Last night I watched a Columbo from 1974, which was excellent for its fascinated use of reel-to-reel tape recorders. At one point, Columbo encounters an answering machine and isn't quite sure what to make of it. He leaves the following message:

Hello ... this is ... lieutenant Columbo ... with the Homocide division .... Please give me a call at the main precinct.... The number is ... you can look that up ....

1. He nearly always investiages the wealthy. The shtick of the show is that the wealthy/connected murderer believes he's (I've only seen one episode with a female villain) smarter than Columbo. I'm curious about whether Columbo's doofus act would work with people who aren't so arrogant. He does seem to adopt a different level of competence when he's talking to others.
2. How much of Columbo's goofiness is supposed to be an act? He's clearly meant to be manipulating the villain with his disarming manner. I ask because of the finale of this last episode. Columbo goes to confront the murderer for the last time. He brings along a paper bag with the crucial evidence in it. When he moves to pull out the evidence, though, the first thing he finds is a sandwich in wax paper. "Oh. That's my lunch. Don't worry about that, sir."
   
   Why was his sandwich in there? We can assume he went to the precinct to pack his bag 'o evidence. We can also assume that he doesn't need his goofy act any more—the crucial moment in each episode is the moment where he sheds that act and nabs the murderer. Yet Columbo put his sandwich in there.