Separated at Birth

NaturalBlog returns to its roots today, with a very special Separated at Birth. New readers should check out this feature's spacious archives.

Here are Bill Nye the Science Guy and Matthew Lesko the question mark guy. Bill Nye is beloved by children and nerds alike for teaching science. Matthew Lesko is an author who will teach you how to get free government money. This pairing came to me when I was dressed as Lesko for Halloween and somebody said, "Who are you? Bill Nye?"

By popular request, here is Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and BJ Novak, the fictional Ryan Howard of NBC's The Office. The similarities here are pretty clear. Both are/were bearded. Both are/were understudies. Neither has taken his team to the playoffs.

Here's my first-ever pairing of web sites. Here's the newly redesigned wbur.org and the old grey lady of the web, nytimes.com. Somehow, the NYT's corporate attorneys have yet to contact WBUR about its "homage." The resolution at right is a little small, so check out those links.

Keep 'em Separated (at Birth)

Ladies and gentlemen, I present the latest installment of a NaturalBlog staple, Separated at Birth.

Leading off, let's go with Sacha Baron Cohen in his role as Ali G and Mike Maddux in his role as Texas Rangers pitching coach. My friend at SportsCracklePop flagged the Maddux picture, and I did the rest. This resemblance is downright creepy. Are we being punk'd by Maddux?



Next we pair Dom DeLuise (RIP) and chef Paul Prudhomme. I've always gotten these two confused, thanks to their larger-than-life personalities and similar taste in headwear. It's easier to tell them apart lately, though, since only one of them is alive.



That's football writer Peter King on the left. On the right is George Wendt as barfly Norm Peterson from Cheers. Now I know what you're going to say -- I think all fat people look alike. Not so. Just those two above, and these two here.

You Are Separated at Birth

Here are a some birth separations, courtesy of loyal readers.

First, crooner Neil Diamond and public television stalwart Charlie Rose. This suggestion comes from the K-Man, who loves Neil Diamond because of his connection to Fenway Park and loves Charlie Rose because it's required at the school where he studies.



Next, from Cha Cha Pitoulas of New Orleans, we have disgraced financier Robert Sanford and disgraced actor Dabney Coleman. They both used to work 9 to 5.






And from K-Don, we have Styx singer Tommy Shaw and Spaceballs' Prince Valium, as played by Jim J. Bullock. Look for Jim J. Bullock in an upcoming installment of the NaturalBlog's where-are-they-now series, "Dead or Alive."

Separated at Birth

It's been too long since we've been Separated at Birth, you and I, so let's get back to that one-time staple of the NaturalBlog. Here are a couple facial repeats spied at last night's Golden Globes.

(Quick aside. This is what it's like to watch the Golden Globes with me: "Wait,
who is that?" "Is she famous" "What was he in?")

Okay. On to the pics.

On the left is Mark Osborne, director of Kung Fu Panda with a blonde lady. On the right is Boston-area car salesman Ernie Boch with a blonde lady. I think the glasses are the key to this bit. No specs and they'd be unseparated at birth.




How about actor Shemar Moore from CBS's Criminal Minds and Jason Taylor of the Washington Redskins. I thought Taylor had retired, but I guess I was wrong.





A face so tight from plastic surgery. Blonde hair that wants to be darker. Renee Zellweger definitely reminds me of Cindy McCain. They both sort of look like this train wreck.

Separated at Birth: Sunglasses Edition

That's Stewart Copeland, the drummer from The Police, on the left and man-about-town Andy Dick on the right. I think Copeland looks vaguely like John Tesh, too, but I couldn't find a picture that showed the resemblance. I saw The Police a couple weeks back and they were great. It was my first open-air concert, believe it or not.



Making good on my goal to talk about the Olympics each day this week, please enjoy this picture of South Korean archery gold medalist Im Dong-hyun. He's paired with Erik Estrada from the Ponch days.




I saw on one of my news sites that Katie Holmes is looking more and more like her husband Tom Cruise. I'm not even sure which is which in these photos on the right. I cropped those pictures, but click that link above to see how skinny Katie has gotten. You'll also see her outie.

A long-awaited Separated at Birth

It's been too long since we delved into the world of facial repeats, so please enjoy this edition of Separated at Birth. Each of these pairings was suggested by readers.

An eagle-eyed coworker suggested that Spain's King Juan Carlos and its foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos are reminiscent of Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets. One of these duos has appeared on the blog before.



A long-time reader I've never actually met suggests that singer Clay Aiken and criminal suspect John Karr could be long lost twins, thanks to "sculpted eyebrows and flat hair." One of them has been on the blog before.



