Who is the most famous person you've ever met?
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
Met Arthur C. Clarke in 1997 in his house near Colombo, Sri Lanka... A friend of my dad organised the meeting...when we arrived Mr Clarke was sitting in his office watching one of the first Mars rover landings live on CNN..a moment and coincidence which i was only able to understand many years later...
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.
Wow, that’s an impressive list! Did you meet them through work? What sort of work do you do?
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.
Kurt Vonnegut. Met him at a Brooklyn farmers market, sitting on a bench. He seemed lonely and talked to me for so long I had to excuse myself.
Thats an awesome one! Seems like the kind of guy to have a conversation in a farmers market.
I had already clicked out of this thread when I spied your comment and came back in! Your experience is a lifetime dream of mine. Poo-tee-weet?
Dizzy Gillespie. Way back in high school our school jazz band opened for Dizzy at a festival/contest. I was heading to the rehearsal room and saw our director chatting with him, and the director waved me over and introduced me. He said “Hey man, it’s cool to meet you” and shook my hand.
I died.
Woah! Talk about influential legend!
James Randi. Glad I got to meet him before he died.
You win!
Oh I met him too at the Amazing Meeting in London a decade ago or something.
For me it was a private recording of sgu. Michio Kaku was there and DJ Grothe. Both of them im not happy or proud to meet though. But Seth Shostak was there, which is cool.
I've shaken Arnold Schwarzenegger's hand back when he was running for governor of California.
It was surreal as fuck because I only ever knew him from movies, when I was a kid, so I was shocked that he didn't tower over me. I was actually a bit taller than him.
James Earl Jones. He was doing a book signing in his small hometown, not far from me, when his autobiography was published. As it was such a small shop he spent time talking with everyone who came by. Hearing Darth Vader’s voice coming from such a humble and relatively soft-spoken man was an amazing experience.
I’m always amazed that a star so well known for his voice actually has a severe stutter
As someone who had a slight stutter at a young age that made him even more heroic in my eyes.
Bill Nye (the Science Guy). Total jerk, unfortunately.
Nei Degrasse Tyson on the other hand is the nicest guy. Used to live near him and had a few short conversations. Always made time for people and is a genuinely cool dude.
Isaac Asimov, who called me a few times. Very kind and patient man.
Multiple times?? That’s impressive. You two must have had a good . . . Foundation
I’ll see myself out
... but what did he call you about? I need to know more!
Alan Rickman - lovely guy but didn't take shit from anyone.
Karl Urban - didn't really speak to him, but his PA was very rude.
Kate Mulgrew - amazing lady, very funny and also absolutely lovely.
You met Janeway? Was it at a con? I’m legit jealous as I would love to meet her and Jeri Ryan.
Neil Armstrong. Got to shake his hand at a symposium where he gave a talk.
At the same symposium I met Dick Rutan. I was standing in a group and he was across from me wearing his full dress uniform. Out of nowhere he sucks his hand out to me and says "Hi, I'm Dick Rutan, I flew around the world. Maybe you've heard of me." My response was not eloquent.
I was at E3 once talking to Jordan Weisman about MechWarrior 4 when Steven Spielberg walked up. He said, "My kids aren't going to believe I got to meet you!", which left Jordan and I stunned. Apparently he and his kids were big 'mech fans.
I met all of you cool guys here. Witness me!
Penn & Teller. Really nice guys. Penn is ridiculously tall, and having a conversation with Teller is one of the most surreal experiences I've had.
I've also met tons of metal bands, too many to list. I'll say the chillest/coolest I hung out with were The Black Dahlia Murder or GWAR.
They always spend like an hour in the hallways outside the Penn and Teller Theater after shows meeting fans. The people who crowd around Teller are often magicians because he is notoriously generous when it comes to helping other magicians. They both are really, but I think a majority of successful magicians in the US have a trick in their repertoire that Teller helped out with in some way or another.
Yes I met them after one of their shows in Vegas.
Dolly Parton at the Nashville rotating restaurant (on top of the Sheraton in the 90s). I was having dinner with a friend and just getting to know her better. She was explaining to me how she always runs into celebrities. She carried around an autograph book everywhere she went. We go to leave and Dolly is coming in. My friend gets another autograph. Dolly was very sweet and very short.
Edit: remove extra words
I've heard she's a good and decent human being.
I am so jealous. If I could meet one person in the world it would be Dolly. She is my absolute hero. I don't even think I'd be able to speak, I would just start crying.
Pope John Paul II.
I was working catering in the Vatican for some conference, and they kind of forced me to go to the audience with the Pope. Sort of shook his hand, but he was already late into Parkinson's.
So what you're saying is his hand was shaking without your involvement?
Lol, pretty much
The best I can say is that I was MSN Instant Messenger buddies with someone who now has 2.4 million Twitch followers, before they started streaming.
Which is to say, I've never met a famous person.
I met Jeremy Clarkson - he was alright, very pleasant and funny
Me too! I was walking around the fish market in Seattle and walked right by him. My partner then said "Wasn't that the guy from the car show that you watch?" I doubled back and met him. Just said hello and shook his hand.
