Have you ever had a chance to meet a celebrity?

[Frostmarrow]

I played Vampire Live at a convention ten or more years ago. Mark Rein•Hagen helped me out with my character. I told him that I didn't want to play a woman (my character was) and he said in a very matter-of-factly voice that "Why don't you change the first name?" It was a moment of RPG-enlightenment.

 

[Mistwell]

I've met many celebs, living in LA. I am engaged to an actress in fact (nobody you would know, she mainly does commercials and theatre), and she is friends with some people in the entertainment business.

I don't feel comfortable naming any of them, however. It would feel like name dropping. I will say that some are great, others not so much - just people.

 

[KenM]

I was visiting relatives up at Bear Valley (a winter ski town in California) a few years ago, when I saw Robert Conrad coming out of the Men’s room.

Didn’t actually “meet” Robert Conrad, mind you. Only saw him walking out of the john.

I don’t think anyone has a lamer celebrity close-encounter than that.

Back in 1995, me and some friends took drive up to Toronto for the comic con up there, they were having the big M:TG ice age premire. Saw one of the "guests of honor" in the bathroom, Kato Kaelin, OJ's old housemate. Think he is pretty lame.
Then back in 1986, a friend of mine had a birthday party for his kid at local dennys, Kid was turnning 4. We were put into a room in the back, 4 tables in center of room pushed together, the booths empty until the metallica tour bus pulled up, they came in with the roadies, ect, sat in all the booths around us, sang happy bday with us, they were cool. They played the local arena night before.

 

[Eternalknight]

I have met many sports people, with the most famous probably being Martina Hingis.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I've met Terry Pratchett a couple of times at book signings. He's a very nice man, with a much softer voice than you'd expect and a not-quite-lisp. Funny man, though.

And he even managed to smile both times when I put 5 books in front of him instead of just one...

By the way, Pterry does the best book signings in the world. I have a calendar signed "With Extra Lent!", Feet of Clay has "A Word in Your Head", The Last Continent has "No Bloody Worries!" etc etc. It's great, he makes an effort to write something in everyone's books.

I've heard he has a small list for each book and varies it as he goes along. Nice fellow.

 

[Dr Midnight]

met the guy who played Mr. Cutlip and the doctor from that star trek show. He wasn't too interested in talking and seemed desperate to sell me an autograph. I said "Wow, you were 'Eddie Quist' in the Howling!" He replied (grudgingly) "That's right, Eddie from the Howling. Would you like an autograph?"

I met Will Eisner at Kitchen Sink Press... in fact, I gave him a brief tutorial on how to color comics using computers. Quite a thrill.

Met Joe Kubert because I went to his school for three years. He's a great guy, and really helped me a lot.

Met tons of other comic people, but who cares.

I know the Touchtone Terrorist, who's done prank calls for CRANK YANKERS and had a lot of stuff played by the Howard Stern show. I did the art for his last two albums, and as a cool result, my art is up on the Comedy Central website.

Reportedly I had an uncle (through marriage) who was in Michael J. Fox's band in BRIGHT LIGHTS BIG CITY (or whichever one he had a band in).

Gary Gygax once said something I'd stated was "a crock of crap", which was fun.

Dammit. I think I'm out of stories. My sister has Tim Meadows and Jewel, while Dartan from these boards has Ruthie from Real World, Danny DeVito and James Woods.

Oooh, except one time I found myself driving behind a black box-like car. Its license plate was BATMAN. I pulled up to the side and looked in the tinted windows... it LOOKED like Adam West, but I'm not sure.

 

[Ziona]

Speaking of Adam West... (Doc knows this story)

We went to a sci-fi con a few months ago and Adam West was there. He saw me wearing a Wonder Woman t-shirt and starting singing the theme song to me! I thought that was pretty cool.

Other than that, I ran into the Foo Fighters at a Dairy Queen in CT when they were on their way to Providence, RI for a show, which I happened to be going to that night. It was really crazy. David Grohl gave me his autograph, which was something like "Melissa, See you next time we eat at the DQ." That night, one of our friends (Wee Jas) helped me muscle my way to the stage, where David waved at me.

Who else...we go to sci-fi cons when they come around, so I've met Lou Ferrigno, Veronica Cartwright, and one of the guys who played a Jawa as a kid. Also saw the same Trek guy as Doc, as well as Ray Park, Peter Tork and Kevin Smith. (We all saw Kevin Smith at the college tour he did...excellent time!!)

I'm still hoping that someday I'll meet Lynda Carter at a con, but I think my chances are slim...

 

[Sagan Darkside]

The college I work at attracts the children of celebrities as well as a lot of actors during our summer theater sessions.

I only have one amusing story though, it was during my first summer at this school and I had not known about the influx of actors during the summer.

I was walking back from the deli and a group of men were coming the opposite way. The one in the middle looked so familiar I could not place it. I guess I was staring because he gave me a goofy look as we passed.

It was two minutes later when I slapped myself in the forehead- it was Fisher Stevens, one of the very few actors I actually appreciate for their talent. I regret my mind was not working, because it would have been nice to thank him for his work.

Other actors out an about: some people from the West Wing, someone from ER (long brown hair, I don't think she is on the show anymore), Larry from the Perfect Stranger's tv show, Stephen King, Samuel Jackson, and Tom Hanks.

I only enjoy a couple of the above- and have an active distaste for the others.. so I never made an efforts to interact with any of them.

I have heard stories (mostly unpleasant ones) about the people above from the locals store workers.

SD

 

[CrusaderX]

I've met a few Star Wars related celebs through the local annual comic book convention, including David (Darth Vader) Prowse and Kenny (R2-D2) Baker. Also Michonne (Aurra Sing) Bourriague, who I agree is very sweet and very very lovely.

I've met the Mara Jade model, Shannon Baksa, who I guess is not really a celebrity. She was fairly pleasant, but seemed a bit stuck-up, at least compared to Michonne.

I've also met a few other Star Wars related minor celebs, though I can't remember their real names off the top of my head (the guy who played Biggs, the guy who played Greedo, a few Imperial Officers from A New Hope, and one or two others).

I suppose none of these names can really be considered as celebrities outside of Star Wars. But it's still cool to say that I shook Darth Vader's hand and got his autograph.

 

[Pazu]

I met Joe Straczynski at San Diego Comicon 1995. My brains promptly turned to mush and I babbled something incoherent. My wife, bless her, was much more articulate.

I've spoken briefly with Neil Gaiman a couple of times, but not so as he'd remember me.

Nicholas Cage was at the same comic store I was once, but I didn't notice him until someone pointed him out as he was leaving.

I got to chat with Bill Mumy once at a con. He was extremely pleasant. Forrest Ackerman came by while we were waiting in line to see Bill, but he was mostly interested in flirting with our friend in Esperanto.

I met Jackie Chan at a book signing and shook his hand. His bodyguard, Ken Lo, was also there (the tall kickboxing guy at the end of Drunken Master 2), and he seemed very appreciative when we told him how much we liked him in that movie.

Harlan Ellison came to speak once at the University of Michigan when I was an undergrad, and I got to talk to him a little when he signed a book for me. He seemed to be in a good mood that day, and was very pleasant.

I met J. K. Rowling at a book signing. She looked completely exhausted and a little confused when she noticed that my wife and I were about 20 years older than the majority of the people there. She didn't say much, and I didn't blame her one bit.

That's pretty much all I can think of off the top of my head, unless you count the occasional Jon Bon Jovi sightings at our local ice cream place when I was a kid in New Jersey.

-- Pazu