There was a similar Thread in IMHO about celebs in their cars , but I figured a celeb themed Thread would go better in Café Society.
I recently walked into a men’s room at a movie theatre in Los Angeles, and who did I find? Ron Jeremy. Now, I’m not the type to get excited about celebs. I’ve never asked for an autograph. I don’t harass folks. But it is kinda cool to go to the bathroom with them!
Unfortunately, he was already finished by the time I got there so I did not get the opportunity to take the urinal next to him and peek over the divider. Bummer! But still, it was Ron Jeremy in the men’s room and that’s pretty cool!
Have you ever relieved yourself in the company of any celebs?
I saw the guy who played the dad on “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” in a men’s room (can’t think of his name offhand). Funny thing is, I recognized him, but didn’t remember where I knew him from, so I got this “I know this guy from somewhere” feeling. Apparently he noticed that I was looking at him and looked kind of pissed (pardon the pun), like “why is this guy staring at me?” I didn’t place the face until later.
I encountered Dick Gregory coming out of a stall in the men’s room at O’Hare airport in Chicago. This was around the time he was spending lots of time with Hugh Hefner, who I really would have liked to have seen, but Hef wasn’t there. Gregory and I nodded and said hi to each other but that was about it. I thought it would be poor form to ask about Hefner.
I almost ran into Alice Cooper in the men’s room in a theatre showing In the Company of Wolves. And I once stood at a VERY reflective black marble urinal with several members (and I use the word advisedly) of the Dallas Cowboys. I have a friend who came away from a urinal chat with Bill Gates feeling a slightly inflated sense of pride about his own stature.
But by one degree of separation, I’ve shared a bathroom with a whole lotta more. I have a cousin who’s an actress and she keeps an autograph book in her bathroom. There are entries, of questionable taste, from Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood, James Earl Jones, Bevery D’Angelo, Judge Reinhold, Beau Bridges, Meg Tilly, Suzanne Somers, and many more. Makes for fun bathroom reading.
Terry Prachett. Right before a booksigning here in Seattle. I was trying to find the bathroom at the college hall where the signing was being held, but couldn’t and ended up wandering upstairs. I walked in and started using the urinal before my brain registered who the guy right next to me was.
Funny celeb bathroom story: When I ran a small theater in SF we were having our bathrooms remodeled to be ADA compliant. As a result for several weeks at a time one bathroom was closed and everyone had to share the other, “just like on Ally McBeal!” most people said. Some people loved to bitch and moan about it though, and a few weeks later we ended up having a last-minute screening of EdTV at which Ron Howard was actually present. He waited in line with everyone else and took the whole bathroom issue in stride. So after that every time someone got a bee in their bonnet about it we said “get over yourself. If it’s good enough for RON HOWARD it’s good enough for you!”
Vanessa del Rio. I even got to help her in and out of her corset. (To match your Ron Jeremy.) She is such a genuinely sweet and charming woman, and even without a corset, seriously stacked.
Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley and another somewhat drunk girl clearly got bored of waiting in the queue for the ladies at Reading Festival a few years ago and came into the mens just as I was finishing up. Other girl entered with a loud “Don’t worry boys, we’ve seen it all before!” and Jo followed with a look on her face that suggested “not only is she not with me, I’m going to make absolutely sure of it when I’m finished in here”.
When the Monkees did their 80s reunion tour, they were booked locally into one of those rural outdoor amphitheaters to which there is only one road, guaranteeing a miles-long line of cars.
Well, the urgent need arose, so I pulled the car out of the queue at a Holiday Inn, the only decent hotel close to the venue. I ran into the lobby men’s room and found myself standing next to Mickey Dolenz. I made a remark about the line of cars and got a grunt in reply.
Thinking back of it, though, I mostly remember how awful his teeth were for a celebrity, and publicity pictures don’t show him with lousy teeth. But, really, who in the 1980s would want to be an exact double for Mickey Dolenz if they weren’t the real thing?
I had an argument in a backstage bathroom with Leon Redbone about whether the sales tax was taken out of his cut or the theatre’s cut of the merchandise sales. We were trying to discuss it among the backstage work going on, and he just said, “Step into my office,” continuing the discussion in the bathroom.
He really does talk like that. It was probably the strangest conversation of my life.
Dar Williams. I was early for her show, and I guess she didn’t want to use the bathroom that they have backstage. She smiled at me and said; “Hi!” Then I hightailed it out of there, because hearing Dar Williams pee would have just been too much for me.
Another celebrity who “really does talk like that”: Melanie Griffith. I overheard her screeching “CAN I PUT THAT ON MY CREDIT CARD?” in that weird baby voice at FAO Schwarz once.
Two years ago I peed next to Sam Roberts when he played a gig in Saskatoon. I wouldn’t have even known had my friend Christine not told me afterwards - I had a terrible seat in the bar and couldn’t actually see the band play, so I had no clue what he looked like. Now I know he’s really short and scrawny.
I never thought I’d find a thread to share this information, but a few years ago, at Shea Stadium, before the game, near the premium “Diamond Club” entrance, on Negro Leagues tribute day (I got a nifty Newark Eagles cap) at a urnial, I was relieving myself beside, the one and only…Billy Corgin from the Smashing Pumpkins.
I wouldn’t have known it was him, as it’s not my habit to look at others in the bathroom, but he was like a foot taller than me (I’m 6’2"!) and was wearing a cowboy style hat. I thought to myself “Who is this freak? Does he think he’s Billy Corgin or what?” He was.
I said “hey” over the sink as I was washing my hands. He said something to the effect of “We’re gonna win today” I presume he meant the Mets…I just replied “yup.”
The weirder thing was upon leaving the restroom, Billy walked up to Chris Rock & gave him a hug. They stood there & chatted for about 5 minutes while I was waiting on a long line to get into an elevator. Seeing a seven foot pale-as-anything Billy Corgin chillin’ with Chris Rock was pretty surreal.
Now when a “sharing an elevator with a celeb” thread starts up, I’ll tell you about Chris Rock.
I took a tinkle next to Rob Reiner. It was after seeing some film (Toy Story 2?)
I choose to ask him what he thought AFTER we had the left the urinals. My friend
still comments on seeing me talking to him while coming out of the John
I peed next to Mayor Martin O’Malley (of Baltimore). It was a St. Patrick’s Day show, Irish music all around, and he was playing guitar and singing with his band. After the set, we both visited the facilities, and apparently, there’s no separate bathroom for the band. He just popped in, said “hi,” and sidled up to the urinal. He asked if I was from Baltimore, and what did I think of the place, and had I noticed any improvement since he took the job. I answered in mostly wishy-washy mediums, since I was a college student at the time, and didn’t follow current events very closely.
I was in a men’s room with Don Knotts once when he was on a college speaking tour and visiting Auburn U. Several female friends asked if I looked over to see if he fits the stereotype about skinny men, but I never want to think of Barney/Furley that way.
I recently was in the men’s room of a gay country-western bar in Atlanta and saw a member of the B-52s. I won’t say which one because I’m not positive he’s out (though I’m pretty sure), but it was karaoke night and there had been two renditions of LOVE SHACK by others there. I don’t know if it was homage or coincidence that he was in the house.
