Culture

Is Joe the Plumber Michael Chiklis?

by Tina Kells | October 24, 2008 at 12:38 pm

907 views | 5 Recommendations | 3 comments

Bloggers all over the web have been asking a rather odd question lately; is Joe the Plumber really actor Michael Chiklis with a little creative lighting and contouring makeup?

The controversy started when a keen web user noticed the striking similarities between the plumber and the actor and posted a comment on the WordPress blog "Joe the Plumber: Looks like..." Now, stranger things have happened then a campaign hiring an actor to play a concerned citizen, but is Joe the Plumber really Michael Chiklis?

If you are like me your first thought on this is, "I've heard of Joe the Plumber, but who is Michael Chiklis?" He's that guy from "The Shield," which coincidentally will be airing its season finale in the next few weeks. He also plays "Thing" in the latest versions of "The Fantastic Four."

Publicity stunt or genuine voter deception? Is Joe the Plumber an actor, and is that actor Michael Chiklis? Who really cares? But at least we know who can play Joe Wurzelbacher in the movie version of "McCain" as long as Chiklis isn't worried about being type-cast as a plumber.

This Joe, I swear, is Michael Chiklis. And if he's not Michael Chiklis, he should be Michael Chiklis. And what timing: The finale of "The Shield" is just a few weeks away. Amazing, and my congratulations to FX.

I don’t know whether to feel bad for Joe Wurzelbacher, or glad. Joe, for those of you not familiar, was the winner of last night’s presidential debate, because both Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) spent a good portion of it trying to woo him.

Wooing is nice. Unfortunately, with that wooing comes the insatiable appetite of the media, which as we all know (working in it and all) just love ordinary guys like Joe thrust into the spotlight. I mean, seriously, can you get any more generically all American than Joe the Plumber? According to Katie Couric, who spoke to Joe after last night’s debate, he had at least three news trucks outside his home. The man is now more popular than Sarah Palin.

Of course, it helps that Joe is also media friendly, giving pithy quotes and sounding, you know, normal. Oh yeah, he also looks like The Shield’s Michael Chiklis.

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Barry Artiste

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 19:13 on October 25th, 2008

Tina Kells, I like this story. It's good stuff. Naw, can't be, course one has never seen the two of them together elbow deep unclogging a toilet, but who can say Tina. Same can be said about Tina Fey and Sarah Palin.