And finally, my patient reader The K-Man offers up this triple. He says that Vice President John C. Calhoun (VP from 1825-1832) looks a lot like actor Willem DeFoe, but with the hands of Mr. Burns. The K-Man notes, "Unfortunately for posterity, he was the first Veep to have his photo taken."



Please don't forget to to check out previous Separated at Births via the label link that's below this text.

Separated at Birth

Longtime reader and regular blog commenter Biff Tannen has been suggesting for ages that I pair the chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke (l.) and actor Jeffrey Tambor (r.) of Arrested Development fame. I'm finally relenting not only because they do resemble one another, but because she was kind enough to cut and copy the photos for me.



This one I came up with on my own when I saw news this week that Miami Heat coach Pat Riley (r.) was retiring. Have you ever seen Riley and NPR sports commentator Frank DeFord (l.) in the same place at the same time? I sure haven't.



When you see a gross white pony tail, are you looking at comedian George Carlin (l.) or New England furniture pitchman Eliot Tatelman (r.)? Tough to tell.

Separated at Birth returns

It's been a while since I examined the idea of genetic repeats, so I'm happy to again present the NaturalBlog staple Separated at Birth.

Here we have Spain's president Jose Zapatero, who was reelected earlier this month, and Rowan Atkinson, who you probably know as Mr. Bean. I don't know much about Pres. Zapatero, but I can only imagine he's a lovable but hapless leader who always finds himself in awkward situations.



On the left is the U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. On the right is Boston University men's basketball coach Dennis Wolff. I was hoping to write this week about how Wolff had guided the BU Terriers to an NCAA tournament appearance, but now I have to settle for this entry instead.



You may have spent the last couple days wondering who disgraced former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer reminded you of. My sister-in-law suggested Gollum. In the very first Separated at Birth, I said he looked like former Steelers Coach Bill Cowher. Later, I suggested Steely McBeam. Now, I let him stand alone (with only his brain), as he does on the latest cover of New York Magazine.

Separated at some crappy cartoon

It's been more than two years since I inspired vitriol by saying I don't like the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer TV special you see every Christmas. Having just watched it once more, I was surprised that it made such good Separated at Birth fodder.

As soon as I saw the cartoon narrator Sam the Snowman, I thought of that old Norelco ad with Santa using a razor as a sled. I wonder which came first?




Here are Hermey (Hermie? Herbie? Herpes?) and his blonde doppelganger Macaulay Culkin. Both have been in holiday classics, and that's close enough for me.



Happy Christmas to all.

Separated at Decider

It's another melding of my two signature series, Separated at Birth and You are the Decider. These were both passed along by readers.

Do you think the surging Mike Huckabee looks a little bit like Kevin Spacey? The Huck plays guitar, while Spacey sings, as he did in Darin. I say close enough to put it on my blog.


Why on earth does a guy taking as tough a line on immigration as Mitt Romney put a Che Guevera-inspired image on a t-shirt? What is going on here? Has the whole world gone mad? Yes.

You are the Separated at Birth

I had such a great time when my occasional political series You Are the Decider and my gimmicky Retro Week collided a few weeks back, so I'm please to try it again, this time with You Are the Decider and N-B's longest running gag Separated at Birth.

Behold.

Alan Keyes is my kind of presidential candidate, a long-shot kind of guy who tells it like it is. If Marvin the Martian were more loquacious, I imagine he'd be the same kind of straight talker.




And speaking of people who don't have a shot of winning the presidency, here's Dennis Kucinich and Gollum, a pairing passed along by my good friend Biff Tannen. I will say this, Kucinich's wife is hotter than Gollum's.



And finally, here are Ghostbusters II villian Vigo the Carpathian and right-wing white knight Fred Thompson. One of my anonymous commenters passed this on, and I have to say these two are dead ringers. If we do elect Thompson, hopefully he's a better ruler than Vigo was.

Did you notice that each of these candidates is paired with someone fictional? I wonder what that says about our political process.

Separated at Birth: Baseball playoffs edition

The baseball playoffs are fertile ground for "Hey, doesn't he look like that other dude?" activity.

Let's start with the World Series. Watching Jeff Francis get killed by the Red Sox the other night, I thought he looked a little bit like former Met pitcher Ron Darling (both pictured below). Hopefully Francis and the Rockies don't do to the Sox what Darling and the Mets did in 1986.



