Counterfeit Bills by Richard Matheson

Cloning yourself rarely ends well.

Remember this 90's comedy starring Michael Keaton and Andie MacDowell? Feeling overwhelmed with the lack of time in his day due to a demanding job, family obligations and spending quality time with his wife, the Keaton character decides it would be a good idea to make multiple clones of himself to alleviate these responsibilities. Thus, he will have more personal time to spend at his leisure. Of course, not everything goes according to plan and the clones become increasingly difficult to control with comedic results. As far as I know, this film is not a direct adaptation of Counterfeit Bills by Richard Matheson but I would not be surprised if it was at least inspired by this short-story, which follows a very similar plot. As I continue making my way through this anthology, I am beginning to notice Matheson's influence cropping up more and more in other literary works, television shows and movies.

Tangent aside, this story is a silly farce and my least favorite so far by the author. The narrative is primarily concerned with setting up the joke for a punchline that has no payoff. Instead, the ending comes across as one of those really embarrassing dad jokes that makes you cringe. Luckily, the story is only a few pages and you don't need to suffer too long. Considering my soft-spot for puns, the only positive takeaway for me is the clever title.