the author of sixteen books, including "billion dollar bunco", which covers cons and scams, lovell starred in a one-man off-broadway show called strange and unusual hobbies. it ran for over eight years at the soho playhouse, and the wall street journal complimented it as "a dazzling 70-minute show." the well-reviewed show combined lovell's off-the-wall sense of humor with demonstrations of his uncanny card cheating and "jaw-dropping" magic.