People always say ‘you should never meet your heroes.’ In some cases that proves to be good advice, but more often than you’d think, famous people turn out to be really cool and willing to take a moment to meet a sincere fan. Of course, they can also be incredibly mean and petty — or, like the rest of us, they can simply have a bad day.
Good, bad, or funny, these folks recently went online to share their celebrity encounters. Welcome to the red carpet.
40. Like a Hawk
I met Tony Hawk, late in the 90’s. He came to our local skate park for a demo but it was a tiny little indoor park and he couldn’t do much.
After skating for a bit to appease the crowd, he snuck out the back across the parking lot to the bowling alley. Me and two friends followed him, he invited us to bowl with him, bought us chicken tenders and french fries and talked about skateboarding with us for over an hour.
Honestly one of the coolest guys I’ve ever met.
Fast forward 20 years later and I get to meet him again at our local skate park unveiling that his foundation helped pay for and man, he was just as cool.
We chatted a bit at the water fountain, I mentioned that as a kid he treated us to chicken tenders and french fries at the bowling alley when I was just a kid, and wouldn’t you know it he was like oh in Amity Ct?
Wasn’t the skate park called B17? I was simply floored. He went on to explain he was having a rough day that day and just hanging with three little kids bowling and talking skateboarding made him realize just how great life was.
Thank you for everything you have ever done for skateboarding Tony!
39. The one true king
I met Viggo Mortensen quite a handful of times as he used to go to the restaurant I managed at the time.
He was one of the nicest, most down to earth celebrities we had. He would, after we offered, join us for dinner once the restaurant had closed and would bring small gifts every time for everyone.
38. Spielberg hooks you up
I met Jerry Springer while traveling when we happened to be staying at the same hotel. He was super nice, took photos and answered questions.
All smiles and jokes.
I also met Stephen Spielberg. I met him at some benefit I got invited to as a teen due to having good grades and he not only had a super normal convo with me, but when I told him where I really wanted to work (but hadn’t been able to get an interview) he took me to the next table where the company’s CEO was and introduced me.
I worked there for 5 years after.
37. You missed out on his trademark hugs
I was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with my large extended family for my parent’s 50th wedding celebration at a hotel.
We hired a photographer to take our picture for the occasion and we set up in the lobby. There was a man with a big flag button (not unusual, get used to seeing a lot of folks like that during the caucus) talking to someone right in the way of our shot.
We cheerfully asked him to get out of the way, told him my folks were married for 50 years, he apologized, congratulated my folks and walked away.
My husband leaned over to me and said, “We just told Joe Biden to get out of our family picture”.
36. Voice actors tend to be pretty cool dudes
Billy West (from Futurama) was at Indiana Comic Con. I was in line for an autograph.
He did his many voices throughout the whole autograph session, without being asked. Even had a moment with Jason Momoa when, as Jason was leaving, someone saw him walking backstage (there was only a curtain separator) and shouted for him.
He peeks through the back curtain of Billy’s booth and waves, but this caused part of a banner hanging above it to come loose, and Billy shouts in Professor Farnsworth’s voice “Who knocked down my banner”?
! You can tell he just loves what he does and has fun with it.
Along with the autograph he took pictures for free. Also, when the autograph booths were closing for the day, Billy refused to leave and insisted on getting to every person left in line.
10/10 would meet again.
35. You ain’t never had a friend like me
A coworker noticed Robin Williams flipping through a book quietly at a bookstore I worked at. It was during the filming of Good Will Hunting so he had a beard and wasn’t so recognizable- she said “I think that’s Robin Williams”! He looked up from his book smiled and then put a finger to his mouth.
“Shhhh, I know”.
34. Keanu is famously nice
I had to deal with Cyndi Lauper as a hotel worker, and she was a complete nightmare because there was a light bulb burnt out in her room.
Back in the early 90’s, Keanu Reeves came to a Shakespeare play festival being put on by area high schools in the Berkshires, and he took a moment to come backstage and compliment my friend on his performance as Bottom in “Midsummer’s Night Dream”.
