The "True Stories about Celebrities" Thread

I met Dave Chappelle in college.

Interviewed him for my radio show. He saw me while he was high as a fucking kite... looked at me and said "You're a big mothafucka."

Edgar Wright thinks I'm an asshole and flicked off my mom.

He's so awesome.

I got to see Edgar Wright and Diablo Cody walk down the sidewalk together as I'm going to my car from the Joe Dante film festival.

Also there was the time back in '96 when I went with my mom and sibs to rent laserdiscs (Dave's Laser!) and out of nowhere Jeff Goldblum walks in. Goldblum immediately sees he's recognized and just goes about his business. I didn't say anything but it was a moment worth noting.

Also used to run into the frontman of AFI a bunch of times. And there was the time I got to ask Ridley Scott a question at the Paul Prischman charity event.

I saw Australian stage veteran Rob Guest in a cafe once! I did not approach him.



One time I was playing blackjack in a casino, and at the table was radio personality Gary McCormick! I hit a streak of luck, and Gary bet $200 on one of my hands, hoping to "ride the wave", but I lost it. He did not speak to me after that.



I also saw Steven Spielberg at a mini-golf course, but it turned out not to be him!

While I was stationed on the USS Halsey DDG 97, Pamela Anderson came to make a little USO/20th Century Fox publicity apperance to celebrate our ship's commission. It was very strange, but ultimately uneventful.

She was about my height(5'7), but I imagined her taller for some reason. I couldn't help but think she was recovering from a long night due to her sunglasses and bruises on her arm.

I don't even want to speculate how she got those bruises.

The PR crew from FOX gave us copies of Patton(!) and Thin Red Line(!!) for her to autograph. I gave my signed copy of Patton to a buddy who wasn't able to make the apperance. That might have been a mistake because I'm sure there was a mint to made on eBay from that.

She really looked like she didn't want to be there.

I met Frank Miller at the 1999 Chicago Comic Con (aka Wizardworld 1999), and informed him that The Dark Knight Returns was the reason I became a comic book nerd, and therefore it was his fault that I was constantly broke. He laughed, and told me that he was happy to continue taking my money, and then signed my copy of the book.

Also, I met Kevin Smith there:

Reese Witherspoon drunkenly cursed me out twice down in North Carolina at a hotel. All I did was say hi.

I once met Mickey Dolenz from The Monkees while I was a groundskeeper at Great Adventure back in '84 (they were playing one of their reunion shows at the park that particular night). He was watching his daughter ride one of the kiddie rides, waving to her, and said "Hi".

I was stood behind Daniel Craig at a festival a couple of summers ago. He's quite short.

That night I made a fool of myself in front of Guy Garvey, lead singer of Elbow, and he came over and was an absolute gent about it, saying not to worry. Lovely bloke.

I saw Kenny Johnson at a mall over here a year or so ago. Guess he was on vacation. I looked up photos of him and his wife on IMDb and that's how I confirmed it was him.

Mel Brooks is hilarious and a very, very nice guy. Great tipper, too.

Several here:
- In high school, I worked as a busboy in a country club here in MN. On 2 separate occasions in 1987, I met Peter Graves and Barbara Eden. Both of them were very nice (Peter Graves was especially friendly). I don't know how old Barbara Eden was, but she was absolutely STUNNING.

- I used to run into Neil Gaiman all the time at a music store that I worked at. He was amazed that someone recognized him the first time, but he was really cool. I had some nice, quick chats with him a few times.

- Managing a different music store, I sold a copy of Fleetwood Mac's 'The Dance' to Prince and his (then wife) Mayte. He came in and came straight up to the counter and asked for it. I recognized him right away (who wouldn't) but didn't make a big deal of it. There were other customers in the store but they didn't see the transaction, so Prince wasn't accosted by anyone. After ringing him up, I thanked them both. He gave me a quick 'thanks', and she gave me a nice smile...I think it was one of those 'thanks for not making a big deal of this' kind of smiles. They left and were promptly recognized as they left the store and had to wave away a bunch of people. Mayte was gorgeous, easily a 10/10.

I've had multiple run ins with Baldwins. In high school and college I worked at a movie theater in Syracuse and Alec, Kim Bassinger, Carol and William came by to watch Wayne's World 2. A couple of years later, Billy came to my college to give a speech for the Democratic party and later got boozy at the campus pub and told us stories about having to break in to his dorm room. Does Billy Baldwin still count as a celebrity?

In my many years of managing coffee houses I've met many a celebrity. Will Farrell came in to my store and asked for a foamy latte upon which I asked him if it would make him gassy and bloated.