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.
That was wild to me lol
When I was a little nipper, Mother Theresa patted me on the head and said I was a very handsome young man
She was just saying that, obviously
I met Quinton Tarantino. Even did a movie with him. Really likes giving pedicures.
But now I just see him out of the corner of my eyes everywhere I go now. It's weird.
The only celebrities that I met and had a moment to converse with were Nathan Fillion and Jon Huertas.
My wife and I met them at a release event for a small electric car company in 2011 or 2012. I had just gotten a copy of "Dr Horrible's Sing-Along blog: The Book" and it was the first time he had seen it. So basically we flipped through the book together and Nathan pointed out things in pictures and talk about who made them or what they were made of.
I think the only famous person that I have met in real life and took picture with was a gay/straight/bisexual? (Im not even sure) man porn star, it was actually funny because I didn't know who he was, but I saw a couple of people asking for a picture, so I was like, ok let's just take a picture with him. Then I proceeded to upload it to my social media with a text like "cant believe I got to talk with him today!!!"
Years later, I was fapping away and watched a video of him, and I was like, wait he looks familiar, and then it hit me.
Jim Lahey, Trailer Park Supervisor at the best f'n trailer park in the world.
John Dunsworth was a beautiful human. May he rest in peace. ❤️
I met Prime Minister of Economics and Innovation of Lithuania, Aušrinė Armonaitė, back in the days she was just a politician. She tries to be very tactical and friendly person (as most politicians do). Nevertheless, she is one of the most hated politicians right now, probably.
What happened that made her hated?
She is hated mostly by the traditionalists. She proposes decriminalisation (NB: not legalisation) of soft drugs and same-sex partnerships for LGBT. Some have become angry as much that I know people who put all the blame from their life into her party.
I would be happy if I could describe the detailed info but I don't want to break Rule 2 of this community and put Lemmy on fire.
I've seen a lot (doing high-end retail in LA) who have all been pleasant and polite with me but I'd have to say my favorite is Julie Andrews because I've also interacted with people who work for her and they genuinely love her warmth and kindness.
I've met a few:
DMX. I was working at a cell phone store in Western New York in 2016 and he had just gotten out of prison and wanted to get a new phone for his daughter. He had quite the eccentric entourage with him! He was actually quite nice and took pictures with everyone in the store and had some convos with people. I have a picture with him where I look like an idiot lol.
I'm some form of science hermit, so I measure these things by degrees of separation. So I meet people by proxy. Some long after they are deceased, I suppose.
I have two degrees of separation from Paul Erdos (and of course his mother), several prime ministers of Vietnam, Kevin Mitnick, and Keanu Reeves. Three from John Von Newmann and most world leaders.
I also probably have an Erdos-Bacon number. It would be quite large though.
Well, I've met Kevin Bacon so now you're a 2.
Funny story really, I live in West LA.... I was watching my kids play in the park and saw a familiar-looking dad watching his, so I wandered up and said, "I feel like I know you but I can't remember from where, do your kids go to (local school) or (local play gym) or (local swim classes)?" And he said" ... Umm, I'm Kevin Bacon." So I said, "Oh I'm sorry, of course you are!" and let him alone to enjoy being a dad.
Haha nice! These things have a funny way of happening.
I met a colleague of Paul Erdos by walking up to a complete stranger on a train and simply asking if they were a mathematician and if they knew Paul Erdos. He turned out to have a lot of lovely anecdotes to share.
I'm not sure what possessed me to specifically do that, but I probably won't do it a second time and risk losing the 100% hit rate for colleague-of-Paul-Erdos divination.
No idea. Picture it: Late summer, 1998.
I was working on the Jungle Cruise at Walt Disney World, and had a VIP group get on my boat with one instruction: no Brazilian guests could share the boat. Nice enough dude, built, good lookin’ dude.
As we moved down the dock to load the rest of the guests, a Brazilian tour group saw who was there and COMPLETELY LOST THEIR MINDS. Americans, including me, had no idea who it was.
Went through the ride, they got off the boat, left via the back way.
This was similar to an experience I had years ago.
Was at a summer class at a school in NYC, and one of my classmates was a lovable idiot with a British accent who was very down to earth and nice despite often saying incredibly dumb things.
One day we're out in one of the parks for a project, and a group of middle school girls wearing uniforms lose their fucking minds.
Apparently they were foreign students from the UK, and it turns out my classmate was one of the members of a huge boy band extremely popular in the UK, but not very popular or well known here.
Weird how relative fame is.
(For example, I have several answers to the OP question ranging from dinner, birthdays, or going to private clubs with different very famous musical artists, but my personal fan experience was meeting Todd Howard at E3.)
I met Chris Hadfield briefly when I was a kid. That was pretty neat. He was doing a book signing for a relatively small room of people
Harry Anderson came to my local library when I was a teenager to present to the Society of Young Magicians. Dude was awesome. Glad to teach. Funny.
Probably António Raminhos. He's a Portuguese comedian, ran into him at a hotel.
Chris Hemsworth. He was on holiday and very quiet, keeping to himself. I was staff aiding with his transport.
