It's time for...Embarassing Brushes with Fame!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’m probably not the only one here who has made a complete ass of themselves in the presence of a celebrity. Won’t you share in the humiliation?

I’ll go first:
Working in a small upscale catering shop in Marin County in the late 80’s, I stepped up to wait on a very attractive African American gentleman at the counter. I was my typical genial self, casually chatting about anything that came to mind as I built his sandwich (Curried turkey salad on Squaw bread with cranberry sauce, as I recall), bagged up his caramel brownie and pasta salad, asked him if he wanted a drink, they’re in that cooler right behind you. He was pleasant, charming, well-spoken, cool.

Did I mention very handsome? Oh, yes, well.

As I was ringing up the sale, a flicker of recognition glimmered through my mind, and I cleverly said, in a conspiratorial tone,
“Say, you know, you look an awful lot like Robert Cray!”:cool:

He grinned slowly, glanced side to side, put his hands on the counter and leaned towards me and whispered,
“That’s because I am.”

Up until this moment the story is kind of cute and charming, here’s where the embarassing part comes in. I don’t know what came over me but I suddenly shrieked like a total idiot and actually slapped myself in the face.
:smack:

I’m sure he thought I was a complete retard as he chuckled, gently picked up his bag, nodded to me and walked out of the shop.

Please tell me how much of a total idiot tool you were in the presence of someone famous. It would help.

2

I ran into Vince Neil (lead singer of Motley Crue). Literally. Ran right into him. I’ve not met many famous people, and was a bit of a fan of the Crue back in their day. I would have been a little starstruck if I’d gathered my wits about me before the moment was past.

3

Mine isn’t really embarrassing, it’s just sort of funny. My husband at the time worked for a magazine, and they were doing a cover story on Jim Marshall, the rock photographer who was especially active on the West Coast scene. I accompanied my husband to San Francisco and the three of us went out to dinner, and then to Jim’s house. Naturally, my husband and Jim were doing most of the talking since this was all being done for a magazine article, but I’d still been actively participating in the conversation.

Jim’s book, “Not Fade Away,” had just been printed (not yet in stores) and he offered each of us an autographed copy. He inscribed my husband’s quickly and handed it to him. Then he opened the second book to begin an inscription to me and then paused for a looooong time. And looked at me speculatively a couple of times, and finally jotted something in there and closed it.

I looked at it back at the hotel later. It was made out to “Melody.” That ain’t my name.

He’d forgotten it, and decided after that many hours together not to check. Cracked me right up, and I treasure “Melody’s” personally inscribed copy of “Not Fade Away.”

4

When I was 4 or so, I pushed John (John John) Kennedy away from the water fountain at the National Zoo. It’s probably still on my record…

5

I only gooned out a little, but at first I didn’t believe it was really her on the phone. I thought it was someone playing a joke on me. (This was when I was doing phone support for Microsoft.) And really, do celebrities really call in themselves rather than having an assistant do it? And honestly, what a fake voice. It was so overacted! I almost said “OK, ‘Julia’, who is this really?”

At least I didn’t end the call by wishing her a Bon Appetite.

6

When I worked for a company that distributed lead-acid batteries, I got a call from someone driving a tour bus that needed 4 commercial grade batteries. The bus was for George Lynch’s Lynch Mob (I was not a fan of LM, but I was a fan of George Lynch from his Dokken days). I traded the driver 4 new batteries (his were under warranty, but he still would have had to pay) for autographed pics for me and everyone at the warehouse that day, and a chance to meet him. I got to go on the tour bus and tripped on the top stop and smacked my noggin on the floor. Oh well - GL was pretty hung over and I still got my autographed pics!

7

A lifetime ago, I was at a club when I saw Tony Harnell talking to someone. You’re forgiven is you don’t know who he is, but suffice it to say I was in complete and utter fucking awe at the time.

