7 Celebrity Fakers You Won't Believe Fooled The World
Let's face it, we might make fun of those out-of-touch Hollywood stars and their crappy movies, but most of us would still turn into fawning groupies in their presence. Would you not shit your pants if Brad Pitt knocked on your door right now, or if Harrison Ford suddenly crashed a vintage fighter jet on your front lawn? We can't help but love celebrities -- and, sometimes, that love clouds our judgment a little. Don't believe us? Meet the foremost Leonardo DiCaprio impersonator in all of Russia:
Both Russian Leo and the Russian Oscar look quite larger than the originals.
It's not just this dude; lots of regular schmucks are using the power of vaguely resembling famous people for more than just groping random women on the bow of a pretend ship in a mall food court. And some have managed to take it surprisingly far, like when ...
A Blatantly Fake Jim Carrey Was Invited To The Czech Oscars
The Czech Lion Awards are essentially the Czech version of the Oscars, celebrating Czech filmmakers, Czech actors, and politely tolerating the hijinks of whoever the Czech equivalent of Steve Martin is. Not surprisingly, organizers of the event were thrilled to hear from Jim Carrey's representatives, informing them that the actor would like to swing by, since he was in town filming a movie.
Presumably Ace Ventura: Czech Detective.
The only problem was: It wasn't Jim Carrey. It wasn't even Jamie Kennedy. In fact, the guy looked less like Carrey and more like that ventriloquist dummy from Goosebumps. People should have really seen through the ruse, though, when he took the stage and instead of quipping "All righty then" or "Somebody stop me," he didn't say a goddamn word ... because the impostor didn't speak English.
"Are we done here? I gotta be Jason Segel at another ceremony."
Then he fired a confetti gun in the air like a maniac, because apparently people in Prague think Jim Carrey is Rip Taylor.
After that, "Jim" just walked away, leaving the confused presenter disappointed that she didn't get to ask the beloved comedian about his body of work.
"But he'd only answer questions about Layer Layer and The Musk."
Insanely, even after a guy who didn't remotely look like Jim Carrey walked on stage and treated their awards show like a tacky wedding reception, the show's host vehemently asserted that it was the real Carrey, stating that skeptics simply "did not have a chance to recognize him." Of course, the whole thing turned out to be an elaborate prank by a TV show that wanted to get some random nobody on an awards show. At least that way the winners in the technical categories didn't feel so alone.
A Bono Impersonator Attended A Party, Was Promptly Grilled By An Angry Blogger
Pavel Sfera is a professional Bono impersonator, which frankly doesn't seem to consist of much beyond owning a leather jacket and the right sunglasses. Sometimes he gets paying gigs as a celebrity lookalike, but other times he just hangs out at places where Bono's supposed to be, such as outside a stadium before a U2 concert -- which whipped fans into a frenzy despite the fact that you could hear the band doing a sound check at the same time.
"Those are just my bandmates, The Edge and ... uh, Ringo?"
On one occasion, Sfera got more than he bargained for. Hanging out at a party in a recording studio, he was confronted by right-wing blogger and author Jason Mattera. In an ambush interview, Mattera takes "Bono" to task for U2's business practices, never realizing that was basically talking to a human equivalent of a Madame Tussaud wax dummy.
In the video, Sfera doesn't even have an Irish accent, which seems like kind of a giveaway, considering Bono is the most famous Irishman that isn't peddling marshmallow cereal. Also, presumably because Sfera had some kind of dead uncle who taught him about the responsibility of wielding his great power, he has rules for pretending to be Bono, one of which is that he never actually tells people he's in U2 ... but he won't correct them for thinking it. So, while he never comes out and says, "I'm not Bono, you stupid jackhole," he actually answers all the questions honestly, denying that he did any of the things Bono had done.
Earlier on, Mattera got some pretty shocking statements from a coat rack
that kinda looked like Chris Martin.
Of course, none of these subtleties were picked up by Mattera, who not only concluded the interview, but went home, took the time to edit it together with a bunch of dumb graphics and over-dramatic music, and then uploaded it to the Internet.
