Prague is a small pond, so I meet a Czech celeb or politician about 4 times a year in an intimate setting. They’re easy to deal with because I don’t know how famous they are, just that I have seen their face on TV or something. Pleasant responses, etc.
I met Frodo at a dance club and said “You’re famous. enjoying Prague?” He just smiled and took TONS of pictures all night long of everyone milling around him trying to start conversations, etc. Nice guy, but not talkative at all.
I’m waiting for the chance to strike up a conversation with Angelie Jolie at Letna park looking down on Old Town and the bridges during sunset…My wife gave me permission to sleep with her if I ever got the chance…
This reminds me of a story my boss told me. When she was in high school, her school had a concert with the band Cameo. Sometime during that day, she walked past one of them in the hall. He stopped her and asked her if she wanted his autograph and she looked at him and said “no, do you want mine?”.
I guess my reaction would all depend on how much I like them and their work. If say Jewel walked into a party, I would have to invoke serious will power to not gush over her. I would hope I would say something like “Your music has really touched me and helped me through some difficult times in my life. I’m a huge fan and I hope you continue to write songs. By the way, I love your live performances. Enjoy the party, it was nice meeting you.”
If it was someone I don’t have much emotion tied into, I would introduce myself if given the opportunity and go on. Sometimes I think they just want to get through one event without being stalked or suffocated.
E. Treat her like another face in the crowd. I’m sure the celeb gets enough annoyance as it is without me being a goober. If I get introduced, then I’ll talk about something other than her or her career. If the person is a dolt, then I suppose I’d have nothing to say.
If it’s Natalie Portman, I’ll tell her that I’m in a learned-helplessness paradigm, to see if she gets it.
“Hi there, I’m Pete”
“I’m Brad Pitt”
“Pleased to meet you, Brad. What do you do?”
(pause) “I’m an actor”
“Terrific, I love the theatre. What play are you in currently?”
(longer pause)“Well, I’m not in any play”
“Ah, resting huh? Well I hear it happens to the best of actors. I’m sure something will turn up soon.”
“?”
It takes a lot for me to lose my cool, so I don’t imagine acting too dumb upon meeting a celebrity. I’m more likely to act stupid around an exceptionally beautiful woman than a famous person.
Case in point: I used to work at the Coronet Theater in SF, where Lucas held ILM premieres for Star Wars. I worked there in '99, and Lucas, the Coppolas, and Robin Williams were all present. I was taking a break on a couch in the lobby when Robin Williams walks past me to the bathroom. I just saluted him, he saluted back, and life went on. And I’m a big fan of his.
A few years later, I worked at a deli in the same area, and who should walk up but the girl who played Alex Mack on Nickelodeon. This is someone I had a huge crush on as a kid, and I still think she’s beautiful. I didn’t say/do anything stupid (mostly because I couldn’t remember her real name), but I was very nervous and probably would’ve lost it a bit if we were to have a conversation. (Here’s the whoel story, if you’re interested.)
Of course, that was a while ago, and I’ve only become calmer and more jaded now, so I’m pretty confident I’d be able to have a normal conversation.
I’ve never met a celebrity in a party situation like the one described in the OP, but I did once provide tech support for a famous person. Yes I gooned out big time. While she was describing her problem to me, I had her on mute and kept bragging to my cubicle neighbors “Hey, it’s JULIA CHILD! JULIA CHILD! On my PHONE!”
This is just the type of story that he would tell the next time he was on the Tonight Show, too. Man, I’d absolutely love to see someone do this to a celebrity!
I loved ‘Notting Hill’ for the scenes in which the guy doesn’t recognise Julia Roberts as the world famous celebrity, and for how Hugh Grant acts towards her when they start to get acquainted.
Me;
I don’t get ryled up over meeting famos people. I ran into Cuba Gooding Jr in a restroom at Disney World. He said “Hi”, before I was able to say anything. There were only three people in the place at the time and after he was done washing and as I was approaching the sink, he said “How’s everything going today,” to which I responded “Great, thanks, how bout you?,” “Very good.” and that was that. Turns out, I couldn’t even come up with his name and had to ask my friend, who was waiting outside but didn’t notice Cuba leave, who the guy in Jerry Maguire was. He knew right away and I told him he just left the restroom 20 seconds ago. All my friend said was, “The only guy I saw leave the bathroom was too short to be Cuba.” Turns out his bio says he’s 5’10" but we both figured he was closer to 5’8".