Ray Bradshaw has met 40 of his doppelgangers since October and has some uncanny .
The 35-year-old comedian has searched high and low for a familiar flash of ginger in the crowd, and a glare of head-shine. When the two images are combined into one human, he hits the jackpot.
That’s right. His doppelgangers – or ‘doppelgingers’ – are bald men with ginger beards.
Since Ray launched his website in his search for The One, over 300 people have sent him pictures, claiming to be his double.
‘Some of them think they look like me, and it’s actually quite insulting,’ Ray told Metro.co.uk. ‘There was one guy who was like 60.’
As part of his odd venture, Ray had a doppelganger convention for which he performed a stand-up comedy gig in front of them all.
Understandably, the neighbours were confused when they saw one person entering the same building 20 times without ever leaving.
‘It was unsettling,’ Ray said, to look on at an audience full of slightly skewed variations of himself.
‘There was 20 bald ginger people,’ Ray said of the peculiar gig, explaining how they all began conflating each others’ different lives into one big, bald, ginger existence.
‘Instead of saying me, I would say we,’ he said.
At one point, the group of lookalikes forgot they were at a stand up gig, and started comparing notes on life.
Two of the men randomly lived in the same village and had never met – but we’re not entirely sure what that tells us about the human condition.
Ray had one savage realisation: how much his hairless comrades hated the fact they, like him, were bald. While Ray doesn’t mind his baldness, others really hadn’t taken too kindly to looking like him… Ouch.
‘A lot of people think being bald is the thing that defines them,’ Ray said.
‘When I chatted to everyone I thought they would have a funny story like I did. No. Some people take it really, really hard,’ he explained.
Many of them went bald in lockdown, when they shaved their heads and it simply never grew back. But Ray looks back in laughter at his balding journey.
‘I was 24 or 25 and I got my hair cut and it was cheaper than usual, and I asked why and the barber said, “Well you’re going bald so I shouldn’t charge you full price,”‘ Ray remembered.
At the gig, no one accepted the invitation of a plus one, for fear of their bald, ginger-loving girlfriends eloping with a doppelganger.
That brings us neatly onto Ray’s observation that every single man in that room was incredibly self-depreciating.
‘I think when you’re bald and ginger you have to be. You’ve got to get people to like you somehow’ Ray joked, proving his point.
Now, Ray is working on a comedy show called Doppelginger about the weird and surprisingly wholesome experience, which has taken him to Manchester, London, and even India, to share a drink with his ginger friends. Scandinavia is also a bald, ginger hotspot, I’m told.
But it all started in Melbourne in 2016. He performed at the comedy festival, and after an audience member told him there was a ginger pride rally happening the next day.
A few bizarre hours and 600 gingers later, Ray was hooked. Every time he sees a bald, ginger man out and about he takes a picture.
No offence, Ray, but just… why?
‘I didn’t want to be another 30 something stand up going on stage, talking about being a dad, or being married,’ he said. He’s got a point.
And has he found The One..? ‘I think I’ve got really close.’
Doppelginger tickets are on sale and available from .Â
