Everybody always talks about being yourself and staying true to yourself and blah blah blah. I totally get that and I totally agree with that, but sometimes it is fun to be somebody different every now and then. Take Thaddeus Kalinoski. After losing his job as a hotel manager and being left by his wife, Kalinoski was not really loving the skin he was in. To switch it up, he gained 200 pounds and grew a massive beard.
It was after a long look in the mirror that Kalinoski had an epiphany: he looked exactly like Alan, the lovable character from The Hangover trilogy, played by Zach Galifanakis.
In an interview, Kalinoski said,
“…[A]fter not shaving for several weeks I looked at myself in the mirror and thought ‘wait a minute – you look like Alan.’ People started telling me when I was out at night that I looked like him. So for kicks I decided to see if there was some money in doing this as a part time job to earn some extra cash. I moved to Atlantic City to see what people thought and I had some fun, but then me and my buddy went to Vegas for a weekend away — and it all changed.”
Now living in Vegas, Kalinoski now receives money and gifts from tourists visiting sin city. That is not even the half of it though: he also gets paid up to $1,000 for events that he attends as Alan. The appearances are more than just dressing like the character, though. Kalinoski says that in order to make the experience enjoyable for both the customers and for himself, he actually acts like the goofy character.
Sometimes when people go through difficult times in their lives, they go to a therapist and seek advice from self-help books. But it sounds like Kalinoski’s healing process has been going swimmingly thanks to his resemblance to Alan. He even got cast in The Hangover III as Galifanakis’ double due to the uncanny resemblance. It also looks like he has been having a good time, as can be seen in the pictures of his outlandish experiences as Alan below.
Looks like Kalinoski is no longer a part of a one-man wolf pack after all.
In case you were wondering, the last picture is what Kalinoski looked like before he transformed into an Alan look-alike.
