In the same vein as “My Dad was on Seinfeld” thread…Have you met a celebrity?
When I was in Disneyland with Canadain Navy, I met Bob Geldolf, while standing in line at Space Mountain.
Howard Stern Told me to F*** off when I called K-Rock where he works.
The Tool Belt Guys on TLC…Ed and Joe,I interviewed them a few yrs back.
Those are my brushes with fame.
How about youse guys?
Well, I was standing next to a column at the airport, near the gate, reading a book waiting for my flight. All of a sudden a guy walks past right in front of me. “Boy, he looks like Muhammed Ali”, I think, “only shorter.”
Just then a pack of autograph hounds goes running after him. That’ll learn me.
A couple of years ago we went to a Home Show in Boston and saw Ed and Joe, the Furniture Guys/Men in Toolbelts. At one point in the show Joe ducked out to go into the audience and heckle Ed. He sat right behind us. My not-yet-one-year-old daughter was on my wife’s shoulder, facing backwards, so she got a perfect seat to look at Joe and make faces at him. This delayed the heckling a bit.
So, what’s the rest of the Bob Geldof story? Did you talk to him? Chat about the coasters? Did he ride in the car ahead of/behind you?
Once, in southern New Mexico, we were dining in a small restaurant whose only other patrons at the moment were Ted Turner and Jane Fonda. They were just a couple tables over from us, but, sadly, they did not see fit to send drinks to our table as a gesture of fellowship. Since there were only four of us in total, though, we all had a nice leisurely dinner.
I was in the Space Mtn line up…I saw this striking woman walking across an open space. She was wearing a red dress with “L” shaped rips all over it. Behind her was a very tall gangly fellow. I looked again, I recognized Bob. I just bought the Boomtown Rats Album, so I raced over to him and started gushing about how great the Rats were and so on. He was polite and asked me questions about my Navy uniform. The lady in the red dress (band memeber, friend??)
was hanging all over me. It was great. I got his autograph, and went back to my buddy’s and they didn’t have the slightest clue who he was…
that’s my brush with fame.
In the San Fernando Valley. You can’t move without tripping over someone famous out there. Entertainment is the main industry. If you don’t meet them you go to school with their kids, or with kid stars.
If you really want to have fun though, get to know the crew.
Being a Magician who attends conventions regularly, I come in contact with several well known magicians every year including George Johnstone, Gay Blackstone (Harry Jr.'s wife), Michael Finney, etc. This year, I’ll meet Jeff McBride. Does that count?
Long, long ago when I was a sophomore in college, my boyfriend got us tickets to see Graham Chapman talk on campus. He was AWESOME and afterward we walked right past him. God, I miss that man.
I went to a Van Halen concert (I think it was their “1984” tour) at Hara Arena (Dayton, OH) and afterwards (on a tip from a photographer) went to the Plaza Hotel. Sure enough, Eddie VanHalen, Michael Anthony and good old Dave were in the little bar they have there. My friends and I were all under age and the bartender warned us to “be cool”. I got Eddie’s autograph on a napkin.
My band opened for Suzanna Hoffs, formerly of the Bangles (pretty famous) and the now-defunct Tsunami (not as famous outside indie-rock circles).
I interviewed Sarah McLachlan and the Figgs for college radio.
I met Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner at the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I shared an elevator with Geraldine Ferraro last Tuesday. She’s really, really short in person.
Um . . . I met John Langstaff once.
I have famous relatives (sort of) . . . Val Kilmer is a somewhat distant relative of mine (half of my last name is Kilmer). Billy Kilmer, another relative, was a quarterback for the Redskins for a time.
Then we have Joyce Kilmer, poet and soldier, of whom at least dropzone has heard.
In college I took classes with
Jonathan Culler and Sandra Bem.
Saw Carl Sagan on campus once.
That’s about as famous as I’ve met.
In college I took classes with
Jonathan Culler and Sandra Bem.
Saw Carl Sagan on campus once.
That’s about as famous as I’ve met.
So the famous Kilmers are all related? I always wondered about that.
The Champ walked past me in an airport, too. And I saw Graham Chapman on the same tour, maybe the same college.
Have we been leading the same lives?
Saw Gene Roddenberry, J Allen Hynek, and Harlan Ellison in college. Wife was on speakers committee and Leonard Nimoy smoked all her cigarettes.
Living in the middle of Wisconsin doesn’t afford one the opportunity to meet a lot of celebs (not counting Packer players – I sat next to Lynn Dickey in church once when I was a kid. WooHoo! Highlight of my life at the time!).
Thus my one brush with fame is pretty pathetic – at the Melody Top Theater in Milwaukee (seeing “My Fair Lady” with the folks IIRC) I got to sit next to Barry Williams (Greg Brady!), who was performing there the next night in a play.