Sounds like a small enough thing, but it made my friend feel like a rock star. Have always been a Keanu fan ever since.
33. Liquid courage
I once spilled a very large, very colorful, drink on Kate Hudson.
My girlfriend and I ended up in a VIP area at a music festival totally by accident. We weren’t supposed to be there but walked right in not knowing it was restricted and since we were there we decided to stay.
We ended up in a corner as to not draw attention to ourselves and I would walk over to the bar occasionally to get us drinks and bring them back.
A few hours and more than a few rounds later, my girlfriend decided she had to have one of the plastic yard glasses of Margaritas that they were selling, so I attempted to bring back one on my next trip.
I made it within ten feet of where we where stationed, when I sidestepped a dancing girl, tripped and spilled the entire yard glass on a woman.
When she turned around, I realized that the woman that I had just soaked was Kate Hudson. She was incredibly awesome about it, and luckily my girlfriend had an extra shirt with her that she could change into.
32. How can your store be real if money is not real
Jaden Smith wouldn’t leave my store thirty minutes after we closed. Neither would his security guard, the girl he was with, or the eight or nine other girls that were clearly asked to stay at least thirty feet away from him.
He kept saying, “Bro, it’s cool. Don’t worry, bro, it’s cool. It’s cool”.
No Jaden, It’s not cool. There are about twenty people in this store that can’t go home until you get your stupid entitled butt out of here.
The next day he accused a hotel down the street of trying to poison him with cheese in his pancakes
He did eventually leave about ten minutes after I asked, but not before finishing his shopping and holding up our staff. And unfortunately our store leadership will bend over backwards (they won’t call security or back me up in the removing of late shoppers) for pretty much anyone, so unless I could convince Jaden to leave, they’d have let him keep shopping.
31. Seen a Cena
John Cena is one of the nicest and naturally awesome people in existence. He came to visit the new enlisted rec center they built for us back in the mid 00’s to do a meet and greet. While he was only booked to be there from 2:
00 to 4:00, when we told him that most of the SUBSCOL students didn’t get out class until then he said he’d be more than willing to stay later.
He hung out with all the guys who came to see him shooting pool, playing darts and Xbox, and pretty much signing everything and taking a ton of pictures.
The dude is just a straight-up class act.
30. Bruce is life
I was an NYC taxi driver and I picked up Bruce Willis at a restaurant very late at night.
He starts asking me all these questions about the long hours, how much a good cabbie makes a night, etc.
He asks me if I am married, I say yes, asks about my wife.
I tell him marriage is great but we aren’t together much due to the long hours I drive the cab.
We get to his place, hands me $1,000 and says, “Now go take a week off and spend it with your wife”.
True story.
29. Bend it
Once had an encounter with David Beckham.
I didn’t know who he was at the time. I was staying at the Grand Hyatt in Hong Kong and the Galaxy was there for an exhibition game.
There were a lot of fangirls outside with posters in the roped-off area near the front entrance.
I’m in the elevator and Beckham walks in.
I give him a nod and he gives me one back. Then I ask him if he knows what all the commotion outside is. He just shrugs and says it must be someone famous staying there.
We get to his floor and he gives me a wave goodbye and exits.
My work colleague later tells me that Beckham is staying there based on the pics he saw the fans waiving.
I look up his pic online and realize it’s the dude I was chatting with in the elevator.
Nice guy.
28. My immortal
Amy Lee of Evanescence was absolutely wonderful.
Some friends and I waited after a concert for autographs, and prior to Amy emerging, the bouncer-type-guy laid out in no uncertain terms that we weren’t to try to touch her.
Well, one friend had had depression and Evanescence was one of the things that got her through her teen years. So she broke down in tears when Amy got to her in the autograph line, and Amy just went in and gave her this giant, comforting hug (hard to do since Amy is SO tiny).
She was fabulous.
27. Lochte is just a jock stereotype
One of my teammates from college met Ryan Lochte after a meet. The teammate was in his hotel room, just hanging out, and Lochte knocks on the door and asks to borrow their ironing board.
