey in New York. Beth paused from her wheel-turning duties long enough for an interview with chicagoist.com, not to mention a few photos in front of Wrigley Field.

Lucky for Beth that she's acquired a thorough knowledge of Chicago's highways, by-ways and no-ways. She says the taxi license exam made the SAT look like kindergarten. Hey, I sure wouldn't know how to "get from Rush Hospital to the Drake Hotel." Beth also recounts some of her more unusual adventures in the cash-dispensing taxi. Like when two semi-drunk guys recognized her and chased after the cab until she finally let them in.

She says that quite a few would-be game players bailed out of the quizzer because they were in a hurry or just couldn't be bothered. All in all, the Q&A sounds a lot like interviews I've read with her New York counterpart. But Beth says she's never even met Ben Bailey, which is just as well. She has to do her own thing instead of a lame imitation. She'll get enough comparisons, anyway.