I met Ron Howard right after A Beautiful Mind won the Academy Award. I was bitter and angry that Fellowship was denied but I remained civil. It's not his fault.

Kirk Cameron came in to a book store I managed. One of my employees was startled and said, "Didn't you used to be Kirk Cameron?"

Oh, and Chelsea Clinton was a regular at a Starbucks I managed. Her dad came by once. That was cool.

I stood behind Edgar Wright. He is also short.

Who wouldn't pay good money for a Pam Anderson autographed copy of Patton? The weirdness of that alone is worth shelling out money for.

I work for a TV website, so you'd think I'd have some celebrity encounters to share, but I've got nothing too thrilling just yet. I stood a few feet away from Matthew Fox, who looks very much like Matthew Fox in person.

I did a shot with Dustin Diamond in a bowling alley in Milwaukee. It was weird.

eta - Audrey Niffenegger signed my copy of The Time Traveler's Wife at a reading. Nothing special, I know, but I'm still annoyed that I found myself completely unable to speak to her when she complimented my name. God, I love that fucking book...

Was he looking for the laserdisc porn section?

This thread pops up once in a while, but does it count when a celebrity is NOT a celebrity? I went to a couple of parties before Katie Holmes was famous in which she was in attendance.

And Comic Con stories shouldn't count for these threads.

I honestly don't remember, I was 13 at the time and knew not to get into people's business.

I got into an argument with Brooke Shields when she accused me of stealing her bagel.

I had an awkward conversation with ESPN's Kenny Mayne before an Eddie Vedder concert.

I gave Lars from Rancid a ride to his hotel.

I (poorly) hit on Alanis Morissette at a bar before a concert of hers.

Robert DeNiro told my boss I was an asshole.

I was at a restaurant and Neil Patrick Harris was ordering. Apparently guys on the wait staff were all yelling, "Doogie! Doogie Howser!" He ignored them as he waited for about five minutes. Before leaving, he grabbed his food and turned to them, snarling.

"My name... is Neil."

*cue Morricone score*

I'm responsible for two soy lattes spilling on Julia Roberts.

I've stalked her outside of Letterman a few times. Which reminds me, I gave a copy of a screenplay I wrote to Matt Damon as he left a Letterman taping. This confused him greatly. He started to sign it, and I told him "no, I'm giving it to you". I figured I would cut through all the Project Greenlight bullshit and o right to the source. Didn't work.

What did you do to Deniro?

Throughout High School I worked at what was, at the time, one of the bigger and better multiplex theatres in North Jersey. Often we would get test screenings, and one of them was Stanley & Iris, which De Niro attended. Management snuck him in the building and up to the projection booth. At some point word came down that he would like a coffee. I volunteered to bring it to him. When I handed it to him, I stuck out my hand and told him I was a fan. He blew me off, and said "go back downstairs, kid." So I did. And Then I proceeded to tell everyone I could that De Niro was going to be walking out the back door in the next 30 minutes, and he would love to chat with a bunch of fans. He did not love it, and when my manager apologized, De Niro said that asshole kid (and pointed to me) did this. Ha ha fuck him.

I got drunk with William Christopher. My friend kept calling him Padre all night but he was cool with that.

The rest of my celebrity stories involve asking them if I can get them anything and if they can do one more take. Seriously, that's thirty percent of my job.

ugh

Yeah, i was about to post the same reaction. Kinda creeped out by your stories.

The Letterman ones were slight exaggerations (specifically the Damon one. I did give him the script, but it was happenstance that I was walking passed as he was leaving. It was a spur of the moment thing).

ETA: As far as the Julia Roberts thing..."stalk" is an inaccurate term.


E(AST)TA : I guess the Damon thing wasn't an exaggeration per se. It just wasn't as creepy as it sounded.

--Marc "Double Dare" Summers wished me happy birthday over the phone when I was probably about seven or eight and a huge Double Dare fan.

--Perhaps because I'm short (5 foot 6), celebrity height amuses me to no end. From my various sightings in NYC, I will therefore always remember that I'm about Paul Giamatti's height, Alan Cumming and Vanessa Williams are taller than me, I'm taller than Al Pacino, and Bill Murray is a fucking giant.

--I met James Ellroy at a book signing. He's just as profane and hilarious and conservative as you expect, so naturally I was scared standing in line. Ellroy was one of the reasons I wanted to become a writer, so this was meeting one of my heroes. When my turn came around, I told him "Your books helped me get through a pretty difficult time in high school." His response was, "That's why I do what I do. I'm honored." He signed my book, shook my hand, and said "Thanks." It was pretty cool.

--Also at a book signing, Pete Hamill gave me shit about going to NYU.