They let him have it, and a few minutes later housekeeping comes by and asks to see their ironing board. Apparently, Lochte had thrown his out the window and tried to take my friend’s to cover it up.
They thought the whole thing was hilarious.
26. Live from New York
I was at a Knicks game and Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Lorne Michaels and Jeff Daniels were there.
I was 11 or so and I walked up and asked for an autograph and they said no. Then my 23-year-old smoking hot sister-in-law walked up and asked them for an autograph and they obliged.
She then told them that they were jerks and they should be ashamed of themselves and she gave me the autograph in front of them.
It was the week of Jan 8, 1995. Jeff Daniels hosted SNL that Saturday.
25. He made us feel appreciated
I met Rob Dyrdek at an outdoor mall in his hometown back in 2011.
At the time I was a huge fan and was even wearing a Dyrdek DC hat. He was there for a family member’s birthday so the whole family was with him.
We casually went up to talk to him and he was very kind and respectful. He could see that my friends and I were skateboarders so he stood and talked to us for a minute while the Dad’s talked about boats and other dad things.
People ran up for quick pictures but he made us feel appreciated for supporting him. He left with telling me, “I like the hat, God bless” and they went on with their night.
14 year old me couldn’t be happier he was as cool as he seemed.
24. And now we know why the show wasn’t called “Everybody Loves Brad”
I’ve encountered a few celebrities from my days working at a popular casino.
Gordon Ramsay was very polite and very nice to talk to. I left that interaction thinking, what a cool guy. Quite the gentleman.
Ricki Lake is adorable!
I didn’t even realize it was her at first, but once we caught on she sat down with us to discuss her weight loss journey and stayed for a good half hour.
She was witty and charming. Such a delight.
Charles Barkley was very down to earth. No entourage. No security. Just came into our store to shop and very willing to chat and take pictures if you wanted.
Brad Garrett from Everybody Loves Raymond… what a miserable guy. Would not acknowledge anybody with eye contact. Specifically asked us not to talk to him.
And if you approached him to see if he needed any help you got this death stare like you were the foulest piece of garbage.
Oh and as a bonus, the first celebrity I ever met was Liza Minnelli when I was a young boy. I remember she had a big furry coat and this little dog.
The dog came over to play with me. She then came over and patted my head telling my dad, “You have such a cute little boy”.
Very nice lady!
23. The Walking Dead
I interviewed Norman Reedus a few years back on the phone. He was hilarious and very charming. His assistant emailed me a couple of hours later asking me to include specific photos of him with his crossbow from TWD because, and I quote “these make him look more epic”.
22. He’s still waiting for his change
I used to deliver food from a catering service to the airport for private flights. My favorite encounter was Johnny Depp. Handed him his food and he handed me a wadded up bill, I thought I just got stiffed on my tip.
Turned out it was a freaking $100 bill wadded up into a little ball. Legend.
21. Butch and Sundance
I worked the Sundance film festival in the 90’s as a projectionist.
Samuel L. Jackson came up to me outside & asked for a light for his smoke. We chatted while we smoked. VERY nice guy and asked me about my job.
Best smoke break I ever took.
Another encounter was Laurence Fishburne….I saw him poking a steamer tray full of pasta salad with a big serving spoon then not take any.
Say “Laurence Fishburne” to me and I don’t think of Morpheus or any other of his great characters…I think of a guy poking a steamer tray of sketchy pasta salad and not taking any.
20. Terry Crews just wanted to earn your trust before he snuck in without a wristband
Worked at a pretty big nightclub in Hollywood for a while, we would get celebrities in our place and would see them around.
Miley Cyrus–had the premier for the Hannah Montana movie, her and her entourage took over the back room.
As expected a bunch of little kids waiting to see her and wanting autographs at the cordon. Associate/aide/whatever comes up and asks if we can clear the kids away because they are bothering Ms.
Cyrus. She didn’t say this herself, but she was looking over and didn’t do or say anything to counteract it.
