Having worked at a comedy club in the heyday of the late '80s/early '90s, I’ve met quite a number of comedians – some before they got famous, some after – and while some are more pleasant than others, I never personally had an experience worthy of including in an “unpleasant encounters” thread. Some of the all-around nicest guys I met there were Drew Carey, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Lewis Black, and David Allan Grier. (I’m sure I’m forgetting many others who also deserve to be on the nice person list.)
But I didn’t have the “pleasure” of working the weekend we featured a Special Engagement with Pauly Shore. (Don’t recall why, I was out of town or something.) I came back to hear the most incredible horror stories from my co-workers about his assholish behavior, from constantly being drunk/high, to creepily hitting on all the waitresses, to generally berating anybody within earshot for no apparent reason. I’m actually sorry I missed it; that weekend was talked about for years.
The kicker? On his final night, Shore spent some time alone in the manager’s office after the show. This was not unusual since we didn’t really have a “green room” and were usually happy to accommodate a performer who wanted some quiet time. After Shore had left, the manager discovered that he’d left a little present in the office trash can. Yes, folks, he dropped a deuce in there. What a fucked-up tool.
(Probably O/T, but in my OCD way I’m compelled to mention yet again that Movieline Magazine, back in the days before it became a celebrity fashion magazine and then folded and died - had an article and interview with Pauly Shore that was so offensive that letters to the editor were still coming in months later. I wish I’d kept that issue, and unfortunately I can’t remember details. But Pauly Shore is indeed a very offensive and f’d up tool. (not in a mean, deliberate, evil way, back then - just clueless, low class, and an insult to the male gender.)
Pauly Shore recently did a gig in our town. A couple of friends and I were there that night–not for Pauly Shore, but to have a couple of beers, something to eat, and watch the game. Shore did his thing in another room of the bar, while we were in the one with TVs. According to other friends who were watching Shore’s show, he was drunk or high on something.
But after his show, he came out near where we were and signed autographs for fans. Just for fun, my buddy (who did not want an autograph) approached Shore from the side with his phone, intending to take a photo. Shore noticed, and just as my friend took the photo, Shore gave him the finger. So now, my buddy proudly shows off the photo of Pauly Shore giving him the finger.
I was visiting a local cheese shop also well known for it’s fresh bagels and quality lox. I was a big spender there and the the owner usually came over to take care of me personally. One day I stopped in and the owner and all the personnel ignored me and were busy filling an order for a dumpy looking lady wearing grey sweats. Finally after waiting impatiently, the owner directed someone to help me. As the dumpy lady gathered up her bags to leave, I saw one of the them had Bel Geddes written on it. It was Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie on Dallas, and the chick who killed her husband with a leg of lamb, then cooked it and served it to the detectives). She was a local resident, and I realized she was out shopping incognito. Boy did I feel like a fool! I had a chance to insult a minor celebrity right to her face and was to unaware to take advantage of it.
Another case. We were flying home (to LA at the time), Pat Boone was on the plane. I switched planes in Atlanta to continue on for business, while my wife was stuck getting the kids the rest of the way back. Coming off the plane she was at the end of the line dragging the kids and carry-ons. Pat Boone was just ahead of her. My regular limo driver (from a service, I don’t have my own limo) was waiting in his impeccable chauffer’s suit, and the crowd expected he was there to pick up Boone. He walked right past the infamous cover artist to grab my wifes bags while onlookers stared in confusion at the bedraggled lady towing a 2 and 3 year old along who was getting the celebrity treatment.
Not saying Martin was particularly classy about it, but this strikes me as naive.
Or perhaps people could contain themselves to the OP and Title. Just sayin’.
I saw what you did there.
They have special tables for that? Oh, BlackJack. (Damn, beat to the joke.)
Yeah, I haven’t encountered many celebrities, especially not random encounters. Closest I have I can recall is seeing Gene Kranz (i.e. former Flight Director from NASA, played by Ed Harris in Apollo 13) in a grocery store a couple times. I know who he is, even met him once when I was in college, but he doesn’t know me, and I just don’t feel like interrupting his day with “Hey Gene, How ya’ been?” or whatever.
Well, I appreciate getting autographs as a symbol of meeting a person I like, but there’s a difference between catching them at some publicity venture (convention, book signing, etc), where they are expecting to be “on”, and running into them on the street or in a bar or whatever, and imposing on their daily life.
