What's with all the celebrity lookalike contests?

If you've ever been told you look like Timothée Chalamet, or if you've been on the internet in the last month or so, then chances are you've heard about the celebrity lookalike competitions taking over the globe.

These events, which have been inspired by the likes of Paul Mescal, Jeremy Allen White and Dev Patel, have brought together large crowds of people in some of the world's largest cities. The prizes range from $50 vouchers to a FaceTime with Glen Powell, and all come with their 15 minutes of internet fame.

Today on Commotion, culture critics Amil Niazi, Jason P. Frank and Riley Yesno join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to talk about how the unusual yet whimsical events have caught — and kept — the world's attention.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, including a review of Moana 2, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Jason, what is going on? Why are we seeing celebrity lookalike contests basically everywhere right now?

Jason: There's a casualness on the Internet these days that people really are all of a sudden taking into the real world. These aren't Elvis impersonators. These aren't Dolly Parton impersonators. These are just some guy. Like, even the winners, you didn't fly here because you look like Timothée Chalamet. You are a guy in New York who kind of gets told you look like Timothée Chalamet, right? That's who this is for. This is not for the people who look the most like someone. This is for the people who have a sort of vibe, which I think is great.

There's something fun about the fact that it's local, right?... If you put in too much work, that's embarrassing, a little bit, for these. That's why I think you see so many memes about people wanting to use it as a dating technique. You want to go and check out who's there that you can hook up with, because these guys are pretty accessible. They just showed up that day…. I think there's something very 2024 about that: taking the classic, high-level, really intense field of celebrity looking-alike, and then making it into the most casual version you possibly can.

Elamin: Riley, I take seriously the idea that these are casual, which makes them feel very authentic, very grassroots-ish, you know? Like, I saw at the Glen Powell lookalike contest his mom was one of the judges, and I was like, no, trying too hard. No need to call Glen Powell's mom. Please don't do that. That makes it weird.

Jason: And that's Glen Powell overall. Poetic work.

Elamin: Exactly correct. But Riley, could I just ask you, what void is being filled when the thing that is nourishing us right now is lookalike contests?

Riley: It says something about the times, doesn't it? I agree with Jason that this is something that I think could only happen in this year. We've had impersonators before, but this is something more about a community laugh, a community meet-up, and that's a very nice thing. We're talking about these celebrities anyways; we're analyzing their looks all the time, but it's usually just reserved for either tabloids or comment sections. And so, finding ways to give people access to actual face-to-face conversation about the things that they're already talking about, it makes sense to me that this emerged.

However, I think this is only really possible for men because, you know, it's the white boy of the month, every month. They all kind of look the same to me. Also, I saw somebody posting about how they wanted to do a Zendaya lookalike contest, and then they were like, that is nothing more than a public humiliation ritual.

Elamin: The vibe will be different there, yes.

Riley: Absolutely. And if you remember Love Is Blind and that whole drama about that woman that was like, "I look like Megan Fox," she just got eaten alive on the internet.

Elamin: It was a really mean sort of outpour.

Jason: And she looks like Megan Fox! I see it.

Elamin: She does, that's a real thing. Amil, what's your read on all this, on why these things travel around the Internet so much?

Amil: I have no idea why they do. It makes no sense to me at all. The only thing I really think is yeah, there's no way this could happen for women. I think maybe the bar for masculinity right now is just so low that this is how they're filling in intimacy. Like, this is their replacement for intimacy. It's like, we could all just be in a space and commune together, and it could be about our looks as opposed to, like, desperately needing to talk about the male loneliness epidemic. So I just have to think it has to do with that, because I cannot wrap my head around why this is a thing. When I was a kid, you had to learn to sing and dance. You had to buy a wig. You had to at least have some sequins on your outfit to even qualify as a celebrity lookalike.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jess Low.