Mandy Moore–nicest person, all smiles and giggles.
I almost professed my undying love for her, but her man at the time was with her. Wasn’t phased in the least by having to wait for an extra 15 minutes outside for her car to gather her.
Masi Oka–brought an underage girl in and when stopped at the door for her not having ID (we had vice on our butt all the time so we were supposed to be “strict” about ages) he complained that since everyone knew him it should be okay.
Managers eventually let him in.
Marilyn Manson–came for a big Halloween celebration, spent the whole time in a closed off VIP area and drank all the free stuff.
Ended up not performing and just bounced out.
Sean Combs–came for an event by someone else, ended up taking the stage and doing an impromptu set for over an hour.
No fanfare beforehand, he just asked for a mic.
Queen Latifa–one of the most beautiful women I have ever met, not only looks wise but in graciousness.
Very approachable and pleasant to talk to.
Terry Crews–love this guy. Ran a BET event, VIP was upstairs. No one without a wristband goes up.
Of course, everyone says they are someone or with someone, and me being a simple white guy telling them no, it starts getting ugly. Terry Crews comes out of the crowd, parts the sea like Moses, and stands there with me for a few minutes telling people to back off and listen.
Pats me on the shoulder and goes upstairs. Best guy and not a shred of prima donna about him. Great guy! If you see this Mr.
Crews, you made a lifelong fan that night.
I guess the takeaway is that celebs are people like you and I, they just have more people telling them how great they are and how much they are wanted around.
And like most people, that can easily go to their heads. Human nature and all that.
19. Going Solo
I met Harrison Ford at Disneyland when I was 6 years old.
I have only vague memories of that day, but according to my parents, he was standing behind us in line with his wife waiting to buy popcorn.
My dad hadn’t noticed him and was faced away with me resting on his shoulder. I guess we made eye contact and I reached out with my bag of M&Ms to offer him some.
According to my parents, he said, “Thanks, kid. I’m good”. at which point my mom and dad turned around, realized who it was and proceeded to lose their minds.
When they calmed down they asked me, “Do you know who that is”? I didn’t answer, so they said, “That’s Han Solo,” and I guess I just stared at him with my mouth open for several seconds.
He chuckled and shook my parent’s hands and went on with his day.
Later that year, we went to see Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and I spent the entire movie freaking out at the fact that I had met Indiana Jones. And once in a while, I’ll be watching Star Wars or Temple of Doom, and he’ll call someone “kid,” and I’ll get a big smile on my face.
18. All hail the King
My ex-boyfriend’s mother met Stephen King in the gym.
They were the only two people there. When he finished his workout and got up to leave, he couldn’t find the exit.
Ex’s mother says:
“Looking for a way out”?
King responds: “Aren’t we all”? and smiles.
17. How else are you supposed to leave a $4 tip?
I worked at a bar in a restaurant while in college and one night Kevin Hart came in to eat.
He wasn’t really that famous at the time. I didn’t know who he was, but I was curious as I had to go to the stock room to get a $1000+ bottle of champagne that he ordered in addition to pouring a bunch of really expensive top-shelf shots.
His bill ended being well over $2000. The girl who had his table (who also didn’t know who he was) said he was by far the most demanding and rude person she had encountered while working there and that he was extremely demeaning.
He ended up leaving a $4 tip, all in crumpled up singles.
16. A theme is starting to emerge here about a certain comedian…
Part of filming for Central Intelligence was in Boston in my friend’s neighborhood/around the corner of it. Apparently, Dwayne Johnson was just so courteous and very fan-friendly, loved giving interactions (smiles hugs conversations, the works) and autographs and just making people smile when he had the time.
Kevin Hart was a total jerk that didn’t want to be bothered, went out of his way to make sure nobody talked to him or got near him and just had the worst holier-than-thou attitude.
15. Please attack me
I met Gordon Ramsay in Cape Town about 5 years ago. He was at a bar, and not a super fancy bar either. I went up and said hello, half hoping he would call me a ‘donut’ or something, but he was really nice and asked me how I was.
