I know that this thread pops up every now and then, but I can’t remember a recent one, so…
Me? No. Not in the traditional sense. However,
Spotted in the wild
GW Bush
John Kerry
Lee Iacocca
Mike Wallace
Knew before they were famous
Karen Mistal
Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Cory English (stage actor)
Provided phone support for
Julia Child
Never met them, but knew their daughters
Maynard Ferguson
Carla Bley
Art Buchwald
And you?
One of the Iranian hostages lived on my paper route.
Shook hands with Bill Clinton in '96 at one of those press-the-flesh barricade lines that politicians do when they’re campaigning.
I met Bob Gainey under just about the worst circumstances you could imagine.
The guy from “Alias Smith and Jones”, the guy from “The Chocolate Wars”, the kid from E.T., George and Barbara Bush, Billy Graham, Red Cashion, and Phil Collins.
I wasn’t necessarily introduced to each of them, but I have spoken to each of them in person in various settings.
One that I forgot to mention in previous threads, Maya Angelou. I renewed one of her magazine subscriptions by phone. I actually spoke with her assistant, but Maya was in the room with her.
I met Bill Clinton twice in the same night when I was in college when he was running for the first time. The Secret Service chose me to be the moam back for the motorcade (a moam backs job is to stand near the parking spot and say “come on back. come on back.” I don’t know why they picked me. Everyone begged for the job and I just went to the rally at all because a friend asked me to join her at the last minute. I got to do lots of photo ops with Bill Clinton and Tipper Gore as they got out of the motorcade and we walked to the staging area. I got to talk to him after the event as well.
Bill Clinton was (is?) an unusually large man. I was 6’1 200 pounds and he dwarfed me. He had really big hands as well. That type of size does not translate well on TV.
A lot of theatre people at stage doors, a lot of young singers at work. The famous people who know ME include local news anchor Brenda Blackmon, Village Person Ray Simpson, activist Rev. Al Sharpton, Isley Brother Rudolph, and ex-Jet Bruce Harper
So I’ve heard. My ex ran into him – literally – coming out of a church on Martha’s Vineyard. Then she ran into a lot of Secret Service guys.
Forgot one – Joyce Kulhawic – Kulhaywick – Kulhaiwich. Screw it. I couldn’t spell her name back then, and I can’t spell it now. And she got pissed at me for asking.
(Then mayor) Ray Flynt. I was instructed to give him a free pass to the movies. Instead, I charged him. Oops.
David Brudnoy. He tried to get me fired.
Trent Dilfer and his wife Cassandra on several occasions when he was in college.
Clintons jogging path while visiting town was near where I worked and me and another employee exchanged a wave and a good morning with him from about 50 feet.
I dated Lindsey Buckinghams nieces roomate does that count 
Alan Autry a few times. Even well before he became mayor here he was out and about in public ALOT and was always very friendly and approachable.
That’s great!
I saw Spamalot when it came to Boston the first time and after the finale I noticed John Kerry sitting in the middle of the theatre. His big gray head towered above eveyone else.
I have also met:
David Hyde Pierce
Kenneth Branagh (gave my college advisor a hug!)
Jeff Goldblum
Joey MacIntyre
Sir Derek Jacobi
Alan Tudyk (so nice in person!)
And during a Neil Gaiman signing my husband and I got into a two hour long conversation with Rick Berry about art, life, politics, etc. He’s a really engaging conversationalist. It helped that he taught figure drawing at the Art Institute of Boston at the time and my husband went to school there.
It gets better. We oversold the house, and there was not a seat left for him. We had to get a chair out of the manager’s office so he could sit in the aisle. And it was about 110 degrees in the theatre. Since it was December, the AC wasn’t working, so we had to open the doors to the back alley to get some air in.
And the movie was about 3 hours long.
Johnny Cash, at the (very very small, very rural) grocery store.
Emmylou Harris, at the Girl Scout Convention Center. Asked my mom for directions on how best to escape the center. Thataway! ---->
Vaden Todd Lewis, of the Toadies. He is so nice and cool. We chatted about the nature of rock n roll. I love him.
MC Chris, mainly of Aqua Teen Hunger Force fame. Also very nice and cool.
David Sedaris, Tony LaRussa, Peter Knight.
Johnny Depp. Up until about two years ago his sister Christie was a neighbor of ours here in Florida. He came down without fanfare for her daughter’s high school graduation. We met him at the small get together at her house afterwards.
Sure:
Paul McCartney
Tony Bennett
Jason Robert Brown
Tony Randall
Laura Linney
Martin Charnin
and a ton of semi-famous people in my circle (musical theatre) that you’ve probably never heard of.
This list may stand out around here:
Dan Quayle (High School trip to DC)
National Review Cruise
Dick Morris
Jonah Goldberg
John Derbyshire
Bernard Lewis (Had dinner with him)
Ed Gillespie
Dick Lugar (at a funeral)
A few SF authors and the like, mainly.
I’ve:
partied with Spider Robinson.
had drinks with George R. R. Martin, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes (not at the same time, although Jerry and Steve were at the same function.)
had long conversations and lunch several times with Ray Bradbury.
been publicly insulted by Harlan Ellison. (And Harlan was a gracious gentleman with me on a previous occasion, when I helped him set up for a reading.)
met at signings Terry Pratchett, Harry Harrison, Harry Turtledove, Jack Chalker, S. M. Sterling and dozens of others.
produced a benefit concert featuring Buffy St. Marie.
gave directions and bookstore advice to Dave and Iola Brubeck.
met most of the BtVS cast and writers.
Hang out at Comic-Con and World-Con long enough and you’ll meet practically everybody eventually.
I sold popcorn to Chuck Norris when I was a concessionist at a movie theater in TX. I also met Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes at a comic con.
I’ve spoken to or shaken hands with or sort of met:
Bono
The Edge
Adam Clayton
Larry Mullen, Jr.
P. J. O’Rourke
Donna Rice
Theo Epstein (Red Sox fans will understand)
Paul Oakenfold
Tom Arnold
David Boreanz
I’ve spotted in the wild:
G. W. Bush
Mike Wallace
Al Gore
John Kerry
Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca to the heathens out there)
Lindsay Lohan
Michael Phelps
Nikki Sixx
Ozzy
Tommy Lee
Dave Navarro
Carly Simon
Chris Kataan
Bonnie Blair
Penn Jillete
a couple of the guys from Sublime
Artie Lange
most NHRA drivers - and for a totally different reason, a lot of NASCAR drivers
Arlo Guthrie
Michael Winslow (the sound effects guy from the 80s)
My brother says Danny Devito gave us each a dollar to stop fighting in an airport one time but I guess I was too young to remember.
I thought of others as I was reading the thread and can’t remember them now.
I don’t “know” any of these people, I’ve just met them.
Edit: One of the people I forgot was Lou Ferrigno. He. is. HUGE. A real mountain of a human being. I’m 6’4 almost 200lbs and he made me look and feel like a little kid.
Bill Clinton
Hillary Clinton
Dave Brubeck
George Shultz (Reagan’s Secstate)
Shirley Temple Black (when she was Ambassador to Czechoslovakia)
Don Young (R-AK), which I consider a low point in my life
Will Abbott: One of the longest-detained POWs in Vietnam, which doesn’t exactly make him famous. I used to work with him here in Alaska.
Oh, and I spotted Elton John on the streets of Paris.