The video was picked up by a number of conservative websites, then immediately taken down when it became painfully obvious that it wasn't Bono. After the fact, Mattera claimed that he was "punked," a reference to that show where Ashton Kutcher stands silently at a social gathering and somehow tricks strangers into confronting and filming him.
20/20 Interviewed Buckwheat From The Little Rascals ... 10 Years After His Death
Investigative news shows will sometimes air some random puff piece at the end of an otherwise hard-hitting episode -- or alternatively give airtime to the rambling mania of a cranky old man fulminating against all of the fruit in the grocery store.
In 1990, one episode of 20/20 capped off the broadcast with a story about the actor who played Buckwheat in the Our Gang comedies, more commonly known as The Little Rascals. Buckwheat was now working as a grocery bagger, which is a pretty dignified fate when it comes to former child stars. Despite being poor, however, the man, whose name was Bill English, was amazingly upbeat and cheerful, making the piece a truly inspirational story.
Then again, his positive outlook wasn't so surprising, considering he was supposed to be fucking dead.
Pretending to be a Little Rascal is courting the Grim Reaper.
With America not ready to believe in the necromancing powers of Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters, it came out that this guy's story was total bullshit. He didn't even share the same name as the original actor, William Thomas, who died in 1980. This wasn't a small incident, either: The producer of the segment was forced to resign, leading to the cancellation of upcoming interviews with Groucho Marx, Elvis, and Joan of Arc.
Most insanely, Bill English, who it seems was a few members short of a He-Man Woman Hater's Club, still continued to insist he was Buckwheat, appearing on TV with the actor who played Spanky to debate the matter.
"Fine, I'm not actually Buckwheat. I'm actually you."
Andy Warhol Sent A Double On An Andy Warhol Speaking Tour, Out Of Pure Laziness
Andy Warhol led a pretty remarkable life; he was one of the cornerstones of the pop art movement, he discovered The Velvet Underground, and most notably, he made a movie where Batman was Dracula or something. In 1968, Warhol was booked on a college speaking tour to share his wisdom with students across the country. It was pretty inspiring ... except for the tiny detail that it wasn't actually him but his official double.
"I wanted to find out how those artists I ripped off felt."
The merits of some of Warhol's art is up for debate, but come on, this is just laziness. It's not a stroke of conceptual genius; it's an episode of Three's Company. Warhol dressed actor Alan Midgett in a wig and sunglasses and sent him on the road, letting him keep the money colleges shelled out because he'd appeared in some of Warhol's films for free. Of course, the only people Warhol cheated were the youth of America -- but, hopefully, ruining their burgeoning love of art was worth not having to pack a bag and leave his penthouse.
Surprisingly, the hoax actually worked for several gigs, despite the fact that Midgett's transformation into Warhol seemingly amounted to purchasing an Andy Warhol costume from a Halloween Superstore.
"You hired me a guy called Midgett? No, I wanted a mini-me, dammit!"
The plan's ultimate undoing was the fact that Warhol's impersonator didn't know what the fuck he was talking about. Complaints of how terrible the show was, coupled with the fact that an art teacher who had met Warhol became suspicious, led to the truth coming out. Warhol claimed he sent a fake in his place because he was more "talkative" and "dashing," which is code for "I don't wanna put on pants today (or this whole month)."
A Random Homeless Guy Convinced People He Was The Drummer From KISS
It's hard to recognize the members of KISS when they're out of their ridiculous costumes, with the possible exception of Gene Simmons, who gives himself away with his large tongue and inability to not act like a giant piece of shit. Take for example Peter Criss, the drummer who sported the adorable kitty-cat makeup, because apparently KISS was founded at a 9-year-old's birthday party.
He quit in 1980 when he found out the band's name isn't CRISS.
Would anyone even recognize this guy out of costume? The answer is nope, no way, as proven in the early '90s when a man came forward claiming to be Criss, now homeless and living on the floor of a Santa Monica men's room.
Which, to be fair, should be the expected result of rock-and-rolling all night and partying every day.
After the story broke in a tabloid, KISS fans gave the guy a place to stay, celebrities like Roseanne and Tom Arnold visited him, and a woman who claimed to date Criss in the '80s bought him a first-class plane ticket to Boston -- because even a guy who uses urine-soaked tile as a bed shouldn't be forced to endure the nightmare of flying coach.
