# What famous/semi-famous speakers have you seen? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 5, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040 "2003-02-05T20:25:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AnnaLivia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@AnnaLivia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnnaLivia)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/41 "2003-02-06T03:18:57Z")
Dith Pran- Of “Killing Fields” fame, who gave a very impassioned talk about how much Cambodia had trusted America. the late Chaim Potok- I have since found out that he didn’t particularly like speaking to groups of people, and even though it was a very small group, hated every moment of it. Part of the reason I came away with the feeling that he was a jerk. Peter Singer- Animal Rights person. Nifty. Susan Sontag- She was invited to my Uni as some sort of women’s interest speaker, told us how much she resented being invited as a novelist rather than a journalist. Proceeded to plug her new novel, “In America.” She then spoke about being in Bosnia, found out there was a Bosnian girl in the room and spent the better part of a half and hour having a one-on-one conversation in front of an entire lecture room. Stanley Wells- Eminent Shakespearian, all around decent guy. Edited the Oxford complete Shakespeare. Pete Best- He just creeped the hell out of me. He threw darts at a picture of Ringo. ---
**Author:** ![Philosophocles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Philosophocles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philosophocles)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/42 "2003-02-06T03:26:09Z")
Bill Clinton: Political rally George Bush (Sr.): College graduation William Christopher (Father Mulcahy): Talking about raising an autistic son Antonin Scalia: Speech about the Constitution Cornel West: Campus speech ---
**Author:** ![tmwster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/57b2e6/32.png) [@tmwster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tmwster)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/43 "2003-02-06T03:39:01Z")
Sarah Weddington spoke at our local BPW meeting about Roe v. Wade and the current political climate regarding reproductive choice. She is an energetic and fascinating speaker. I was able to speak to her for a few moments; she was very gracious. ---
**Author:** ![Guybud5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Guybud5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guybud5)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/44 "2003-02-06T03:44:04Z")
Craig T. Nelson (Coach, District), today actually, in Monterey CA ---
**Author:** ![Crescent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Crescent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescent)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/45 "2003-02-06T03:49:08Z")
The only famous speaker I ever saw was Timothy Leary in Dallas sometime around '85-'86, in a gallery setting. A friend of mine from work took me. Sad to say, I don’t recall a lot about it other than I took her picture with him. I was in my mid 20’s and mostly knew of him from that song that the Moody Blues (?) sang… "Timothy Leary’s dead… He was very nice and polite to us when we talked with him, but I really didn’t have a clue as to who he was. I was also ummm, kind of stoned at the time. How ironic. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/46 "2003-02-06T03:54:29Z")
Harlan Ellison - Outrageously funny. If you lean politically right, miss him at every opportunity. Dr. Charles Townes, inventor (discoverer) of the maser which led to the laser. - interesting account of its development. LBJ as VP, at UCLA - Disappointing bunch of nothing. Henry Wallace running for President in 1948 - I only went because he was denied permission to speak of the University of Iowa Campus. Frank Knox running for VP on the ticket with Alf Landon in 1936 - just curiosity. I was 14 years old. Casual speeches before they became well known - Wally Shirra, Jack Webb, Gen. Lucius D. Clay, Jr. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/47 "2003-02-06T04:17:50Z")
The most famous people that I’ve seen speak would have to be Bill Clinton and the elder George Bush, in the '96 and '88 campaigns, respectively. As I’ve mentioned on the boards several times, Douglas Adams was supposed to speak at our school’s graduation two years ago, but he died two days before the event. This year’s speaker is Orson Scott Card, and we’ve had a lot of morbid jokes about what our school’s reputation would be among SF fans if the same thing happens to him. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/48 "2003-02-06T04:47:12Z")
I’ve heard Li-Young Lee speak twice–I actually got to have lunch with him, too. Very cool. I also’ve gotten to see Maya Angelou, Tess Gallagher and (the late) Gwendolyn Brooks speak. Out of the three, Gwendolyn Brooks was by far the most engaging speaker. I actually called her on the phone beforehand…funny story… When I was in 8th grade, I got to meet Mary Downing Hahn. She was doing a book signing at a local middle school, and I swear, only about 10 people showed up. She’d written my favorite book at the time, and I was just awe-struck. Especially since I got to talk to her for about 10 minutes…damn, I must’ve been drooling… Bob Love (Chicago Bulls) and Chris Zurich (Chicago Bears) both spoke at my elementary school–Bob Love was cool. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/49 "2003-02-06T05:28:04Z")
Kenzaburo Oe and Umberto Eco when they were giving lectures at my college. I saw Leonard Jeffries when he gave a speech that got protested by just about every group on campus. Noam Chomsky at a debate on East Timor. Came across as more ranting than informative. Ted Kennedy at my high school. Gov. Mike Dukakis at Boy’s State. Al Gore and Lani Guinier were the speakers at my college graduation. Colin Powell was the speaker the previous year. Stephen J. Gould, Alan Dershowitz, Derrick Bell and Joseph Nye are/were all professors where I studied, so I got to see them on more than one occasion. ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/50 "2003-02-06T05:55:37Z")
**Ken Kesey** , who was cool. **Buckminster Fuller** , who was awesomely absorbing, though I was able to follow his dazzling examples while he was talking, they faded away shortly after. Sure enjoyed the experience, though. **Chip Carter** , son of Jimmy, prior to the election, while campaigning in Oregon. He stopped at our little town briefly. ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/51 "2003-02-06T06:52:52Z")
I can’t think of anyone famous enough to list right now-- we had sports agent Leigh Steinberg at my graduation… But I AM going to see Bill Clinton tomorrow night at a Stones Concert. He’s going to open the show and talk about global warming. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/52 "2003-02-06T10:24:30Z")
