Tales from the Theme Park #13

Last Sunday’s mailbag reminded me of this story.

When you work a theme park caricature stand you meet a lot of people. Every once and awhile I’ll get told I look like some celebrity. In the 80’s when I was just a kid I heard John Travolta quite a bit. Jon Cryer from “16 Candles” a lot as well. Once I got into my late 20’s early 30’s the one I got all the time was Paul Rieser. In fact, here’s an example of one of the more forgettable ones:

I’m in my mid 30’s drawing at Valleyfair one summer day when two really good looking 18-20 years old girls sit down for a caricature. I’m drawing away when one of them says “You know, you look a lot like a TV star… I can’t remember his name.”

Me (flattered): “Really?”

Her: “Yeah! You are a dead ringer. He’s been in a couple of really big shows. What is his name??”

Me (feeling all cool and shit): “Well, I get that sometimes.”

Her: “I know! Still can’t remember his name but he’s that guy from “My Two Dads!”

Her: “… not the good looking one. The other one.”

Me: “…”