the one liners that men do

Chatting with Yankee Joe over the phone.
I am singing my own praises.
"So I've written a dingbats dictionary. And it says: The number of the beast is (045) 897302 but if you're calling from outside Ireland add the prefix (00353) before you dial. Isn't that the funniest thing you've ever heard? Sheer genius."
There was  a silence.
"Do you get it?" wondered I.
"Y-e-es," said he without much enthusiasm.
"Do you even know what the number of the beast is?"
"Of course I know what it is. It's 666. Iron Maiden had a song about it."
"I think it might have been in the Bible before Iron Maiden used it," I said cautiously. "I mean they might have gotten it from the Bible as opposed to the other way around."
A thought struck me.
"You didn't actually think the number came originally from an Iron Maiden song?"
"Well that's where I heard it."
"I'm telling you Saint John the Evangelist used it in the Book of Revelations long before Iron Maiden walked among us."
I started to laugh.
I was finding the source of his knowledge nearly as hilarious as my own original joke.
In my minds eye I could see it.
Iron Maiden in rehearsal.
Bruce Dickinson, Bowler Baines, Slasher Toole and Fingers Wilson the drummer sitting around jamming.
Bruce Dickinson says: "Ere guys we need a number for the beast."
Bainsy says: "How about 417?"
Bruce Dickinson says: "No, too prosaic."
Slasher Toole offers: "Why not (045) 897302?"
Dickinson says: "Too Irish."
Fingers Wilson suggests: "555?"
Dickinson says: "You're getting closer. You've got something there. I definitely feel something when you say that."
And Bainsy says: "666?"
The rest is history.