(originally published October 2017)

I ordered the sleeveless “Duff” T-shirt online last summer for the Guns N’ Roses Not in This Lifetime show at Soldier Field.  I had a red Ali G visor from an old HBO promotional giveaway.  I saved a My Name Is Earl six-pack beer holster from a Jaime Pressly interview.  I’m not 100% sure why I had a black cape in my closet.  Might’ve belonged to a former roommate, hopefully from a Halloween costume. Duffman wears black sunglasses, but I had a white pair of Brickstone Brewery freebies that I thought might stand out more.  I picked up some blue casual pants from Kohl’s on Elston and threw on my weathered, red Air Jordan cross-trainers.

I liked the way it came together.  Now, would the Halloween public accept it?  I met Matt & Justine for a zombie bar crawl in Forest Park.  The crowd at Healy’s was meager, but a dude at one table immediately signified with my Duffness.  Matt & Justine were still at a pre-party several blocks away, so I Ubered over there.  M&J were the only ones I knew and two of the few wearing costumes.  They went all-out in zombie gear and one of Justine’s friends wore a sexy skeleton one-piece.  Everyone was cool and we started doing beer bongs.  That’s when I really began to embrace my role as Duffman, creating awareness of Duff and encouraging others to binge drink.

We moved on to the zombie bar crawl and I realized the best part about being Duffman is all you have to say is “Oh, yeah!!!” all night and everyone loves it.  That’s a common phrase for me anyway when I’m barhopping, so it really worked out well.

Duffman costume = Happy Halloween!