“Cue the Rocky Music”, Mike Kunda

“THE PRETENDER”: HIS BOOK

Philly’s love affair with Rocky Balboa has impacted many lives, none more, than Mike Kunda’s, wearing his Rocky persona like Superman’s cape. It’s probably why he won the first ever national Rocky look alike contest, held in Philadelphia, 2006.

Mike juggles laughter and witty banter, pulling tourist and Philadelphians alike into his world of on the spot bad jokes, and victory poses, helping them find their inner Rocky. Mike sums it up best, “I realized when people laugh, everything is perfect for ten or fifteen seconds. To me, laughter should be taught in school. I took three years of Latin and never used it.”

It doesn’t hurt when Mike shares a story or two from his recent memoir, Cue The Rocky Music, be it a snippet about school yard bullies, the difficulties of dressing like Rocky for thirty years, or what it was like being on the Rocky Balboa set and having dinner with the man himself, Sylvester Stallone. As a documentary film crew currently follows Mike, his story is dedicated to every-nobody wanting to be somebody with a dream. “Basically, it’s about practice and opportunity – my definition of Luck.”

On life in general, “If it’s one thing I’ve learned–none of us do it alone. Family and friends, they gives us the belief to try to achieve, if nothing else, just to be standing at the end of the day. I think Rocky is a benchmark for that.”

Mike has performed as Rocky for NACE; National Association of Catering Executives, American College of CHEST Physicians, Sunguard Higher Education, Maritz Travel, the National Hockey League, Joint Commission on Sports Medicine and Science, Doble Engineering, TD Bank, The American Heart Association, American Dietetic Association Foundation, The Chestnut Hill Book Festival, The Free Library of Philadelphia book Festival, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, The March of Dimes, Wine tasting events, dozens of Rocky 5k runs, and Dover Downs Casino just to name a few.

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