I sidled up nearby, eavesdropping on the conversation. I couldn’t tell you what they were talking about, and it didn’t matter – I was standing within two feet of Tony Harnell…Tony Fucking Harnell! It was a big deal to me at the time.

So I tried to play it cool – I stood there, waiting for them to finish their conversation at which time I had planned on asking him some brilliant and insightful questions that I had yet to form in my mind, but that I would get to eventually. After a few minutes, they finished their chat and they went to shake hands. I have to earthly idea how it happened, but my right arm became its own entity and it decided – totally independent of my brain – to yank the rest of my body over there and intercept Mr. Harnell’s proffered hand.

He shook my hand, giving me a well-deserved “What the the fuck was that about?” look. I slunk away, thoroughly embarrassed at my star-struckedness.

A couple of years later I ran into him again in a much more casual atmosphere, and was able to chat for awhile. I apologized for my previous behavior, which he may or may not have remembered. He told me he did. Vividly. Oops.

8

While working in an office, a person called on the phone who was obviously imitating the very unique voice of Howard Cosell. I pretty much told him to stop screwing around and hung up.

A few days later, it came up in conversation that my boss had gone to school with Howard Cosell and that they had remained fairly close friends.

:eek:

Do I need to clarify that Howard Cosell was alive at the time? There are no doubt people on the SDMB who are young enough that they can’t immediately imagine Howard Cosell’s voice when his name comes up.

9

We were in Maui, in Lahaina, 2001, and had just gotten off a snorkeling tour on a catamaran called the Shangri-La, and I was wearing the T-Shirt at a restaurant on the water near the dock. When the sun set they turned on the water lights so you could see the stingrays, and as my wife and I were standing on the rail, these two women (about the same height - about 5’4’’, and damn good looking) stood next to us. One of them turned to me and asked about the shirt, saying they were booked the next day.

So I went on and on about how great the tour was, which spots were cool to check out in Honolua, then proceeded to say that the shirts were a little spendy, the food was “decent, but OK” and that they ran out of beer, so “if you guys are drinkers, you may want to bring your own.” To top it off I said “The wife of the guy is a little weird - she was wearing some kooky black witch outfit.” I recall some odd laughter from them on that one.

After they left, the waiter came up and said “Do you know who those two girls were”? No, my wife and I said in unison.

They were Sheryl Crow and Stevie Nicks. :smack: At least I understood the strange reaction to my witch comment.

Oh, and apparently she enjoyed her snorkel tour, as she named her next album Trouble in Shangri-La.

10

I was at the International golf tournament in Colorado. I had plans to meet friends by the clubhouse at noon. I went early and parked at the bottom of the course and got to see a lot of golf as I worked my way towards the clubhouse at the very top of the hill. Now, this is at about 7000" above sea level and there is about 1000" of elevation change from bottom to top. Caddies hate this course.

There were a lot of older folks there, and the elevation and the hills made for very slow movement. It was getting late and I wasn’t going to make my appointment (this was in the 80’s, pre-cellphone for the most part.) I took out the course map that they give you with admission and realized that I could climb a wooded hillside and cut off about half the distance to the clubhouse. So up I went. The nicely cleared part down by the course soon gave way to thick scrub oak and sage. I finally reached the top and stepped out of the trees sweaty, bloody, and swearing - right into the players parking lot. Phil Mickleson and his caddy were not impressed with me.

11

Not my story, but my wife’s (though I was there to witness it from a distance): she was selected as a sort of Valedictorian when she got her PhD in Mathematics from the Courant Institute at NYU, meaning she would sit on a dais (along with other representative degree receivers from each of the undergraduate and graduate school divisions) for the grand ceremony of receiving her certificate from a muckety-muck while the hoi polloi in the crowds cheered, threw their caps up and got their diplomas en masse.

Well, guess who she found herself seated next to on the dais: not one, but two people receiving honorary degrees from the Tisch School of the Arts. Robert DeNiro, and one person over from him, Steven Spielberg!

