Posted on 12/11/2017 8:07:52 AM PST by Gamecock
HOUSTON - So what happens when a guy who looks and dresses like Joel Osteen goes to a Joel Osteen “night of hope?”
He gets free parking, gets into the venue and poses with Joel fans, of course.
For about 45 minutes, a Los Angeles comedian pretended to be Houston's very own Joel Osteen at an Osteen worship event in California on Oct. 28.
He got all the way from the parking lot to the stage just by pretending to be the popular pastor.
Is he or isn’t he? Well, that wasn’t even a question on their mind when dozens at the Joel Osteen event welcomed, hugged, and even took a selfie with who they thought was Houston pastor Joel Osteen live in person.
“It wasn’t a video that we wanted to do. It was a video that we had to do," said Mike Klimkowski, impersonator and comedian with the with the Dabs Den sketch group.
Klimkowski has looked like Osteen, well, you know, all his life.
“Everyday they look at me, and before they even say anything, I go, 'Joel?' And we both start laughing, and they go, 'Yeah, that’s it. Joel,'" Klimkowski said.
But he started acting like him six years ago and decided to put it to the test.
“Everyone sort of just believed that he was Joel. There was hardly any skepticism," director John Parr said.
Until the team basically got kicked out.
“Seeing how far we can get, and it almost led us to getting arrested," Klimkowski said.
But we wanted to know if this impostor would pass in Houston, so with KHOU 11 News reporter Janelle Bludau's camera and laptop, we stopped by Doshi Coffee House. And what we found out is when you play Klimkowski by himself, one can be fooled.
But side by side, Houstonians know the difference between Osteen and "Faux-Steen."
“He’s a lot younger, so it’s easier to tell," one customer said.
Klimkowski says he just hopes the real pastor finds a little humor in the fake one.
“I hope he would laugh about it, and I hope he would want me to come down there and do an opening 5-minute set for him with me and my boys," Klimkowski said.
KHOU reached out to Osteen's team for to get the pastor's reaction to the video. We haven't heard back on that yet, but the team did want to clarify it wasn't their security who escorted the comedian and his crew out.
Using the term “Fake Joel Osteen” is kinda redundant.
How could they tell a fake from a fake?..................
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How could they tell the difference?
Your best clone now.
That.
“Fake Joel Osteen” is sort of like “Genuine Imitation Plastic”
My sentiments exactly. He’s so affected it’s ridiculous. And what’s with the eyelash batting??? He bats his lashes more than high school girl.
Great point! Did the impersonator blink his eyes a lot?
People always told me I looked like Cy Curnin, from The Fixx. I was Facebook friends with him for the brief time I had Facebook. Never actually met him. He’s mostly into environmental causes these days.
People who blink a lot when they’re talking are lying or at least don’t believe what they’re saying. Watch him when he’s not talking. No blinking.
And the ridiculous smiling is so offputting. This goes for many Bible teachers, including the perpetual smile of Chuck Swindol, who I used to respect. Do they offer surgery for that?
My fave televangelist is — and has been for years — Freddie Price. Just plain-spoken gospel, no affectations whatsoever.
If you give these preachers money you can be happy like them. It won’t work if they look sad.
No one can hold a candle to the late J. Vernon McGee, IMO, though. What a solid rock in Christ. His recorded teachings are still very popular and extant in radio land.
Poor Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. Someone should have cued him into the secret of televangelical success.
So there two fakes on stage?
I guess one thing to not lead to another.
He could’ve been a mega-church preacher raking in mega shekels. Poor guy.
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