So catching a celebrity backstage or leaving the venue, getting a “Thanks, I’m too busy for autographs” is okay, better than “Fuck off and get out of the way”.
And I would never corner someone and ask for their tagline.
Encounters:
Jerry Doyle (Garibaldi from Babylon 5) - sci fi convention, one of his first as a guest. He was gracious and fun and spent a lot of time with all the fans. Totally cool.
Claudia Christian (Ivanova from Babylon 5) - sci fi con, she was fun and a bit wild (mooned the gaming room, which I heard about but missed), but also disappeared for the first night for several hours, was drunk a bit, and cost a lot more than the attendance she brought in.
Wil Weaton (Wesley Crusher from ST: Next Gen) - this was a couple years after he left Next Gen, circa 1993, at some Space publicity gig at NASA. After the formal ceremony parts, he was hanging out in the lobby getting a drink from the bartender and chatting with a waitress. After she walked off, I spoke up and we exchanged pleasantries about how hot she was, what I did (he admired my job), what he had been up to since ST, and general stuff. He then pulled out a photo and autographed it to me, just 'cause. Great guy. I invited him to a party, but he was traveling with his mom/agent, and had to leave town that night. I actually saw him at an ST convention about a year later, mentioned the event, and he remembered that event - not sure if he remembered me specifically, but no biggie.
Summer Glau (River Tam from Firefly, Cameron from Terminator:Sarah Conner Chronicles) - was at Dragon*Con, hanging out by the dealer’s room. She walked out the door as I was taking a phone call from my buddy, so we were walking side by side. I made some glib comment to my friend about walking next to River, and she gave me a little smirk, but I didn’t bug her.
Tory Bellacci (Tory from Mythbusters) - at Dragon*Con, after seeing him at one of his panels, was ducking down a stairwell instead of waiting for the elevators and caught him doing the same. Exchanged pleasantries, no big deal.
This goes way, way back. My cousin worked at a tv station in the ad department.
Junior Samples - the redneck from Hee Haw
Came into Shreveport, channel 3 to shoot some commercials. They had a terrible time with him. 1. he couldn’t read (he memorized his lines on Hee Haw) 2. was very difficult, short tempered 3. tried to demand more money from the station
In fairness, Junior was the real deal redneck. He made his living moonshining and stock car racing. He got into comedy by accident in his forties. He was never invited back to channel 3 for any more work.
Waaaay back in the 70s, when every teenager seemed to be a Steve Martin fan who could recite every joke from “Let’s Get Small,” a high school classmate told me almost the exact same story. He’d seen Steve near Rockefeller Center (I guess he was rehearsing for an ucoming “SNL” episode), and tried to talk to him.
Steve made an angry, exasperated face, pulled out a business card, shoved it in my classmate’s hand, and said, “Here, now f**k off.”
It was a pre-printed card that said something like “This card is proof that you have met Steve Martin, and that he’ was a wonderful person.” Over the next few years, I saw a handful of other cards just like that, and heard almost the exact same story.
Now, I’m something of an introvert myself, and I’d like to sympathize if Steve is just a shy guy who doesn’t like dealing with crowds or with aggressive autograph seekers. But it appears he regularly goes way over the line. He doesn’t have any obligation to chat with fans or to sign autographs, but there’s no reason to get obscene or abusive.
A friend of mine met this girlat a charity event. She was nice enough to allow him to have a picture taken with her. Of course it became his profile pic for about a month. Apparently she was really nice.
In all fairness, my friend was one of the organizers of the event so he’s not some jerk off the street. Weird thing is they actually look like they could be a couple.
I rarely get the hots for any celebrity, but Wayne Brady was an exception. When I finally met him and was getting his autograph, I untypically put my hand on his upper arm.
He pulled away, gave me a nasty look and said “Hey! Watch it.”
Kinda took my crush away, though I still think he is incredibly talented.
Not really an encounter, but back when he was just a local food critic, I ate at a table next to Andrew Zimmern, the host of Bizarre Foods. It was a cute little place called Z’s Cafe (now out of business) that served the best variety of eggs benedict for Sunday brunch. I was with a friend at a table in this twenty seat restaurant and we couldn’t hear each other over Zimmern’s self-important voice. He had a group of 4 others and insisted on talking the entire time in almost a shouting voice. Our waitress rolled her eyes understandably when she approached our table creating that subtext that she too was annoyed.
