Brushes With Celebrities You Failed To Realize At The Time

[rsvp42]

Well last summer I stayed in L.A. and I was once a mere parking lot away from Tim Burton. He was out talking on his phone to someone. A friend had to point him out to me because I honestly didn't remember what he looked like at the time. Then a few weeks later, I was inside a nearby building and he walked past the window with a couple other people.

That same summer I saw Andy Samberg doing DVD extras and later that day I was walking past the bathrooms and he came out and almost bumped into me. He said, "Sorry" and I was like, "oh, hey." I think maybe I played it too cool, lol. I wanted to ask for an autograph, but I also didn't want to be a douche. That was probably the most star-studded time of my life so far. Granted it was all while interning at a film studio, so I was more likely to run into folks like that, but still. I was excited, heh.

 

[FallenTraveler]

when I saw projekt revolution back in... 08'? Whenever my chemical romance was on tour with em, We were sitting around as Mindless self indulgence was coming on, midway through the first song some guys were walking up behind us, I turned around and realize that it was The Bled, I shouted "Great show guys" and the lead singer high fived me... I wish I had enjoyed their music more at the time, cause I feel like I missed out having only started kinda liking their music this year

 

[MKScorpion]

I don't have anything to say about myself, but I do have a story regarding my dad. A loooong time ago, when he worked as a delivery man, he once delivered something to someone in the mountains. He got out of the car, went past the gate and walked up to the door. He rang the doorbell and a somewhat elderly man walked out of the house. My dad told him to sign a paper to verify that it was him. He said that the man seemed a bit surprised while at the door.

After all was said and done, the man handed the clipboard back to my dad. Seeing as how it was a very hot day, the man asked my dad if he would like to go in and have a drink, but my dad politely declined. He walked back to his truck, sat down and looked at the clipboard to know what street address was next, then he noticed the man's name.

Many years ago, my dad had met Charlton Heston but he didn't notice him at that moment. He was too embarrassed to go back so he just went on with his deliveries.

 

[teqrevisited]

I've never met any famous people but my Nan missed two separate opportunities to ask Rowan Atkinson for an autograph when he turned up at her till in B&Q.

 

[Chamale]

I met Gavin Crawford and had no idea who he was. It was after a play he was in, and I was asking about how much theatre he does. When he mentioned that he works for CBC, I assumed (but luckily didn't say out loud) that he was a cameraman or something like that. A friend of mine, a big fan of This Hour has 22 minutes, explained that this guy once had his own TV show and is still a big deal on CBC.

Looking back on our conversation, I might have sounded like an adoring fan who was politely not mentioning his work on television. In fact, I had no idea that I was talking to such a famous actor.

 

[Amp]

Billy Boyd used to use the gym I go to a few years back, only spoke to him once though.

 

[Jumping_Over_Fences]

I met Beefcake the Mighty without even knowing it.

I stood in line to get into a really small bar to see GWAR (it was a one off show that my friends and I were lucky enough to get into). After a little while a big guy walks up to us and talks to us for a while. We even talked to this guy once we were in the bar. It wasn't until the show began that we all realized that we had been talking to Beefcake the Mighty. It was pretty cool and we got to hang out the the whole band afterward. Night of my life.

 

[hannan4mitch]

Well, I learned only a couple years ago that my great-uncle David Emge (on my mom's side) was the actor playing Stephen Andrews (the helicopter pilot) in the original Dawn of the Dead.
I am not kidding.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

I went to pick up my sister from her work at a downtown clothing store. She was running a little late, so I circled the block a few times. It was a Sunday afternoon, so the streets were strikingly empty. After a few laps, I noticed a guy walking all alone in the opposite direction on the near-side sidewalk. He was literally the only other person in sight, which was strange given this was the downtown area of a relatively major city. We locked eyes as I drove past, exchanging overt "what the fuck are you looking at?" glances.

My first thought: what a bizarre and aggressive exchange between two random people.