--When I was living in New York, I was coming from an event at my church, and was so tired I had to sit down on the steps of a building before walking home. As I'm resting, this guy walks by and says "How are you doing?" The guy kind of looks like Martin Sheen -- I mean really looks like him. (I'd seen him a couple of times before when we were at the same protest marches and shit.) Now, at this point, The West Wing is only my favorite show in the history of ever, and I don't normally approach celebrities. But it's President fucking Bartlet, and part of me is like "douche, if you don't, you'll always wonder if it was, because you're that guy."

So I walk after him and say "Excuse me, are you Martin Sheen." His response -- because it is, in fact, Martin Sheen -- is "Yes, I am." I shake his hand, tell him that West Wing is my favorite show of all time. I'm actually glad I was tired as I was that night, because if I had been able to think more clearly, I may have really embarassed myself with excessive fanboy-ing. What struck me most about him is how genuine and kind he was -- it had to have been 11, 12 o'clock at night, and he took the time to not only shake my hand, but ask me questions about myself. When he learned I was from Ohio, he grinned and said he was from Dayton (which, of course I knew). I was out of school at the time, and when I told him I was taking a break, he seemed genuinely concerned and sorry.

It's definitely the coolest celeb story I have.

Yes, it was.

Damn it. Maybe De Niro was right about me after all.

I've met a lot of D-List actors in a variety of ways.

Bronson Pinchot was drinking at The Tam. In grad school we'd go there after night classes to grab drinks and everyone was screaming "Balki!" I was like, "Please don't call him Balki, he's gonna hate that. It's Bronson Pinchot." So some of the girls went over there and talked to him, I told him I loved him in True Romance and he gave us tickets to the play he was working on. Pretty nice guy, really.

I used to work at a video store in college in upstate New York. Daniel Baldwin walks in and starts asking for his own movies. Trees Lounge, the Attack of the 50 Foot Women remake, Knight Moves...and I'm looking at him like..."why the fuck are you looking for your own movies?" The really sad thing is we didn't have most of them. Turns out he wanted to sign them and auction them off for his moms breast cancer foundation. Also...nice guy.

But my best story was when I waited on Stephen King at the movie theater I worked at during grad school. He was in town for the game and was great, really nice, liked to chat, took time out to talk to me. I didn't get all blubbery with him about his writing or books, but I was conversational and tried to be friendly and helpful. He had a House of 1000 Corpses t-shirt on and I asked if he was seeing it. He said no he was going to Confidence (that horrible Edward Burns con movie). He asked if I was a college student, I told him grad school for writing...he said good luck. Told me his nephew was planning to go to the same grad school. All in all we chatted for about five minutes and then he said "thank you sir, you're a gentleman and a scholar." When he left, I asked him what he thought and he just shook his head and gave me a thumbs down.

I saw Rob Corddry give a chat at ISU a few years ago. And I interviewed Jazze Pha once for my old website when he was visiting PR (not really a movie celebrity, but meh).

Aside from those two and my Kenny Johnson run-in, I've never been near a celebrity. Poopie for me.

From The Shield? That guy was - in my experience - a fucking gentleman. I ran into him after the conclusion of S5, and he was nothing but a man happy to hang out as we were both waiting for our movie dates.

I met Devin Faraci at Fantastic Fest.

He seems just like us!

Yep, Lem himself.

I met Terry O'Quinn at Wegman's a couple years ago. I was going up to the check out counter and I passed by him, stopped, did a double take and backed up. He gave me a little "yep, you recognized me" smile, and I shook his hand and told him how much I enjoyed LOST. He smiled and said that was very kind of me. I think I then ruined all personal credibility when I made some lame "guess you got off the island" joke, which he offered a pity laugh for. A few weeks later, I saw him driving his little subaru around town as we were driving to dinner. A lot of people know him around here though, he has a house right next to one of my best friends.

Ron Perlman offered to buy me a drink during the CHUD/Hellboy get together in 2004. I also marveled that I was taller than him.

At the same event, spent a whole lot of time talking to GdT about various movie shit. Talked about why he didn't do Harry Potter, why Blade II kicked so much ass, touched on Pan's Labyrinth, why he refuses any kind of second unit after Mimic, and then just talked about film shit in general. It was an amazing hour and a half. Capped the evening off with some good advice for me on how to break into the industry and keep a clear head about it.

I like you Chris you seem like a decent sort but...

Does this count? He wasn't worth celebrating....

I met Vanilla Ice after a reeeeeeeeaaaallllly bad show at Cooter Bay (he bit rhymes from Redman, that's how bad it was). Interviewed him for KSCL and then got him to sign my copy of Flesh Gordon, as well as some Russian icons I brought with me. He looked at Flesh Gordon and asked if it was a gay porn. "No, man, it's straight." "Aw, that's cool then." It now proudly sits next to my copy of Cool World signed by Ralph Bakshi.

