I waited on Jaleel White when I was working at a bookstore. Very polite, quite handsome, looked very familiar, but I just couldn’t place him. The next customer asked if I knew I had just waited on Steve Urkel.
<bing!> I like to think he appreciated the fact that he was anonymous to me.
My co-worker waited on Cary Elwes - the day I was out. Damn.
A few weeks ago I was at a bar with a friend of mine and sat two tables away from Scott Gomez, last seasons NHL Rookie of the Year (I think that’s correct - I don’t follow hockey).
He was just sitting at a table having a drink with a couple of friends, not drawing much attention other than the occasional double-take from passers-by. I didn’t bother trying to talk to him, although I could have if I felt like it. He owes Mrs. Tonk a pair of autographed rookie cards for some business of his that she quietly took care of, saving him a big PR headache.
When I recognize celebrities, I generally prefer to give them their distance and they often acknowledge with an appreciative glance.
Speaking only for myself, it isn’t worship. The thrill is mainly the shock of recognition and the knowledge that you have an opportunity to tell someone how much you admire their work (or how much you hate it!).
What did F. Scott Fitzgerald say about the rich? Seriously, though, I do my best to talk to famous people as respectfully as I can and not get all tongue-tied and goofy and over-stimulated like some people I’ve seen. (Jayne Kennedy was part of a telethon being broadcast from Disneyland and some guy went up to her and called her “Marilyn McCoo.”) I definitely never run after a celebrity.
Living in L.A., I see location filming nearly every week and I really don’t have to go out of my way to meet a film or TV actor.
Oh, and I did meet someone famous in Texas: At Six Flags Over Texas about 27 years ago (!), I saw Dallas Cowboy Jethro Pugh with his wife and kids. I just stood there with a dumb look on my face because I couldn’t really believe it was him. When I realized I was annoying him, I walked away, afraid to say anything.
I just remembered another one: During yet another visit to Six Flags Over Texas, I met Leeza Gibbons. At the time (early '80s), she was doing a local infotainment show (PM Magazine) and was unknown outside the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
In the 70’s I was in this restaurant with my gurlfriend near Kent, Ohio when we noticed Ceasar Romero with 2 women a table over. I think he was doing Kenley Players that summer. My girlfriend wanted me to go over to ask for an autograph. Me, I thought the guy should be allowed to eat his meal in peace. So I told her “Okay, I’ll tell him ‘I know you… you’re the Joker from Batman!’” She decided she didn’t want an autograph that badly.
I appreciate the explanation.jab. I think my opinion was reinforced during a couple of my own celebrity sightings. They simply weren’t the fascinating people I had envisioned. Well, there was one minor celebrity that did quite impress me, but she was [unfortunately] quite out of my league:D.
It’s pretty gratifying that most posters to this thread have been cool about meeting celebrities (or at least say the have). But this all reminds me of a time I was in a bar in Sheffield, England, once – where celebrities are thin on the ground. Standing at the bar chatting to his friend and sipping lager was a guy called Ian Reddington (I appreciate that most of you won’t know him but he was a well-known soap actor in England at the time).
Anyway, this girl just walked straight up to him with a camera, took her picture – with flash – about two feet from his face, and walked back to her friends to boast about it. She never even said hello, or asked if he minded. I’ve never forgotten the look of pity/contempt on his face. Very poor. Don’t do it.
These days I live in London where you see celebs all the time. I also saw the fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld in Paris once. I would’ve expected him to be a jerk, and guess what – I was right! The French women I was with were impressed though.
I dare anyone to beat this one.
Last night, That Guy That Played “Niedermeyer” In Animal House bussed my table at a restaurant.
Really.
[sub]P.S. He owns the place, but he took my plate after I was done eating. [/sub]
[sub]P.P.S. and he doesn’t really like being called Niedermeyer.[/sub]
I meet Zack Wilde (guitarist for Ozzy after Randy Rhodes) He came into Sharkey’s, where I was a bartender in Gainsville, FL. He was in town for a radio tour he was doing to promote his solo album. Any way, he came into the bar with the station manager it was a slow Sun night (it was summer and school was out, Gainsville’s a really small town once the students leave). They were the only two sitting at the bar and being bored I started telling them jokes to entertain myself. The station manager asked me where I was from and what I thought of the radio stations in Gainesville compared to there. Well in Gainesville it’s hard to find a station that’s not doing a permanent rotation of Grateful Dead, Tom Petty and Jimmy Buffett. I told him I thought the stations in Gainesville sucked because of this and we started talking music. I mentioned the Ozzy concert I had gone to a few years back adding in that it was Zack Wilde Ozzy and not Randy Rhodes Ozzy. Zack was chuckling when he heard this and I knew I had recognized him but I had assumed he was probably in one of the local bands that played our club all the time. As it was a slow night Zack went out to the van and grabbed a few copies of his CD and his guitar and played for us right there. We ended up having this after hour’s party at the bouncer’s who lived down the street and the two of them went with us. Zack is a very down to earth guy. I thought he was pretty cool to hang out with.