My second thought: that was Woody Harrelson.

 

[The Last Nomad]

I once moshed with Lemmy from motorhead at a metallica gig, and only after I realised it was him...
He had blond bits in his hair and had bandanas around his face, I dunno how I didn't recognise him though... I remember one of my friends saying he was someone famous but I didn't hear him right and I didn't realise it was Lemmy, I suppose I imagined someone that famous wouldn't be in the crowd and I didn't ask again who it was...

 

[Kajt]

I live in the middle of freakin' nowhere, so... no. That hasn't happened to me at all.

 

[AdmiralMemo]

My dad was on a cruise one time. It had some musicians on it, but he and my mom were there for the destination (Caribbean, I think), not the music, so they didn't think too much about it. So, at one point several days into the cruise, he's in the bar, and this older guy walks up, sits down next to him, and starts talking to him. My dad thought he seemed familiar, but chalked it up to meeting a bunch of people on the ship and this being one of them. So, the guy bought him a drink, they talked for a bit, and generally had a good time. Then, the guy left to do other things. My dad later was back in his room that night, crashed on the bed, and turned the TV on, flipping through channels. He came to one that was showing previously-recorded concerts on the ship from the previous days. He looked again and was like, "Holy crap! I was having a drink with David Crosby [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Crosby]!" Crosby, Stills, & Nash [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosby,_Stills,_Nash_%26_Young] was one of his favorite bands back in the day. He said the main reason he didn't recognize the guy was that he remembers David Crosby like this [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/CSNY_8-1974_(2).jpg], and now, he looks like this [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/David_crosby.jpg]. According to my dad, his voice has changed a bit, too.

 

[SimuLord]

I've probably met famous people. Wouldn't know 'em from a hole in the wall though, since I'm not in the slightest a fan of movies or television (except Mythbusters---if I met any of those guys I'd be reduced to starstruck blithering idiot status within five minutes) and have a populist streak in me to the point where I don't necessarily believe "famous" people deserve to be treated any differently than common folk.

Makes me think of Jim Thorpe at the 1912 Olympics saying "Thanks, King" to the King of Sweden after the latter presented his gold medals.

 

[2xDouble]

The closest thing to a celebrity I've personally met was former talk show host Sally Jesse Raphael. She came into my store and I helped her with some camping equipment.

I hear there are lots of celebrity types near where I live, but she's the only one I've personally seen and met.

 

[justnotcricket]

Hm, well... I live in New Zealand, which is littered with 'celebrities' who are, to use the well-loved phrase, only 'world famous in New Zealand'. I have thus seen many celebrities, but the only one that might mean anything to a non-New Zealander that I saw but didn't register it until later was good ol' Temuera Morrison.

Whom I know as Dr 'you're not in Guatemala now' Ropata from Shortland Street, but you might know as Jango Fett. Or that dude from Speed 2: Cruise Control. =P

And, actually, I've also seen Lucy Lawless (Xena).

 

[BonsaiK]

So, has anyone else interacted with a celebrity and not realized it until later?

I'm a little oblivious to this because I do a fair bit of work in radio stations, where people go in to get interviewed. If I'm the one interviewing the famous people (which is rare because I hate doing interviews and try to weasel my way out of that kind of work whenever possible) then I'll pay attention, but if not, they're just another body floating around in the green room, wanting to know where the toilet or the coffee machine is. I usually won't find out who it is until I go into the studio after they've left and exchange gossip with the DJ...

 

[LandoCristo]

Not like that, but I drove by Snoop Dog while he was filming a video in LA. At least I think it was Snoop Dog. May have been P. Diddy.

 

[Grayjack]

I live in the middle of freakin' nowhere, so... no. Not hasn't happened to me at all.

Pretty much what you said.

 

[Lord Devius]

Ryan Stiles lives within 20 minutes of me. I've actually bumped into him in the grocery store. I wasn't much of a fan until recently, though.

I don't care if he's not a big celebrity, he's friggin awesome.