Trust me, as the words were leaving my mouth I was thinking "What are you doing you dumb fuck?!?!? Walk away!!! STOP TALKING CHRIS YOU BASTARD THIS ISN'T FUNNY FOR ANYONE!!!!"

and it was over. Oh well, guess I won't be invited to his next party.

I've met Gary Sinise about 3 times. The first time I met him the crowd kept mobbing him with calls of Lt. Dan and whatnot, when I brought up "Of Mice and Men" he leaned over to me and said thank you. He's remembered me since and we bs'ed about him going to school with my acting teacher. That's the closest I'll get to saying that I'm an acquaintance with a celebrity.

went to a Ricky Gervais Q&A 3 years ago at a bar here in Manhattan. There were about 50-75 people, so a very intimate feel. I got up the courage (mainly liquid, since it was at a bar) and asked him a question. The crux of my question was this: he had just filmed a movie with Christopher Guest ("This is Spinal Tap" is Gervais' favorite film ever) and did a Simpsons episode (he had stated previously that getting a joke on "The Simpsons" was his goal in life), so what goals do you have now for your career? You seem to have accomplished two things you could only have dreamed of, so have you thought about what's next? What are the new "dreams" you have?

He seemed very intrigued by the question, said that he hadn't given it much thought and then started going on for about 5 minutes about how its amazing what he has accomplished and that he can't fathom what he could do that would ever compare to that or surpass it. After the question, he raised his glass to me, I stepped forward and we hit glasses. After the Q&A, I went up to shake his hand and he talked to me for a few minutes, wanted to know about me, said my question really made him think, etc. It was an absolutely surreal and amazing moment.

OK, I gotta ask...where is Cooter Bay? And does it resemble its name?

I've met Jon Stewart (you know, shook his hand, said I loved the show, etc). I was friends with his younger cousin who was a year older than me in High School, and one time when I was over at the friends house he stopped by. About as awesome a guy in person as you'd expect, even though I refrained from bugging the shit out of him because he was visiting family, but he just seemed like a typical guy from Jersey. And that's it as far as meeting celebrities for me.

Chesney Hawkes.

He was playing at a wedding reception and looked like he'd been burnt out for the best part of the last decade, but all the women in the room went mad for him.

Apparently he does lots of these appearances just to eat. He looked kinda stoned when I spoke to him, but I think that might just have been the severe sadness. Poor bastard had to play "One and Only" more than once just to cover up the mistakes of covering more recent bands' work.

I don't have any stalking stories, namely because I don't get much time to stalk nowadays.

I've met Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Francis Ford Coppola, Stephen Hawking--twice, actually--Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Barack Obama, Sean Penn, Robert Reich, and John Searle.

Ferlinghetti was at one of the events they had for Howl's 50th anniversary. It was just a "hey, I like your work" encounter.

Coppola, I met outside of his building in North Beach. My dad and I walked past him around two or three times and--the last time--my dad finally recognized him, leaned over the guy's dinner and began his attempt at starting a conversation. I just sort of cringed in silence during that. I still have no idea why Coppola eats his meals seated at a table outside the building.

The first time I met Hawking, I was attending Cambridge University. I ran into him at this bakeshop outside of Trinity College. At the time, I was taking a course in Philosophy of Nature, so that was pretty rad. The second time, he gave a talk at Berkeley and I attended the Q and A afterwards.

I met Kerry, Kennedy, and Obama while working at the Northern California campaign headquarters in Oakland. They each stopped by once to speak at a rally in the Bay Area.

Penn was another North Beach encounter. I ran into him at Tosca.

Reich and Searle were both professors of mine.

A couple of years back I was trolling a local book store when I looked across and saw a man who looked oddly familiar. So I walked up to him and said:

ME: Sorry, excuse me, are you Corbin Bernsen?

CB: Uh, yeah, I am...

ME: Oh wow! You were great in The Dentist!



He gave me a little smile and just walked away.

What is a cooter? And where is their home?

Cooter Bay is (was? Please say "was") located on Desiard Street in Monroe, Louisiana, the older half of the ArkLaMiss's own twin cities (there's a West Monroe as well. Class, no?). I am uncertain what a "cooter" is, though I am guessing a bug that lives in pubic hair. Yes, this bar resembled a body of water teeming with pubic parasites. I never went there again. I suppose I should also mention this was during V. Ice's "reimagining" of his original hit as a rap metal chest thumper. It was worse than Rob Zombie's Halloween.