I told him I loved his shows, and recipes, and he offered to buy me a drink. Overall really nice man, and his demeanor is very calming.
I felt at ease. I hope he is doing well.
14. Kindness is Key
Met Keegan Michael Key backstage before a show once. I complimented him on his (at the time) new series.
He took my one hand with both of his hands, asked my name, and gave the sincerest thank you. Such a nice guy.
On the rude side, Mariah Carey.
Talked about how much she loved her dog so much and ended up leaving it backstage after the show.
13. A homeless movie star
I was flying from California to Haiti to do relief work.
I was really broke and had a really rough flight schedule with lots of long layovers. I was absolutely exhausted, hadn’t slept properly in 2 days.
It was around 4 in the morning when my flight landed in Miami. I was waiting at the terminal for my last flight from Miami to Port Au Prince.
All of the seats were taken so I was sitting against a wall.
This gentleman got up from his seat and walked over to me.
I was thinking in my delirium ‘this guy looks like a homeless version of Sean Penn’. Hobo Sean Penn asked me if I would like to have his party’s seats so I could lay on something comfortable and get some sleep.
I told him ‘no thank you, I’m alright’ and he said something along the lines of ‘you look exhausted, you really should get some sleep, especially if you are headed to Haiti to do relief work, you will need the rest’.
I took him up on the offer, although I felt really selfish about it. I got about 45 minutes worth of sleep that I desperately needed.
It turns out it wasn’t a hobo that looked like Sean Penn it really was Sean Penn. I had no idea that he had been doing work in Haiti for years.
His kindness was really moving, and upon landing and seeing the ravaged landscape of such an impoverished country, I realized that I really needed that sleep.
12. The only time someone is thrilled to be called “Olive dude”
I’ve met Lebron twice.
I worked at the school his kids went to. I never taught them, but he was present at a mini-graduation ceremony we had years ago.
I, by chance, was standing by him while his family was elsewhere afterwards. This was just outside of Akron, and while it was after he for the Heat I was kinda shocked no one was chatting with him.
We struck up a conversation about Akron, mainly about a drive-in near us called Swenson’s that is kind of an institution. They put an olive on their burgers, and I told him about this time when I was 7 and choked on one.
Flash forward to an event a few years later for another group I am associated with. They’re sponsored by the Lebron James Family Foundation, they’re name is legitimately on our letterhead now.
There is an honorary event for this group and Lebron is advertised as being there. After the event there is a meet and greet and I shake his hand and say ‘Hey, we met a few years ago at such and such, talked about Swenson’s and he goes ‘Oh, you’re the olive dude’!
. That kinda made my year.
Northeast Ohio is blessed to have a dude as great as Lebron as our ambassador to the world.
11. I find your lack of health disturbing
My mom met tons of celebrities working as a nurse at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles in the 80s and 90s. The nicest she met was David Prowse who played Darth Vader.
He showed up in the one of the actual Vader suits used in the original trilogy complete with lights and breathing sounds to surprise the kids.
He was flanked by two stormtroopers and an Imperial officer. Some of the younger kids were frightened so he came back later without the suit on to sign autographs and take pictures.
Dustin Hoffman was the one that she said was the rudest. He visited while around the time of filming Hook and came off as not wanting to be there at all. Rude to the staff, didn’t want to sign anything, etc.
10. No doubt
About twenty years ago, when “I’m Just a Girl” first started getting radio play, I did something I had never bothered to do:
I went to go see the band, of which I knew nothing. Having just gotten off of work, and looking like absolute crap– glasses, a blazer over wrinkled pants, unkempt hair– I arrived early at the venue and realized I had no idea where to find the actual ticket office.
I stood outside the place; there was no one around, and no sign of the coming show except for the band’s tour bus. I pondered this for a bit, then a pretty platinum blonde happened by.
I stopped her and asked if she had any idea where the ticket office was. She blinked, tilted her head, and then said, “I don’t know either.