I’ve seen a few famous people here and there as key note speakers and whatnot throughout college, but never really remembered many of their names 🙂 Never been one for politics, so I never bothered to pay much attention. Working at a news station, I meet a good number of local celebs, including virtually everyone running for any office here in Texas, so I’ve met governors and mayors and Congressmen and the like. Also, a lot of prominant local bands, like **Vallejo** and **Riddlin’ Kids**. The big favorites though were **The Derailers** , a great rockabilly band; the big man himself, William Shatner; the no-longer-big man, Jarred from Subway (Subway was sponsoring some huge walk, so of course he had to be there); P.J. O’Rourke; local hero and Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong; and my personal favorite (who’s name I’m sure I’m going to butcher I’m sure), Judy Tanunna. Everyone else was pretty simple chatty chatty McChat-Chat, but Judy was just crazy! Our male anchor interviewed her, and she kept scooting close to him and flirting heavily with him, making him REALLY uncomfortable. I think the best part of the interview was when she was telling a story of a wedding she went to: “I went to a wedding for an ex-boyfriend of mine the other day. Well, not really boyfriend and some guy I used to _sit on_!!” Ahhhh…good times. Then she did the weather. I love being “small market”! ---
**Author:** ![as\_u\_wish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@as\_u\_wish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_u_wish)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/53 "2003-02-06T13:02:43Z")
It was long ago and it was far away, oh God it seems so very far… **Bobby Kennedy** - during California primary just before he was was shot **Carl Sagan** - when he was astronomy professor at Cornell and for something completely different **Jimmy Swaggert** - sometimes you just have to see something to believe it. I’m sure there’s more, but that should be sufficient diversity for one post. ---
**Author:** ![Violin\_D\_Ingrate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/898d66/32.png) [@Violin\_D\_Ingrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violin_D_Ingrate)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/54 "2003-02-06T15:58:05Z")
I saw Gloria Steinem speak, and got to meet her at a reception afterwards. I found her to be a very interesting, compelling speaker. ---
**Author:** ![SparrowHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SparrowHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SparrowHawk)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/55 "2003-02-06T18:30:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DAVEW0071 \* > \*\*Also, IIRC, wasn’t Jackie Robinson the commencement speaker at your high school graduation? \*\* You’re right, he was. It’s hard to remember that long ago! Don McClean also gave a concert at the high school before he was famous, but that’s not in the Speaker category. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/56 "2003-02-06T19:13:06Z")
Recently Salman Rushdie - if you get the chance to hear him, go. He is really a very funny speaker. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/57 "2003-02-06T22:42:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skip \* > \*\*I saw Noam Chomsky speak here at my University. And it was **helluva boring**. Now I don’t always agree with Mr Chomsky but I at least was expecting some fire in his speech. But he just stood at the lectern and read off his speech in a monotone voice. He probably brought up some good points but his delivery was so bad none of them stuck. Maybe it was just an off day for him… \*\* Chomsky would be the first to concede that he’s not the most electric speaker in the world. He would ask you to pay attention to the content of his speech, not the histrionics. Now, granted, people often go to speeches to be entertained rather than informed, but i think you have to take into account the intentions of the speaker. And also, as someone who has seen Chomsky speak a couple of times, i can confirm that if you go to one of his linguistics speeches and are not a linguist, you’ll have no fucking idea what’s going on. Other speakers i’ve seen: I saw quite a few while working in the main ballroom at the Sheraton on the Park Hotel in Sydney during my undergrad degree: **George H.W. Bush** - after his presidency. Citigroup had brought him out to speak to the company. **Barry Humphries** (aka Dame Edna) - hilarious **Peter Garrett** (musician, Midnight Oil) - great speaker **Greg Norman** (golfer) - asshole **Kerry Packer** (media mogul; Australia’s richest man) - ditto Most of the rest i have seen on my graduate university campus here in the United States: **bell hooks** (African-American feminist author) - pretty average **Howard Zinn** (activist historian) - excellent **Phyllis Schlafly** (conservative woman; opponent of ERA) debating with **Eleanor Smeal** (formerly of NOW; now of Feminist Majority) - interesting debate; Schlafly is a freak **Spike Lee** (film director) - interesting **John Waters** (film director) - interesting and funny ---
**Author:** ![HerMajestyLorna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7cd45c/32.png) [@HerMajestyLorna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HerMajestyLorna)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/58 "2003-02-07T01:12:24Z")
I saw **Bill Clinton** speak at my sister’s graduation (she was in Chelsea’s class). I saw **His Holiness the Dalai Llama** speak at UVa. Those are the most famous. The second was more interesting than the first… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/59 "2003-02-07T03:30:31Z")
**Isaac Asimov** at a couple of Lunacons. Other SF writers I’ve heard speak include **Tim Powers, Samuel R. Delany, Joan Vinge, Pamela Sargent, Jack Dann, Esther Friesner, Harlan Ellison, J. Michael Straczinski, Michael O’Hare, Jane Yolen, Nancy Kress, Hal Clement, Gene Wolfe, Larry Niven, Mike Resnick, Anne McCaffrey, Julie Schwartz** (Superman’s boss), and many others. In some cases, I was on a panel with them. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040/60 "2003-02-07T08:04:55Z")
Oh yes, add Harold Urey - Nobel laureate chemist - Spoke on solar system exploration, 1960ish. My main thought was: If you win a Nobel Prize you don’t really have to do anything from then on but fool around with toys. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-semi-famous-speakers-have-you-seen/153040.md?page=4)