Kinda cool, but I would have been happier if it had been Marcia.
I was an aspiring actor in my university days, and a teacher sent my acting class to a movie shoot. I wound up in a movie with Cory Haim. I kept my distance at first, o.k. I did not know he was famous. After the shoot, though, I was going to bathroom at a urinal at the set and Cory Haim walks in, goes into the urinal next to mine and starts talking to me. I thought this was rude so I gave him a dirty look, washed my hands and left without answering him.
I was an aspiring actor in my university days, and a teacher sent my acting class to a movie shoot. I wound up in a movie with Cory Haim. I kept my distance at first, o.k. I did not know he was famous. After the shoot, though, I was going to bathroom at a urinal at the set and Cory Haim walks in, goes into the urinal next to mine and starts talking to me. I thought this was rude so I gave him a dirty look, washed my hands and left without answering him.
I met Joan Cusack at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. I was there with my sophomore English class (high school) to see “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” She played Helena. I waited around after the show and met her in the lobby. She was incredibly nice.
At the mall about a year and a half ago, this guy backed into me in front of FAO Schwartz and damn near knocked me over. When I turned around, he apologized and I noticed that he was really tall. I commented to my husband that this guy was really tall, and my husband informed me that the guy was Luc Longley of the Chicago Bulls.
A few months later, I went to the airport to pick up my husband, who was coming back from a trip for work. It was just after 11:00pm (which is when Midway Airport closes, so there weren’t many people around). I was rushing through the security gate because I was running late. This guy, who was part of a large group, almost walked right into me. When I looked over at him, I saw that the guy next to him was James Brown. I stopped to ask the security guard if that was really James Brown. She freaked out and went after him. I went to get Mr. Jea…dammit!, I mean, I went to get Omega Red at the terminal. On the way out, the security guard stopped me to show me that she had gotten James Brown’s autograph.
Of course, this is all no big deal to me, you understand. I mean, I am married to a guy who was an extra in not only Shooters on the Side, starring Corey Haim, but Butch School, starring Judy Tenuta.
Yes, you all have permission to be jealous…
I’ve had conversations with Mickey Rooney (LETCH!), Maureen McCormick (Marsha Brady), and whatshername, the little girl in Jurassic Park.
Other close encounters: Judy Tenuta was at the table next to mine at a Hollywood restaurant last year. I saw Maureen McCormick again, several years after the first time, and hardly recognized her–she’d been “done up” (blonder, bigger lips, more make-up, etc.). Hmm…Rebe Jackson, the only member of the Jackson family not in the entertainment business, went through my register line ages ago when I worked at Marshall’s. There was no mistaking her! All the Jacksons seem to have the same look (plus, heheheh, I snuck a peek at her driver’s license).
Who else…my choir performed at Disneyland one Christmas. They had George Kennedy, of all people, read the Christmas story. Oh, I also think I once saw Kenny Rogers at a Ventura restaurant; it was really hard to tell–he’d shaved off his beard and mustache. I kept thinking I knew the guy, wondering if I’d had him as a teacher, or what. When I walked out of the restaurant, my friend said, “Hey, wasn’t that Kenny Rogers?” Ah-HA! That’s what I know him from!
Oh yeah! Kelly Martin was outside El Torito waiting patiently for her party to be called, where my family was waiting also. This was back in her Life Goes On days–she had the red rimmed glasses, and was talking 80mph in that easily identifiable high-pitched voice.
Hmm. I think that’s everyone. Everyone that made enough of an impression to remember, I guess.
I met Bill Clinton at a volunteer summit in DC. He talked to me for several minutes and was very kind. Yeah, he was trying to get in my panties blows smoke from her gun No, really, he was a cool guy. For a president. The :wally
I also met Will Smith, Jada Pincket Smith, and I saw Gene Hackman, when they were filming “Enemy of the State.” They filmed the big roof scene where Will strips down on the top of my best friend’s mom’s building. So we cut school and went over. It overlooks the Inner Harbor, and a group of friends and I got to watch the Fourth of July fireworks on the same roof last year.
Will was nice, very funny even though I met him for a second. Jada was beautiful, and Gene dissed Baltimore on the Rosie show so I don’t like him anymore.
I also made a phone call on the phone Will used when he made a call at a conveniance store. Score!
I have met many local politicians because I was briefly an intern for the MD Senate (hey now…didn’t do any of THAT! Get your mind out of the gutter!)
I met that Rudy guy (he was a short little guy who played football and had a movie about him made…Parks? I forget his last name). He did a speech at my school and hung out backstage with me (I did lights for tech crew) and even wrote me a college recommendation.
That’s all folks. Although a lot of people ask for my autograph.
I ran into Adam Sandler at a movie theater. I was 10 feet away, and he said “Sup dude” to me, but before I could ask for an autograph a huge crowd formed around him. Dammit.