In the 3rd season of Wings† Jim Tavaré played a comedian who steals Helen Chapel's comedy thunder by doing a stand-up act with the same gimmick she is hoping will make her stand out: playing a large stringed instrument.
Now, Tavaré is making sure everyone knows that there's a comic out there, named Sid Bowfin, who's trying to steal more than his thunder: Tavaré believes he's stealing the entire act.
Tavare has been working hard to shine an accusing light on the would-be doppelgänger. He's been on Twitter asking for help from Robin Ince, Bob Saget, Peter Serafinowicz, Bryan Callen, Neal Brennan, Stephen Fry, the people at Punchline Magazine and others.
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| See, the important difference here, is that while both Tavaré (left) and Bowfin (right) are checking their mics, Bowfin has updated the material by using a wireless mic. Tavaré never though of that. |
The similarities pretty feasibly go beyond mere coincidences. Both wear white tie and tails on stage, use a member of the viol family as a prop, sport a slick scalp, have similar websites (Tavaré's page, Bowfin's page), speak with a British accent (that might be coincidence), and even work with some similar extended premises on stage.
Here's a video of Tavaré doing a bit about a malfunctioning mic and keyboard.
And here is Sid Bowfin doing his own take on the technical troubles.
It might be worth noting that one of Tavaré's early jokes was "Good evening. My name is Jim, I'm going to play you music spanning several centuries. Hope you've got the time."
And his admirer says on stage: "Ladies and gentlemen, hello, my name is Sid Bowfin, and I'm here to play you some classical music for the next four hours! Are you excited? You should get out more."
Use this information as you will.
UPDATE: A comment has been posted under the name "Sid Bowfin" over at Punchline Magazine's article about this story. The article is a reprint of Tavaré's letter to Punchline, wherein he makes his case.
Bowfin's entire response to the accusations are as follows:
You’re right, I can’t deny it any longer I have stolen my entire act from you, which probably explains why it’s so bad. This whole article is like an argument between two prostitutes over who caught herpes first, there are no winners here and the losers are the comedy loving public who have now had their conciousness [sic] infected with our comedy STIs.
If this is the real "Bowfin", what we have here is a petty pickpocket complaining that there wasn't enough money in the wallet he stole, and concluding 'this makes us both look bad.'
† Episode 18: Take My Life, Please — 27 February 1992