Let’s go find out”!
She led me into the venue, through a small group of puzzled-looking dudes tuning their instruments, then had me stand around for a moment while she ducked into some deeper chamber to go ask various people about the when and where of ticket-purchase for this particular show.
She returned shortly with the required information, then smoothly led me out.
I still had no idea who she was until I came back for the show a few hours later, and Gwen Stefani was, of course, leading the band.
9. Steven Tyler has dad jokes
I used to work at Disney World and encountered many celebrities.
Snoop Dogg: Really nice to the guys, completely ignored the women. We were all gathered at the exit of the ride in between seating new people, and he went down the line and shook hands with/chatted to all of my male coworkers and didn’t even spare any of us girls as a glance.
Mariah Carey: Total divamonster. Firstly, she demanded that we not just hold the line out of sight while she and her party had a private go on the ride, she demanded that we completely cycle out both ride machines and the line, which took over an hour since I worked at a very busy attraction.
Then when the kids in the party couldn’t ride because they were too short, she threw a tantrum (“Do you know who I am?
?!”)! as if it was a judgment call we were making, not literally a safety standard set by OSHA.
Justin Bieber: Surprisingly not that bad, given that he was at the height of his public meltdown.
He was with a group of like 20 people around his age, and they were no worse than the usual frat groups/bachelor parties we handled.
Paul McCartney: Super low-key guy. He didn’t even ask to go on the ride privately, just asked to be brought on the ride after the other passengers were already in their seats and had a row just for his group.
Steven Tyler: By far my favorite celebrity encounter. I happened to be in the break room and he came in to use our bathroom – there was an audible gasp from all of us on break and we just openly gawked at him, and he just smiled and said:
“what’s up”. Like ten seconds later, one of my coworkers came out of the bathroom looking totally shellshocked and said “um… I just peed next to Steven Tyler”.
And then I was off-break when Steven Tyler actually went on the ride, so I got to assist with that. His party was really friendly and jokey, and they were good-naturedly teasing us for getting starstruck.
One of my coworkers was nervously starting every sentence to anyone in his earshot with “I’m sorry, I’m sorry”, and Steven Tyler started yelling over at her “Hey, Sorry!
Hey, have you ever played the board game SORRY? I think you’d really like it”!
8. Extra, extra
I work as a film and TV extra for extra money while in grad school.
By and large, most actors/actresses are nice enough but in my experience, there were two that stood out.
Keegan Michael-Key is ridiculously nice. Usually, as an extra, it’s understood that you NEVER approach an actor while on set for any reason or you will be asked to leave. It seems harsh but it’s important to remember that an extra is supposed to be a piece of scenery and causing the talent to lose their focus may cause the production to lose hours of time and a lot of money. In spite of this in-between shooting he made an effort to joke around with us and act like a regular guy.
Afterwards, he personally took the time to thank everyone in the crew and the extras something that I have never seen any actor do before or since.
Conversely, Rami Malek was probably the biggest jerk I have ever had the displeasure of working next to. The first shot of the day was supposed to be of his character walking down the stairs into a hacking competition.
Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs however he took it upon himself the stop and yell at the PAs that “there are too many people here” and demand that they restage. He would also talk to the creator of the show about the PAs right in front of them and lament that “they don’t even know what they’re doing”.
Apparently, it’s well known that he’s a bit of a jerk though because we were told upon starting to “just stay out of his way”. It’s also worth noting that for this shoot many of the extras were fans of the show who had no previous experience extra-ing and didn’t know you weren’t supposed to approach the talent. After seeing what a baby he is most of them didn’t bother him but two guys in between filming went over to him and Carly (a costar whose last name I can’t remember) and said what big fans of the show they were. Carly seemed nice enough and thanked them but told them that it wasn’t totally appropriate to approach her while working but Malek just turned around and stared at the wall behind him as soon as the two guys started to try and speak to him.
Overall most actors/actresses are okay and just like anybody else just want to get their work done but as in all professions, there are some jerks.