On the other hand I used to date the sound engineer for one of the local concert halls so I meet a lot of people while helping him. A few are Metallica, Randy Travis, Billy Idol, Mike Patterson, Sebastion Bach and Bon Jovi.
Never met a celebrity… I plan to do that when I’m one myself 
I don’t know, there’s just something incredibly appealing about everyone knowing who you are… in a good way. I mean, if I was an actor (I really want to be one) that was fairly well known, it would feel good to have someone come up to me and say “Hey! You’re Adam F****r!”
Ohh, I forgot to add… I had something like that happen, when I was in the school musical (shaddup). For the next 2 weeks, people who had seen it would come up and tell me how good a job I did. It was cool, people knowing my name (or character) and me not knowing theirs :). It’s strange when you work with the real stars of these plays, though, since they seem so untouchable when you’re in the audience, but they’re just your average funny, nice people when you’re up there acting with them.
Sigh…[sub]wanna see my Lynch jersey? Brooks was sold out when I got it.
In Tampa Bay area right now, but leaving for Toronto this afternoon, hope I can catch the game on TV tomorrow night. [/sub]
Oh, and another reason why it’s a thrill and/or confusing to meet a celebrity at the supermarket or someplace ordinary is because the context is unfamiliar. You’re used to seeing them on TV or in a movie or on the stage and they look out of place washing their hands in the men’s room or buying groceries or whatever.
I find that to be true about most actors. They want you to remember their real name, not their character’s name, especially an actor who’s known best for a movie he made more than 20 years ago! Who wants to be reminded that he was a one-hit wonder?
Celebs don’t like being “mis-recognized”. A friend of mine ran into Burt Reynolds once, and just to be an ass he said, “Oh wow! I loved you in ‘Caddyshack’, man!”
Burt just kind of huffed off…
I’ve posted before about all the bands I’ve met during concerts when I worked for a promoter, but there have been a few times I’ve seen celebs in “real life”…
Adam Sandler. Hanging out at a local bar after a stand up show he did at a college nearby. Kept mostly to himself but was nice to people who approached him.
Bono. Walking down Boylston St. in Boston, circa 1991.
John Cougar. Walking down a street in Manhattan, circa 1985.
Ivana Trump. Waiting for her bags at the Tampa Airport, circa 1994. (Wanted to say something to her in Czech but was too nervous I would say it wrong!) I thought it was weird that she was by herself, no assistant, no security guard.
Ben Shepard (Soundgarden). His uncle used to own a bar in Seattle (now closed down as it was destroyed in the earthquake earlier this year). My best friend worked at said bar for years so Ben and I spoke on several occasions.
Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam). Same bar as above.
Guys from Nine Inch Nails. I was in the 7-11 down the street from me. I sneezed, someone said “Bless you”, I turned around to thank him and realized who it was. Then he held the door open for me. Despite the scary appearance, a well mannered young man.
Elvis Pestroyka (don’t know the spelling. He’s an ice skater). In the mall outside The Body Shop. Ice Capades were in town, I guess he was shopping.
Members of '80’s band Crowded House. Watching a building being demolished in Boston, circa 1991 (actually, it may have been the same day I saw Bono!)
Voorvie Your post sounds like a cool script for a Drew Friedman cartoon: “Celebrities I Have Spotted”
I was a soldier-extra on “The Patriot” so I guess you could say I worked with Mel Gibson. He was on the field a few times, and once nearly fell on top of him while charging up the hill. Very professional actor who knows the value of joking around at the right time to keep us loose. Like when, to celebrate the director’s birthday, he brought out the Carolina Panther cheerleaders to perform for them.
One of the funnier moments came when Chris Cooper, playing a Continential Army officer, was supposed to say something like “Ready and Load.” Instead, with cameras rolling, he shouted “LOCK AND LOAD,” which would have been more appropriate if we had been armed with M16s.
DeathLlama and I saw Drew Barrymore and Tom Green at the Barenaked Ladies concert we went to last night in Irvine. We bought really nice seats (it took buying nosebleed seats to their last two concerts to convince us it was worth it!), and we were only about 12 rows from the stage. Drew and Tom were just about 15 people down the row from us, on the aisle seats (presumably because it made it easiest for them to sneak in and out).
The girls standing next to us pointed them out. After that, it got rather annoying because the girls kept looking over at them. They were really, really distracted by them; at first, I was too, but quickly I decided I didn’t pay this money to watch THEM.
For what I did see, Drew seemed to be having a good time, laughing at the jokes and all that, but Tom just pretty much stood there expressionless, sipping beer. They were cuddling most of the time–very cute. They weren’t exactly dancing and singing along as most people in the front were; they just stood and watched before sneaking out before the first encore.
I also remembered another sighting from a few years ago–Judy Tenuta at the Derby in Hollywood. She was loud, obnoxious, and otherwise like her TV persona.
I saw Tom Green too. They were filming “Freddy Got Fingered”.
I don’t think he is a celebrity though so he shouldn’t count.