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
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Met Arthur C. Clarke in 1997 in his house near Colombo, Sri Lanka… A friend of my dad had 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.
That’s really cool, thanks for sharing your stories!
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.
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.
You win!
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.
Weird Al. He’s a nice and personable fellow.
That’s who I’d like to meet. Not really a big star person but I’d really like to meet weird al.
Have you seen his new movie? It’s amazing 😆
It was fantastic. “can’t you please stop being yourself and doing what you love” 🤣🤣🤣
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.
He really is.
Shame he ends up being the- “well achsssually” guy in online Twitter interactions. Sort of blunts the humble effect.
He strikes me as a highschool teacher that’s really out of touch and can’t turn off their job.
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!
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
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.
I just love that, after being silent all show, he comes out and talks enthusiastically with fans and colleagues.
Yes I met them after one of their shows in Vegas.
