Las Vegas Tourist Finds Lookalike at Flamingo Pool, Photo Goes Viral

Posted on: September 2, 2022, 02:00h. 

Last updated on: September 2, 2022, 03:30h.

Sean McArdle was enjoying a lazy swim at the Flamingo Las Vegas pool when he ran into someone he didn’t expect to see: himself.

Not only did the other man resemble McArdle, he sported the same beard, white hat, and glasses. (Most people who wear glasses remove them to swim.)

McArdle — a 46-year-old comic book creator, filmmaker, and an adjunct college professor at Kent State University — was in town to help celebrate his buddy Dan’s 40th birthday.

Oh, So That’s Why You’re Laughing at Me

Relieved to realize why a large group of people had been pointing and laughing at him, McArdle swam over to his doppelganger. Half-joking, he asked if he happened to be Seth Rogen, the 40 Year Old Virgin actor whom McArdle is commonly mistaken for.

They both posed for a photo that McArdle uploaded to the popular Reddit forum r/funny. “I wasn’t convinced until now,” McArdle captioned the photo, “We are definitely in a simulation.” That thread has so far garnered 96K upvotes and led to an interview on The Today Show.

“I look over and it was like looking in the mirror,” McArdle told NBC-TV’s national morning program. “I’ve seen guys who’ve had similarities to me. But man, this guy just looked just like me. It was pretty surreal.”

Reddit Reaction

Most of the Reddit thread’s 2.3K comments expressed similar shock. “Glasses, hat, even the right amount of face stubble,” wrote one Reddit user. “The only thing that would make this better is if they both had chest hair.” Another user wrote: “You two should get a DNA test. One of your parents has some ‘splainin to do.”

Not everyone was as convinced by the resemblance, however. Another Reddit user posted: “There are 3 of you guys at every brewery.”

Uncomfortable Reaction at Home

McArdle told Today he has two teens — 13 and 17 — who reacted differently to the viral meeting of the Rogen lookalikes.

“My youngest thought it was pretty funny,” he said. “I finally have something that has more views than she does from TikTok.” McArdle said the photo caused his 17-year-old boy anxiety, however.

“COVID hit at a weird time for him and his life,” he explained. “So he’s kind of having some social anxiety and stuff. He was having secondhand social anxiety when he saw it, seeing two complete strangers so close to one another.”