BwanaBob and Bababooey – sounds like a Sid and Marty Kroft show.
In 1999 I booked Derren Brown for our university’s Hall of Residence valentine’s ball.
He was popular in Bristol with student events, but hadn’t hit the big time yet.
I went to high school with Chris Chavis.
Don’t know him?
Ah… that would be because he’s a professional wrestler and goes by the name TATANKA
Still don’t know him. 
I was good friends in my youth (for 8 years - until we moved away) with future Calvin & Hobbes creator Bill Watterson.
I was an acquaintance of Mark Cuban in college.
Susie?
Nah - I’ve got external plumbing. I can’t picture anyone from back then that Susie is patterned after. Unlike Calvin’s dad, who is a clear parody of Bill’s own father, and Calvin’s doctor, who is patterned after another friend of ours (who is still a real doctor in Chagrin Falls).
Wait a minute - Bill’s dad also went to high school with my mom - does that qualify as a “pre-pre-famous” scenario? :rolleyes:
Not me personally, but my father was a friend of Kingley Amis when the were both at Oxford. He was given and has kept a signed first edition of Amis’ first published book, which is apparently pretty rare.
Cate Blanchett - I was about 16, she was just a little girl. The family visited ours on holidays, and she and her sister played under a tree while I sat with the grown ups.
Way back, I played high school baseball 4 or 5 years ahead of Nolan Ryan and watched him pitch in Little League , and later in high school. He was wild and had no control then. At one time his father had the rural paper route and I worked with them tying the papers at 3 in the morning so they could go out and throw them on the route.
Ryan still has businesses and a home here in Alvin, Texas, and we see each other sometimes. My kids went to school with his. He is as nice a guy as you would ever want to meet.
In the late 60’s, I think it was, a couple of strange guys had a little band around Houston called " The Moving Sidewalk", and would play in our local VFW Hall Battles of the Bands. When they later met the third guy, they became “That Little Ole Band from Texas”, ZZ Top.
Depends on what you consider “Famous”. Being from the arse end of the world, I don’t encounter many people at all, let alone ones who go on to fame.
In the Star Wars fanfilm world, I have many friends who got noticed somewhat as a consequence of their achievements.
I also have a friend back in New Zealand who is a very well known Director. We have worked together on several short films and productions, including a movie that went on to become New Zealand’s biggest success for 1999.
But I guess the most famous person I know from before being famous is fantasy author Trudi Canavan. She and I were pen friends when we were teenagers, and we actually tried to write a big fantasy epic novel together, but we were somewhat ambitious, and she was much more talented than me, so it ended up a bit of a mess… She did include me in the Acknowledgements of her first release for being a part of her formative authorship years, though, which was very nice of her.
College theatre days - classmates with Kevin Williamson (created Dawson’s Creek, wrote Scream), Nina Repeta (who played ‘Bessie Potter’ on Dawson’s Creek) and Sandra Bullock. A few others have gone on to do the occasional film and TV roles, but those are my top three.
Yeah, but doesn’t everyone in New Zealand know each other? One of the family friends we know in NZ may have worked with the same director.
Well, it was more than just working together; we were friends for a few years. I’m talking about Robert Sarkies, by the way.
Ah well. Not the same guy.
My niece’s mother was babysat by Edwin Starr pre-war.
Actually, niece’s grandfather had dated Diana Ross in high school, and she was apparently very miffed by him dating Mary Wilson later.
As for me, I met Kevin Smith when he had just made Clerks. Asshole then, asshole now. I also got to hang out with Stabbing Westward when I was 14 or 15. They were much less famous than they are now. 20 people in the audience.
I usually get to meet up with people after they’re famous.
Hanson… before MMMBop. They were friends of a friend. One day the friend brought them over to hang out. They sang Happy Birthday to me (two days before my 10th birthday), and sang one other song. After that, a bunch of us neighborhood kids ended up getting in a water-fight in my backyard. No one cared that they could sing. We were just having fun. It’s all on video too.
Please tell me you have some amusing stories about building snowmen!
I knew Mike Gallagher before he became a Top-10 radio talk show host.
Looking back, it was a rather odd encounter.
I think it was around 1981. I was in the seventh grade and living in a suburb of Dayton, Ohio. My buddy Brian (same age as me) called a local radio station (WAVI) and somehow befriended the daytime talk show host - Mike Gallagher. I know this sounds weird, but they sort of became buddies. Since I was a friend of Brian’s, the three of us (me, Brian, and Mike) hung out a few times. Mike would pick Brian and me up at Brian’s house. We went to the radio station, the library, his apartment, stuff like that. Just hanging out. Mike was also a high school basketball referee, and we went to a few games to watch him ref.
At the time it didn’t seem weird. But looking back I’m now like… WTF? I’m not sure why he befriended us. He never tried anything on me (not sure about Brian), so I don’t think he was a pedophile. Strange.
At any rate, during the one time we went to the library - which was the last time I saw him - Mike asked if he could use my library card to check out a book. I said, “Sure.” He never returned the book, and the library started sending me overdue notices. I told the library what happened, and they eventually stopped hounding me about it.
A couple of years ago I saw Mike on Hannity & Colmes. Wow, he sure has gained a lot of weight.