I’m Not Mike White

Sometime around 2006, something very strange started happening: At social events, people I didn’t know would consistently remark upon my resemblance to the screenwriter and actor Mike White. And then I began to get confused for him on the street, as in random strangers would approach me to request my autograph and then become a little hostile when I would demur and try to explain that I wasn’t him. I even had a particularly bizarre experience once checking in for a flight when the agent at the airline counter insisted she knew who I was—despite my open passport in front of her.

For a very long time I had the intuitive sense that I was supposed to do something artistic with this string of encounters, but I couldn’t figure out what exactly. Also, during the period when I was being confused for him, he wasn’t anywhere nearly as famous as he is now, which made these interactions even more confounding and the idea of a solo show a little pointless. But good for Mike that his consistently excellent work had endeared him to many more fans than the media coverage about that work would seem to have indicated. 

I’ve followed the pop-culture progress of The White Lotus with great interest, from its initial cult status to its current position as a global phenomenon and meme-producing machine. I’ve been a fan of the show from the beginning, and I love how much he’s provided a spotlight for actors whom Hollywood have long under-appreciated: Jennifer Coolidge. F. Murray Abraham. Parker Posey. It was after watching the finale of the second season that I finally figured out what this piece was meant to be. When my friend Ben Rimalower reached out to me literally the day after that episode aired, inviting me to do something at Green Room 42, it felt like the stars had finally aligned.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Ben, as well as to my director and co-developer Bob Gilbo. I’m also deeply grateful to Alex Ortwein and Isaac Bush at Brooklyn Art Haus in Williamsburg for providing me with an artistic home for the subsequent runs of the show. Check this space for upcoming performances, and if you are interested in reading a section of the show, you can do so here.

Premiere: January 2023

Venue: The Green Room 42 at YOTEL Times Square

Written and performed by: Tim Cusack

Directed and developed by: Bob Gilbo

Stage manager: Nellie Beavers

Producer: Ben Rimalower

Revised version premiere: May 2025

Venue: Brooklyn Art Haus

Producers: Alex Orthwein and Isaac Bush