We had recently seen Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List (which tells you the year of the ceremony) and had been completely blown away, from different directions, so to speak. My wife literally shrieked, and reached across DeNiro to shake his hand to congratulate him on the honorary degree, and to gush about her admiration for his work. A few minutes later, she realized DeNiro was between them, and quickly added, “And your work too, of course, Mr. DeNiro!”

Spielberg (and DeNiro too) seemed to find this very funny, as it was :slight_smile:

Oh, and it was pouring rain that day too, so they put up a canopy over the people on the dais, which had a small hole in it that leaked water to drip onto… DeNiro. Poor guy got no respect that day.

12

Outside of the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago, I was in a hurry and not looking where I was going and I crashed into some man.

I said, “I am so sorry,” He nodded and walked, then a bunch of girls ran past me, “Oooh it’s Leonardo DiCaprio” And I turned and he was signing autographs.

When I worked in a hotel, I was working the front desk and Sheryl Crow was checking in and she seemed miffed I didn’t have a clue who she was. Which is odd 'cause very few celebrities, we had actually checked themselves in. They usually had “people” for that.

I worked overnights in a hotel and it was like 3am and a lady wondered down. She looked lost, I asked her if I could help her and she was like “No, I just can’t sleep.” And all the while I was talking to her, then suddenly it dawned on me, I said “Are you Dolly Parton?” She said yes. She was playing at the convention center next to the hotel. And it was unusual for a big star like that to stay at our hotel, they usually stayed further away at the Hotel Sofitel or another 4 star place.

She was very sweet, but without her make up, and she didn’t have high hair, and she is SO TINY. She had on an old bathrobe that look like she bought it at a thrift store 20 years ago. Without her voice, I wouldn’t have guessed. And that took awhile to make the connection.

This wasn’t me, but at the same hotel I worked at, we had celebrities from old TV shows, stay with us. They would attend an autograph fair at the convention center behind it.

Again, I was overnight manager and a guy came down and went into our resturant at 6am. The hostess comes over to me and says, “Mark this old guy came in an ordered something, says he forgot his wallet and will pay me later, he’s probably some old homeless guy can we just give it to him.” I said, "Ah that’s Norman Fell, you know Mr Roper from “Three’s Company.”

She was like “Oh I guess he will come back and pay then.”

:slight_smile:

13

That would have been so fucking hilarious, especially if you can do her voice.
:smiley:

For the record, her sister has the exact same voice. She was in the front of the pasta store I was working in one day (also in Marin Cty), I was paralyzed in the back of the store, hyperventilating - total shock & awe as “she” is one of my absolute heroes.

Finally as I heard the bell jingle with the door closing, I stumbled out front. My co-worker deadpanned “It was Dorothy.”

14

That is just so great…does she talk like she sings? Like a goat? :stuck_out_tongue:

15

This is wonderful, I love that he remembered and didn’t let you off the hook.
Tee hee hee.

Reminds me of another time I was in New London & discovered that Robert Gordon was going to be at some club downtown, so we swung by. Walking up to the door, we noticed him standing outside, leaning on a car having a smoke. I believe I was semi drunk at the time and blundered over to say hello and shake his hand. He was very gracious although he looked like he’s have preferred I leave him the hell alone, and I’m sure I came off like some suburban dipshit.

He sounded awesome that night. So, Non, je ne regrette rien.

16

Another not really embarassing but pretty damned funny (at least to me) one.

As I have mentioned before, I have met and become friends with a top 10 American Idol contestant, Ace Young. Last year he was starring on Broadway in Grease, and I went out to see him in it.

His fans have become a pretty tight knit bunch, and those of us that know him best often send messages back and forth to him, or even gifts; one of my good friends that I met thru him is named Cat, and she is strikingly beautiful; he has been a bit enamored with her over the years, and she often had me deliver flirty messages to him.

