I was once helping a friend move, and there was this big, bearish guy named Joel who was helping to carry boxes. Being familiar with the gaming history of the friends I was helping move, I asked if it was Joel I-Release-The-Power-From-My-Staff Halpern (long gaming story, there), and they said, no, that’s Joel Rosenberg out there on the truck.
:eek:
One of my favorite authors, and I’d been carrying boxes alongside this guy all day long. I had to go tell him I was a big fan.
I was intorduced to Rob Zombie randomly at a party. He was introduced only as “Rob”. I said “hi” moved on thinking to myself, “that guys sure looks like Rob Zombie”.
Been to lots of parties and have met lots of famous celebrities.
Never had a problem talking to any of them.
Once talked to Barry Bostwick at a party for about half an hour and didn’t even know he was a celebrity as I had never seen anything he was in. We had a great time just talking about stuff. Then we were rudely interrupted by a casting agent who gushed and gushed and Barry sort of gave me a sideways glance like “oh great, one of them.” After she left, we continued talking and I apologized for not knowing any of his work and he was cool about it. (BTW, I actually had seen about 10 minutes of Rocky Horror and hated it and stopped watching. Thus I didn’t remember him being in it.)
I interact with a lot of pretty famous musicians regularly. The best thing you can do is be friendly, open and honest.
“I really enjoy your work” is quite acceptable. “OMG, you’re Famous Person” followed by fawning and or obscenely slavish drooling only proves that you are either horribly inconsiderate or unable to interact with somebody because of their success. Neither of which is very cool.
Of course, I don’t interact with actors or athletes much (especially not really big ones), and I would daresay that from my outside observations a higher percentage of those types would appreciate the fawning, in a very narcissistic self-affirming kind of way.
(I rarely interact with one-hit-wonder/just-made-it-big rock types anymore, a fair percentage of whom also enjoy the fawning, but more in a “Yea, I’m so-and-so, now are you gonna get me laid/high/otherwise fucked up” than a “I’m the second coming of christ” way.
Most really respected and successful music types are pretty cool and interesting people in person.
I’ve worked with a lot of moderately famous folks, and it’s really hard to generalize. I would say a few things:
–If the celeb’s “heyday” is long over, be careful about how you talk about it; the classic mistake is “Wow, I used to watch you play all the time.” He will hear that as “Wow, you used to be cool.” (I made this exact mistake with John McEnroe.)
–If you also do what the artist in question does, it’s usually not a great idea to bring it up (at least not right away). For one thing, that’s his job, and he might want to get away from it. For another, he most likely does it on a whole other level than you do; Sam Bush has no interest in my level of mandolin knowledge. (The big exception here, for me, was Bruce Hornsby; mention that you’re a piano player, and he’ll likely drag you to the nearest keyboard for a five-minute lesson on whatever has been going through his head. He’s a seriously neat guy.)
You should absolutely acknowledge that you recognize the celeb, but make sure it’s the right one. You don’t want to meet Wes Bentley and call him Tobey McGuire (though I’m sure it happens every damn day.)
If I was dragged up to them and introduced, I’d probably say something like, “Hi, I’m Sunspace, pleased to meet you.” If they were famous artists or someone in my field of work or otherwise doing something similar to what I do, I’d probably add, “I enjoy your work”.
Honestly, I can think of very few famous people I’d make a fuss over. Partly this is because I don’t follow celebrity, and usually have to work to remember peoples’ names and appearances. Most actors mentioned in this thread I wouldn’t recognise, for example.
But even for people I do recognise, there’s probably not that much I’d want to say to them anyways. As DoctorJ said, “If you also do what the artist in question does, it’s usually not a great idea to bring it up (at least not right away). For one thing, that’s his job, and he might want to get away from it. For another, he most likely does it on a whole other level than you do…” The best thing would seem to be to talk about other things than work.
The only time I met a ‘celebrity’ (someone whose music I liked, and whose music had been a commercial success in my circles), we spent an afternoon with the mutual acquaintance who introduced us just talking about… stuff.