It was pointed out that Indians manager Eric Wedge kind of looks like actor Martin Kove, the love-to-hate master of the Cobra Kai dojo in the Karate Kid. Had Fox miked him during the ALCS, we might have heard him telling C.C. Sabathia (not a music factory but a pitching factory) to sweep the leg.


And finally, the piece de resistance. Jowly Josh Beckett, seen here in the embrace of another man, is a ringer for animated Glenn Quagmire of Family Guy fame. They've also dated the same number of women, roughly 65,397. Awww, yeah.

Separated at "Has he lost his marbles?"

The consultants I paid to review the site said "Keep it fresh," so here's a new take on a NaturalBlog staple: Separated at birth, non-human edition.

At left is Cutie, a cat who lives in Jamaica Plain. At right with laser beam eyes is Abita, whom Mrs. N-B and I cat-sat after she was displaced by a hurricane. To be fair, I guess all cats kind of look alike.




And in a pairing sure to rile somebody up, I dare you to tell the difference between Wyoming and Colorado. I took the labels off to make it harder on you, but I think there are enough context clues left for you to figure it out.




How about the 2005 Hyundai Elantra and the 2002 Saab 9-3? It would be a lot less expensive to buy the Hyundai, but you make significant sacrifices to style.

News of the Weird

In his defense, it was an undercover policeman. "If you're looking for weed, my roommate Ferrante has some for sale" is a bad thing to yell from your dorm window in front of a policeman. Just ask 18-year-old Michael Emery, who is facing drug charges along with his roommate Matthew Ferrante, also 18. They were kicked out of Northeastern University before even attending the first class of their freshman year. Dopes.

Orville Redenbacher: Death monger. A dude from Colorado has a serious and rare lung condition because he eats too much microwave popcorn. It has to do with that delicious fake butter, which is apparently toxic in high doses and linked to a bizarre condition called "Popcorn workers' lung." The Colorado man had a two-pack a day habit and told his doctor: "I am Mr. Popcorn. I love popcorn."

This story has inspired a special Separated at Birth: Killers Edition. Orville Redenbacher, Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Never seen 'em both in the same place.

Separated at Birth

The man on the left is a self-described pedophile who for some reason gave a TV interview to a station in California. He clearly took tips on how to be clandestine from one of the Spy vs. Spy spies, on the right.




When I saw Red Sox teammates Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz celebrate a homer, I thought of another enjoyable duo, Laurel and Hardy, who are seen here in animated form.





And speaking of sports, busy blogger Bean Stringfellow pointed out that the Pittsburgh Steelers new mascot Steely "Insert your own joke" McBeam bears a striking resemblance to former Steelers coach Bill "The jaw" Cowher.




Which makes me wonder if the transitive property applies to separated at birth. In the very first installment, I paired Cowher with New York governor Eliot Spitzer. Does that mean the governor and the mascot look alike? Spitzer says, "Just a bit."

Separated at Birth

This pairing comes from my only regular international reader. Mowgli from the Jungle Book (seen at far left with his friend the snake) and clay master Rafael Nadal (seen with his friend the racket). You'll note that Mowgli could only turn into Nadal if he worked out. A lot.




Sticking with sports. When I saw Los Angeles Galaxy soccer player David Beckham pretending to be a real football player, I couldn't help but think of Sting, wearing an equally ridiculous getup.

Separated at birth

You might remember actor Joshua Malina from The West Wing. You probably don't remember Jamie Gold, last year's World Series of Poker champion. These guys are a legitimate separated at birth duo, unlike most of the people who appear in this series.







Keen-eyed reader Cedar suggested this pairing. Not so much a separated at birth, she said, as much as a father/son body-swap sort of thing. Both played doctors, both are gay. That's enough similarities for me.









I admit this is kind of a stretch, but how about New York Mets outfielder Endy Chavez and New York Mets mascot Mr. Met. They both always seem so happy. Also, those eyebrows.

Separated at Birth jumps the shark

Ok how about everybody's favorite wizard Harry Potter and everybody's favorite pimp Deborah Palfrey? I guess it's the glasses, or maybe the fact that Harry becomes known as the Hogwarts Ho'master in J.K. Rowling's upcoming Potter installment.








Sign you're a dweeb: The newly elected French president Nicolas Sarkozy reminds you of Kid in the Hall Kevin McDonald. Both are foreign, and that's close enough for me.








Tired of simply matching people with other people, here's a look at Providence's Oyster Bar (photo courtesy) and the Drunken Clam, which is the bar from the hit cartoon Family Guy, which is set in Rhode Island. Pretty close, but the animators put the hydrant and lamp in the wrong spot.