When I spoke to her before going I asked if she wanted me to give him anything for her… she said a smack on the ass.

After seeing the matinee performance, Ace took me and several friends back stage, and actually out ON the stage…it was pretty cool. We were all just standing around talking, and when we were getting ready to leave, he gave me a hug, and I said in his ear “Oh, Cat wants me to give you something.” He grinned like a little boy and said “Yeah? What?” and I gave him a good hard smack on the ass, just like she had said, and then ended it with a little squeeze, just because I could.

He was so shocked, he dropped the CD he was holding. When he recovered, he turned to me and said “Yeah… well when you see Cat, you give it right back to her… with BOTH hands!”

I still giggle when I think of that.

17

When I was a teenager I had a regular gig babysitting for the neighbor’s daughter. One evening I went over there and the girl had a friend over and I was told her father would pick her up later. So the three of us hung out all evening and she was a normal 9 year old kid.

So then her father comes by to pick her up. He was a blond guy, unshaven, and wearing sunglasses at night. This was Houston in the late 1980s and one of the most famous bands at the time was ZZ Top. I stood there with my mouth hanging open saying, “You’re Frank Beard…” (the drummer of ZZ Top). He was polite and asked me several questions about his daughter… had she eaten dinner? had she behaved herself? But all I could do was stand there with my mouth hanging open saying, “You’re Frank Beard…”

He must have thought I was a huge idiot.

18

My father, decades ago, was at a party when a friend offered to introduce him to Yuri Gagarin. This was right at the start of the space race, and for you young whippersnappers out there, Yuri Gagarin is the coolest person possible in space exploration, the first human in space and the first to orbit the earth, and a pretty nice guy to hang with at parties. Gagarin was at the height of popular fame.

My dad, of course, didn’t believe it for a second. Why would Yuri Gagarin be at a party he’d been invited to? So he assumed his friend was putting him on.

When he shook Gagarin’s hand, he said confidently, “Hello, I’m Alan Shepard.”

Now Alan Shepard was the number TWO guy in space, the coolest American at the time, and probably a pretty nice guy to party with in his own right. But Yuri Gagarin almost certainly knew what Alan Shepard looked like, and he realized my dad was not him. His smile faded and an awkward pause ensued.

Only later did my dad learn he’d openly made fun of the popular hero. :stuck_out_tongue:

To his credit, my dad never hesitated to tell people this story about his own embarrassing behavior.

19

As I’ve mentioned in other threads, I knew Ayn Rand for a while, back in the mid-60s. I was once in her apartment with several members of her “inner circle,” and had to use the bathroom. The bathroom door was ajar and the light was off, so I pushed open the door and turned on the light. There, sitting on the toilet, pants around his ankles, was . . . Alan Greenspan. I don’t think any actual words came out of my mouth; I just sort of backed out and closed the door.

He could have at least closed the door, and what was he doing in the dark?

20

I’m not embarrassed by this, but…

While on a flight I found myself sitting next to Jerry Mathers. I took my seat before he did, some guy sat next to me, and I found myself thinking, “Wow, that guy really looks like Jerry Mathers.” I looked at him sideways a little bit and then just wrote it off. Shortly after takeoff an announcement was made over the intercom: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have TV’s Jerry Mathers with us today!” He emitted a quiet groan and then waved around to everyone. I leaned over to him and said, “I really liked you in Better Luck Tomorrow” (a movie where he had about 4 minutes of screen time). “Uh, thanks,” he said. After that, I said nothing to him.

We picked up our bags at the same time and then both walked to the passenger pick up area where he passed a couple of limo drivers with signs waiting for people. “Hey! You’re Jerry Mathers,” said one of them as he walked by. “Yeah, I am,” he said and walked on. Later on, I told my dad that story and his only response was: “What was Jerry Mathers doing flying in coach?”

Also, how rude was it for them to announce to everyone that he was on the plane? I’d be pissed.