Tony Blair Lookalikes

Went to the English Poker Open party last night in Nottingham, it was fun enough. The 'entertainment' for the night was a Tony Blair lookalike. Thats just what you need for a room full of poker players who probably venture out rarely and know very little about the real world, half of them not even from the UK - someone impersonating a former prime minister. The poor bloke died on his arse worse than any stand up I have ever seen, and I used to work in a comedy club.

It did get us wondering about the life and income of a celebrity impersonator. Colchester Kev and I agreed that he probably got at least a grand for the appearance, probably two grand. This was after all an event that (otherwise) pulled out all the stops and was put on for a lot of people with money. Whats more, it reminded me of hearing about what the rate the guy who played Blakey from on the buses charged for one hour back in 1997 - £5000. Now obviously Blakey was the real Blakey, but still, nice work if you can get it.

Edit: Found out - a neat grand for two hours. A David Brent lookalike gets about £1300 for the same time and a Borat lookalike gets £1700.

Probably serves me right for taking the mickey out of him, but on the way home I broke down about 8 miles from my house in Chesterfield. Thankfully plenty of my fellow motorists saw the opportunity to beep me and call me a wanker while I was stood in a laybay waiting for the AA. The clutch went on my car, which normally would be really gutting but I had a real sense of gratitude about the whole thing, as daft as that is. Because I was lucky I broke down near my house, on a hard shoulder, the AA guy came really quickly, I have never had any problems in nearly four years with this particular car and I live about 10 doors down from a clutch specialists. All in all, it could have been much worse. I was more gutted that my naughty little dog tore up his new cushion that cost £20 when I got back than this, which will probably cost me £300 minimum.

We'll wait and see what the garage says I suppose, I am hoping to get down to DTD again at least once while the EPO is on, so lets see if I am still optimistic when I get my quote.