Leonard Cohen & X-Files Cigarette-Smoking Man – Lookalikes Or More?

Once again, an operative of the  Leonard  Cohen Lookalike Detection and  Monitoring  Organization has ferreted out a Cohen clone.

The latest sighting of a Cohen copy¹ is documented in this dispatch from our intrepid, albeit highly vexed special agent, Ellie at Two Gray Rooms:

This is something that has been vexing me for a long time, so I’m just gonna come out and say it. YOU GUYS. Is it just me, or does Leonard Cohen bear a terrifying resemblance to the Cigarette-Smoking Man from The X-Files?

OBVIOUS CONCLUSION: When poets age, they morph into hideous shadowy figures of ’90s pop culture.

A COINCIDENCE THAT FURTHER VEXES ME: When I googled Leonard Cohen to supply adequate pictorial aids, a site showed up called “The Leonard Cohen Files.” HA HA HA THE INTERNET AGREES WITH ME. AND THE INTERNET IS BINDING.

Of course, my immediate response, after making a mental note to get Agent Ellie into a 12 Step Devexation Program as soon as possible, was the realization that the X-Files connection would certainly explain a lot about the LeonardCohenFiles.

Leonard Cohen And Cigarette-Smoking Man Parallels

The Heck Of A Guy  investigatory staff has turned up information which may, I fear,  vex Ellie even  more.

First, note that the images of Cohen shown below distributed about the photo of the X-Files Cigarette-Smoking man (in top left corner) emphatically verify the similarities between the two men.

Second, and this is big, the smoking behaviors of both men are congruent.

If the name of a character is “Cigarette Smoking Man,” one should not surprised to learn he smokes a lot.² Some, however, may be unaware of the extensive use of tobacco in Cohen’s case.

Perhaps an idea of the amount of smoking Cohen did can be garnered from Cohen’s own estimate that he has smoked “millions of cigarettes.”

More details about his smoking can be found at the Heck Of A Guy post, Leonard Cohen – From Marlboro Man To Anti-smoking Troubadour.

Further, as the title,  Leonard Cohen – From Marlboro Man To Anti-smoking Troubadour, indicates, Cohen’s brand of choice was Marlboro.³

As for the Cigarette Smoking Man, according to  the Indy Props web site:

The infamous “Cigarette Smoking Man” smokes only Morley brand cigarettes, a fictional tobacco product invented for The X-Files. This replica cigarette box is entirely hand made from scratch based on original props. The design of the packaging is obviously based on Marlboro, but it has been modified in several ways. The crest has been changed and the “filtered cigarettes” caption has been blanked out. This replica pack looks quite authentic with a UPC bar code on one side and a Surgeon General’s Warning on the other.This replica pack has been reproduced as a funtional cigarette box, which opens and can hold twenty standard cigarettes.

To facilitate comparison, I’ve placed a Morley and a Marlboro box next to each other.

Spooky, eh?

Epilogue: The Search For Truth

… I’ve told the truth,
I didn’t come all this way to fool you
~From “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen

Update: Leonard Cohen Was Smokin’

1. For previous reports of  celebrities who resemble Leonard Cohen  see
   • Legions Of Leonard Cohen Lookalikes
   • Now, The Leonard Cohen (Separated At) Birth Day
   • Another Leonard Cohen Look-alike Nominee
   • Leonard Cohen and Neil Diamond To Share Twin Bill
   • Leonard Cohen & Joe Namath – Parallels Between Poet & Passer

   [↩]

2. On the other hand, “Cigarette Smoking Man” is no match for the description  Daisy provides for herself in “The Great Gatsby” as the man standing on the corner smoking two cigarettes (or, more precisely, Daisy tells her friends, ““We’ll meet you on some corner. I’ll be the man smoking two cigarettes.”) [↩]
3. See cited sources at Leonard Cohen – From Marlboro Man To Anti-smoking Troubadour. [↩]