Well, considering I’m a teenage girl, I’m not so sure I’d be able to keep my cool. But, if I was able to keep myself in check, I’d just offer my hand and say, “Hi, it’s very nice to meet you, Mr./Mrs./Ms. LastName. I’m dare_devil007_. I’ve really enjoyed your work. Are you enjoying the party?” or something along those lines. I’d love to ask for an autograph, but I’m not sure I would because that might be invading or something. Same with asking to take a picture with him/her. I’ve never met an actual celebrity , unfortunately, so I don’t speak from experience. Hm, on second thought, would it be better for a person like me to call a celebrity by their first name or Mr./Mrs./Ms. LastName?
“Oh, wow, hi, I’m whiterabbit, it’s really great to meet you, I really enjoyed (whatever you did).” Not all gushy, either. I just don’t gush at people. About them, yes, but not at them.
I still tend to clam up, but nothing like I did when I was fourteenish at a Star Trek convention and was across a table from Michael Dorn. Yow. He was lookin’ GOOD. Couldn’t say a word, stupid me.
We noticed Joan Baez and some friends in a restaurant in NYC at the table right behind me. We called our waiter and bought a round of drinks for the table. As we were leaving, she thanked us, and we just said thanks for all the great music. Later, *she called us * and told us there were two tickets waiting for us at her next show in the Village.
I think if I met Brad Pitt, I’d shake his hand and say…“I just want to thank you, you’ve made some great movies and you’ve really improved my sex life. My dh and I just love playing Brad and Angelina and I have to say that you are my fantasy boyfriend.”
If they are the age of your parents+, use the honorific. This is good in most phases of your life, unless they are your supervisor. Exception being royalty and important politicos.
Thus- “Britney” but “Mr. Connery”. But "Your Highness’ not “William”.
I worked at a bicycle shop on the upper east side for a few years. We would constantly get celebs in there, and I never understood why people would freak out. The worst was when John John came in, you could literally hear the record scratch. I never understood the big deal, they’re just like anyone else, bad breath and really annoying.
[QUOTE=World Eater The worst was when John John came in, you could literally hear the record scratch. I never understood the big deal, they’re just like anyone else, bad breath and really annoying.[/QUOTE]
Long story, short version: Andre Agasi pulls into the shop where my car was being repaired after a VERY LONG protracted legal battle over who would foot the bill. As he pulls in, the mechanics literally droped their tools and I heard them go “clank” on the floor as they rushed to see what he wanted.
As to the OP question: I would challenge the famous person to a high-stakes game of darts, and they would either wuss-out or lose!
When I met the Spin Doctors (which is probably a “Who that?” these days, heh) backstage I actually ended up drinking their Jaegermeister and crimped their style when they wanted to get more intimate with some female groupies that had come from out of town. Finally someone with a clue announced our departure and dragged me out of there.
The rest (and nobody on the upper echelon of fame, just people like Steve Forbes Jr, Ralph Nader, Matt Groening, various assorted sci-fi actors at some conventions, probabl some others I forgot) I basically treated like normal folks and had entirely mundane stupid conversations with breifly.
Recently I sat 4 (empty) seats away from the legendary film director John Boorman. It was at a screening at the National Film Theatre of his 1967 Hollywood debut “Point Blank” which featured an interview with him and Donald Westlake (aka Richard Stark) who wrote the book on which the film was based.
I’d had a pint or 2 before the film so when by the time it was over I was bursting for a slash. But I had to get past Boorman to get to the bog. What to say? In the end I opted for a simple “Excuse me, please” - not even adding “Mr Boorman”. When I got back they had still not set up the stage for the interview so I had to get past him again to retake my seat. Someone was getting his autograph on an original poster for the film. When they’d finished, I just said “Sorry; me again” and up he got.
Hm, on second thought, would it be better for a person like me to call a celebrity by their first name or Mr./Mrs./Ms. LastName?
