For me it was Jeff Kinney. I was meeting a different author I love, but there wasn’t enough room downstairs and we had to go up. Turns out that’s exactly where Jeff Kinney works! He’s the author who got me into reading so I thought that was so cool
No body knows him but I yesterday I went to the pharmacy and asked the pharmacist where do I get a ticket for the line. Some old guy behind me said its over there, I said thanks and went to get it. When I got back, I saw that the person who answered me was a very famous guy in my country, who hosted talk shows and have multiple gold record from the eighties and now run commercials.
I lived and worked in New York and met a ton of celebrities/big names there. James Gandolfini was really nice. Bjork was not particularly nice. Tori Amos is one of the sweetest, most open and genuine people I’ve ever met. Ethan Hawke was a gross dick. Rik Okasek smells bad but is nice. I got shitcanned with Claude Coleman, my favorite drummer. My favorite celeb I have ever met though is Joan Jett, who I have met many times and is absolutely the best. It was super funny the one time I was just hanging out randomly on the street with a group of friends and this short little muscular blond lady rushed up to me, gave me a hard hug, and rushed away and I got to be like, “Oh, that was just Joan Jett” to my friends.
Believe it or not, most of the big actors and stuff I met while I was working at various big retailers in Union Square, like Circuit City (rip), Barnes and Noble, and the Virgin mega store. There are absolutely a ton more that I did not list and probably more that I have forgotten lmao. Taye Diggs (very nice, seemed shy), James Iha (super friendly and excited to meet fans), Natasha Lyonne (messy drunk), David Sedaris (nice, smells good), Elaine Aberlin (Lady Elaine from Mr. Rogers, over the moon to meet someone who recognized her as an adult, gave me lots of hugs, hard to end the conversation with haha), lots more.
I’ve always been low key and friendly when interacting with celebs, especially when seeing them while they’re just going about their business. I don’t think they’re more valuable or interesting than other people and I think most of the time that is a welcome break.
I’ve also gone to tons and tons and tons of concerts throughout my life, many while volunteering or doing activism work, and I have met a kajillion bands and performers like that. Lots of people who started out small and later made it big.
I actually met Joan Jett at a county fair, and when I saw her play again a couple months later she recognized me (and then I saw her play again like 12+ times and eventually started just bumping into her because apparently we have similar interests and hung out in similar places lol). I highly recommend going to see her at every and any opportunity. She puts on an incredible live show that feels like a party and is a super sweet and wholesome person.
My wife confirms the “gross dick” status for Ethan Hawke. She was working as a bartender back in college and he sat at the bad one night. He kept creepily propositioning her.
At the time I used to see him regularly he wore the same pair of disgusting filthy grey sweatpants every day and was rude and condescending as all hell. Pretty sure he was probably going through a rough period in life but that doesn’t give anyone a pass to be an asshole.
50 cent. He was at a charity function I attended for work. I buckled and joined the people asking for pictures. He was ridiculously nice, absolutely JACKED and smelled incredible.
Slightly different genre I also met Amy Grant at a different charity event for work. Also very nice, slightly less jacked and no discernable smell to speak of.
Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, but it was more of a brief wave from a few feet away than meeting them. Still, amazingly cool experience to be that close.
Brian Blessed is probably the most known person I’ve met. He is exactly like his appearance on any TV show you’ve seen him on. He wants to tell stories, endlessly. He’s always got a fascinating story or fact to tell you. He wants to speak to literally anyone about anything.
This was at a convention years ago, and he had two handlers who were ripping their hair out from the frustration - they were bitching about how impossible he is to get from place to place but he’s just so goddamn nice.
Other notable meet (to me) was Regi Fils-Aimé. I was wearing a Zelda necklace and he went “ooooh I like your necklace!” and I pretty much resembled that scene where Troy meets LeVar Burton in Community.
I was working in a kitchen and David hasselhoff came to eat (I live in Austria) so we asked him for a group photo and he obliged, dude was pretty cool about it.
I guess the most famous I’ve met is Screamin’ Scott Simon of Sha Na Na. He’s friends with my mom. Went to visit one year and he took us to his home in the valley of LA. Lovely guy, and the most insane driver I’ve ever met.
I didn’t actually meet him, but I made Bill Hader smile!
I was walking being him in a parking lot/alley in Venice and when I realized it was him I got super excited, then my friend whispered loudly “keep your cool, don’t make a scene” and then when he turned the corner we could see the smile on his face. It was very exciting
I’ve also walked behind Fred Armisen and Carrie Beownstein when I walked past a place where they were filming Portlandia
If you count the dudes from Last Podcast on the Left, though, I’ve met Henry Zebrowski so often that he recognized me on the street when I ran into him coming out of a bar. And he was in a Scorsese movie
Hail yourself! I was just scrolling back to see if anyone had met any of the boys. I am sad I haven’t met any of them yet. Seems like all of them would be excellent folks to get a beer and talk about weird shit with. It’s strange how parasocial relationships work. I’ve been listening to them twice a week for 8 years and feel like they’re my friends.
Met Robert Patrick (best known as the T-1000 from Terminator 2).
He had a booth at a Horror convention. I knew nothing about the convention and didn’t know a ton about his other work, but his local agent asked their local family if they knew a Graphic Designer because the booth posters for Robert and Billy Boyd got lost in luggage.
I eneded up being a last minute call for help, had the agent send me what official images they had, and threw together what I could in an hour or two so I could get it to a printer in time.
Was right by Robert at his booth all day, interacting with his fans. He seems like he probably has some political views I’d disagree with, but I’ve never seen anyone spend time with fans like him. He truly put the time and work in with every single person in that line.
Had no clue how many diverse fandoms he was part of. He seems strongheaded, but very professional and super loving to the people that show up for him.
Got to have lunch with him and Billy Boyd that day, and they’re total dorks together in the best way. Billy Boyd is 100% the sweetest man and it was hilarious realizing he had voiced Chuckie.
I’ve never actually met a real famous person but the closest was that I once went to school with a girl who later briefly did photo shoots for a vaguely popular magazine. I don’t remember her full name but her first name was something like “Kristina” and I’m pretty sure her last name sounded Russian. She randomly friended me on Facebook several years ago but when I messaged to her, it seemed like I was talking to her manager and not her directly, it was very weird.
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