Yesterday I went to hear the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra perform at Millennium Park in Chicago. We arrived late, but still managed to get seats fairly close to the stage, probably owing to the fact that it was nearly 100 degrees. The first thing I noticed was that the orchestra was wearing shorts and polos. It gave it a very casual feel, which was fun. And then I noticed was the conductor.
He was wearing all black, and danced around the podium like he was a Jet in West Side Story. He would crouch a little and sway side to side and then he would jump up with a sweeping arm motion to signal a big dramatic moment in the music. He was great fun to watch, but did not look familiar. I checked the program to find that he was guest conductor James Gaffigan.
I looked back up at the stage and evaluated: short, dark hair, conducting the Grant Park Symphony. Nope, definitely not the comedian. But I got to thinking about how interesting it would be to be a famous person who shared a name with another famous person. I wondered if they had anything in common. So I did a little research.
Aside from their names, I was able to uncover very little that the James Gaffigans have in common. To keep these two same-named individuals straight, let’s call the comedian Jim and the conductor James. The similarities between the two include the following:
- They are both exceptionally successful in their chosen professions
- They are both married
- They both have kids (but Jim has 5 while James has 1)
- They both were “born” in New York (James literally, Jim’s comedic career was birthed in the Big Apple)
- They both have jobs that begin with the letter C
And there is where the similarities end, at least as far as I was able to determine. Who knows, maybe Jim dances like a Jet sometimes. Maybe James comments on his own conducting in a high-pitched voice. Maybe they are both Cancers (Jim is). Who knows...
But for now those are the 5 commonalities of the James Gaffigans.
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