John Waters. I met him at an exploitation movie convention and he was everything I hoped he would be
Years ago I went to the Philly ComicCon with some friends. On the first day we're walking in and I see this huge shadow come up behind me and then over top of me and then I see the tallest person I've ever seen walking directly in front of me. Turns out it was Peter Mayhew. He literally walked over my small 5'0" self. It was surreal.
This is my favorite in this thread.
I met Patrick Marleau a couple of years ago. He was on the Maple Leafs at the time, but just days after he was eliminated from the playoffs, I ran into him with one of his kids in San Jose. He was signing his kid up for hockey lessons at the local ice rink. Lo and behold, Marleau was back on the Sharks the next year.
I said hi to him and said I was a huge fan. He was doing his best to be nice, but he was 100% in dad mode, and his son was doing things he shouldn't in the store, so he had to keep scolding him. So I basically shook his hand and that was it. 😅
Terry Pratchett. It was at a book signing. He stayed very late, until every last person got their book signed. Generous and warm with everyone in line.
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.
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.
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 JUST WANTED A PICTURE! YOU CAN'T DISSAPOINT A PICTURE!
Oh I'm jealous, he's one of my personal heroes.
I am not a sportsball fan, but in the 90s worked in a couple (completely unrelated!) places where I met/interacted with a bunch of NFL dudes in a relaxed setting
I also once was in a group dinner with Wayne Hussey (Mission era, rather enjoyable, center of attention but didn't demand it, if that makes sense). Met Vince Neil at an EM club in Germany in the 80s (box of rocks and kinda rude).
Samuel L Jackson and Jessica Alba, both were shooting movies near me and I happened to be a dealer at a new casino that just opened. SLJ came to my table and left, no cash in or anything, so I guess I didn't really meet him. Jessica Alba had her face covered and was in sunglasses with some big dude near her. She also came to my table, said something to her bodyguard and then they sat at the table next to me.
Paul Walker, at blockbuster in Santa Barbara 2008. He didn't have his membership card, had to look him up by his driver's license. I had no idea who he was, my co-workers were freaking out and asked me what his license looked like. I didn't pay attention at all and couldn't remember any details. My guess he probably appreciated being anonymous to me.
Motoo Fujiwara, lead singer/composer of Bump of Chicken.
He was good friends with a friend of mine so we went out to dinner and hung out in his apartment. He'd just turned down the offer to write an opening song for One Piece, because he'd never heard of it, and was regretting it immensely (as a consolation they did the ending of the 2003 movie).
Working in games I've worked with more famous people, like Tim Curry and Billy West, but never met any of them. Still cool to see your name in the same credits roll :D.
When Obama was campaigning he did a stop at my kids' high school. My husband shook his hand.
Couple of years ago a friend and i were at breakfast and started talking to an old guy sitting at the counter beside us. It was photographer Irv Steinberg. He sat and chatted for an hour, telling funny stories about photographing Marilyn Monroe and accidentally eating John Wayne's steak.
When my kids were young they auditioned for ER and we met Anthony Edwards. He said, "hi. I'm Tony," which seemed funny.
Numerous metal bands... I can't list them all with any accuracy. In the early 2000s I met most of the Green Bay Packers and numerous WWE wrestlers due to a promotion gig I had.
Hello fellow Metal Band meeter. What was your trick? I just hung out by the venue for a few hours after the shows finished.
Small venues offer more opportunities. I also am a musician myself, so being friendly with opening local acts and sometimes doing sound or hell, even sometimes filling in for my buddies if they needed a guitar or bass to step in. I've just been involved in the scene as a fan, a tech, and musician for a long time, it just kind of happens.
I met Craig Ferguson a few years ago, I was just a stand-in contestant for a game show pilot he was filming. He was super nice, took the time to say hello and have a quick chat before getting down to business.
It was really cool to watch him, he was so calm and cool until the camera started rolling and then he was just 'on'.
Stan Lee - San Diego Comic Con 1995.
https://i.imgur.io/aQas1rv_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium
I've met Billy Idol two times, he was really nice.
I once caught some random show he was doing on the Toronto Islands a few years back. He hung around after to meet people and was a really great guy.
Will Wright at one of the E3 conventions during their glory days.
I cooked lasagne for Todd Barry once. It was a good lasagne, made the pasta by hand and spent a full day to make the ragu.
Mads Mikkelsen, but it was early in his career - before he went international.
Hayden Panettiere, at the time I was an intern at a recording studio and lionsgate came in and filmed some studio scenes for the show Nashville at our place. Hayden walked in and was looking at this big fish tank that was by the front entry. I honestly had no idea who she was and started talked to her as she asked what type of fish our bright orange parrot fish was. After that she walked off to go get ready. I googled who was on the show later that night as I am totally aloof on anything on TV and actors/actresses in general didn't realize till then I met her. She is really short, pretty and seemed nice.
Looking back my favorite part of that day was the craft food services truck(s) ulimited redbull and snacks. Also one of the camera guys I chatted up and learned he had done some work on Lord of the Rings, which I thought was really cool.
