Bruce and Me

OK, so it's official: I look like Bruce Willis.  I've always wanted to think I looked like Bruce Willis (at least since I started shaving my head), but I never felt justified in making the claim on my own.  I needed external confirmation.  You can't pick your own nickname, and you can't pick your own celebrity doppelganger.  These are the very pillars of civilized society.

So who offered me this external confirmation of which I speak?  1990's country star Collin Raye, that's who.  Last week after one of his recent concerts at the Desert Star Playhouse in Murray, I was hanging out with Mr. Raye backstage* discussing the extended piano/guitar solo at the end of the early 1970's Derek and the Dominos hit "Layla" when he interjected the following:

"Has anyone ever told you you look just like Bruce Willis?"

Doppelganger confirmed.

That was Wednesday night. On Saturday, I was out in North Salt Lake at a clubhouse party when my buddy Tyler and I chose to approach a girl who looked a lot like Meg Ryan. That resemblance, in fact, was our method of breaking the ice with her.  Then Tyler continued the game:

"So what famous person does my friend here look like?" (indicating me)

"Bruce Willis," she said, without skipping a beat.

So there you go.  Two unrelated confirmations that I look like one of the baddest action heroes to ever grace the silver screen (or the small screen, I might add; I've been a big fan of Bruce ever since his "Moonlighting" days). Truth be told, my sister has maintained my resemblance to Mr. Willis for several years now, but I always dismissed it because she is legally and genetically obligated to make me feel good about myself.

But Collin Raye and Meg Ryan aren't.

Yippie Ki-Yay.

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*A future post will clarify the circumstances of this exchange, but for now I will just sit back and let it fester in your totally-blown minds.