Meanwhile, anyone who had bothered to properly look into the situation probably would have found that Peter Criss was living comfortably with his wife and 8-year-old daughter. He didn't even know about this impostor until a visit to see his dying mother, where his "freaked-out" brother asked him what the fuck was going on.
It turned out that the homeless guy, whose real name was Christopher Dickinson, lost his ID and just started calling himself Peter Criss because he was "mixed up from alcohol" (the alcohol also probably prevented him from conjuring the name of a cooler rock star to impersonate). Eventually, both Criss and Dickinson appeared on Phil Donahue's show to clear everything up.
By this point, Criss was working as a Rod Stewart impersonator.
Hopefully the real Criss never befalls some kind of Ponzi scheme, because if he ever does end up on the streets and needs help, no one will believe him.
A YouTuber Holding A Fake Oscar Had The World Handed To Him
Looking to crash the Academy Awards but lacking the god-given talent of randomly looking like an actual celebrity (Paul Giamatti's stand-in not being a celebrity per se), YouTuber Mark David Christenson tried a different strategy. He showed up to the Oscars in a tux with no ID other than a fake Academy Award -- and a pretty bad one. As he pointed out to ABC News, his Oscar had hair and was holding a wreath instead of a sword.
Which the real Oscar wields in case anyone makes fun of the fact that he's bald and naked.
And yet, the fake Oscar had the same effect Axe Body Spray allegedly has: Everyone around it lost their common sense and rational thinking. Christenson breezed through two checkpoints of Oscar security full of guards and cops (aka, the "Keep Gary Busey Out" task force).
This was in 2015, so DiCaprio asked the same thing.
Of course, you can't get into the actual theater without a ticket ... but you can get into the premises and be treated to free food and booze.
Unfortunately, he didn't go to the bathroom to find out what sort of free stuff you get offered there.
He also got into a VIP after-party with no ID, something even goddamn Beatles can't always manage.
"I've seen Totally A Real Movie No Seriously at least five times."
But even if it was a real Oscar, there's absolutely no reason he should have been given the keys to a BMW that wasn't his after claiming to lose his valet ticket ... which is exactly how his night ended.
Under L.A. law, the attendant who hesitated had to be executed.
At other points during the night, he got free stuff from a 7-Eleven, a ticket to the movie he supposedly won for (The Theory Of Everything), and a shitload of hugs from people who "remembered" his speech. Look out for the sequel, where he pretends to have a Golden Globe and people punch him for no reason.
A Fake Bradley Cooper Did A DJ Set, In Costume, At Sundance
A lot of news outlets recently reported on the fact that a guy who kind of looks like Bradley Cooper was showing up at Sundance parties, leading to what one media outlet described as "chaos."
If that's what Jeff Goldblum was talking about in Jurassic Park, it really doesn't seem all that bad.
The guy seems to just want to hang out at some cool parties, because, other than having a YouTube account, vaguely resembling an A-list actor is probably the only thing he has going for him right now. "Bradley" breezes through security, chatting with fans and posing for pictures with people who don't find it at all odd that Bradley Cooper is wearing sunglasses in a super-dark nightclub.
"We did always suspect you were a giant douchebag."
Apart from the fact that he was being all Corey Hart-like, the moment that really should have tipped people off was when Bradley Cooper randomly decided to perform a DJ set. Not just in his street clothes, mind you, but in the chef uniform he wore in the movie Burnt -- which everyone seems to accept as a thing actors do sometimes.
After that, DiCaprio showed up to spin some tunes wearing a hollowed-out horse corpse.
Not-Bradley was reportedly ejected from the party, sadly before adding that he was available for weddings and bar mitzvahs. Adding to the confusion, the fake Bradley Cooper himself has a twin brother -- and if this isn't proof that we're all living inside one of Charlie Kaufman's screenplays, what is?
J.M. McNab co-hosts the pop culture nostalgia podcast Rewatchability, which can also be found on iTunes. Follow him on Twitter @Rewatchability.
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