7. Ron Weasley
Met Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) about three years ago I was in New York and saw him in the Broadway play It’s Only A Play.
Afterwards I saw a heap of people walking around the exit and the cast were going to their cars, I saw him and shouted out “G’day Rupert”!
he stopped and saw me, came over and asked if that was an Australian accent, I replied yes and we had a chat about how much he loves Australia and Kangaroos.
Also got a selfie with him but he’s still got some makeup on so he looks a bit like a zombie in it.
6. In the Crews
I was working as a Production Assistant on the Rampage movie when they went in Chicago. It was my job to make sure that no one came from inside a couple of stores on Michigan Avenue.
So while I’m waiting there explaining to a few people what’s going on, Terry Crews walks into the small crowd in front of me.
I was taken by surprise, but then I asked him,
“Are you in this movie”?
He replied by saying, “No but my buddy Dwayne is”.
Then the people around him started to realize who it was. He was incredibly polite and took photos with everyone I had waiting there (which made my job super easy).
So yeah, as everyone knows, Terry Crews is awesome.
5. Andre 3000
I met Andre 3000. This was over 15 years ago. When I was in high school, I worked at a local family-owned plant nursery.
Andre, his wife, and their (then baby) boy used to come in and shop almost every weekend. He was a super nice guy. One time, he bought an entire pallet of sod.
He had a brand new Lincoln Blackwood pickup truck, and the pallet wouldn’t fit in the bed with the forklift, so I had to load it by hand.
He went in, bought a pair of gloves, came back out and helped me load it. He also told me that he was going to go home and lay it out by himself.
Kind of shocking considering how much that guy is probably worth.
Something that didn’t strike me at the time, that I now realize as an adult, was how good of a father he was.
His son was just a baby, but man did he love that baby. Every time he would walk up to put a piece of sod in the bed of his truck, he would peek in the window and make a face at his son sitting in the back seat.
The kid would cackle like a banshee. After we finished, he gave me a $100 tip, which, to a 15-year-old in the early 2000s, was a ton of money.
Truly a stand-up guy and a very talented artist.
4. I can only assume the other guy got whacked
James Gandolfini tipped me and another bartender 20 bucks for water at a script reading event. His agent or manager or someone came up 2 minutes later and asked for the 20 bucks back, saying that Gandolfini “must have made a mistake”.
Fast forward another 5 minutes and Gandolfini comes back up to re-give us the 20 dollars and apologize for the other dude’s behavior. Very friendly, too.
3. Dad makes it weird
Shared an elevator with Beyoncé back in the early 2000s when she was doing the Destiny’s Child farewell tour. It was my dad, me, Beyoncé, and a hulking bodyguard. My dad being my dad didn’t know who she was and assumed they were a married couple and gave the man crap about carrying all the bags himself. She laughed, he kinda giggled a bit and they looked at each other awkwardly.
Then they hopped off the elevator and walked straight onto a tour bus with her face plastered on the side at which point my dad asked “wait who is that”? 5/7 would share an elevator again.
2. Screech to a halt
Several years back, I was delivering a pizza to a customer staying on the some-teenth floor of a hotel. While I was waiting for the elevator, a man came up to wait beside me.
He looked really familiar, but I couldn’t quite place him at first. Then the elevator comes and we step in and he is on the side with the buttons so he asks me what floor I need.
I tell him and then it immediately hits me…dude, it’s Screech from Saved by the Bell.
I’m a tad bit starstruck and can’t for the life of me think of his actual name so I casually blurt out “Hey, weren’t you Screech”?
He looks me blankly in the eye, says, “Yes,” in the most joyless annoyed tone I’ve ever heard in my life, and then turns his entire body to face the elevator wall.
We spend another twenty or so seconds riding in utter silence until we reach his floor and he exits in an awkward motion so as to keep his back fully turned to me the entire time, never uttering a sound or glancing back.
Then I rode up and delivered the pizza. I’ll never forget Dustin Diamond’s name again in my life.
1. Alexander Hamilton
I have met a few celebs and all of them very nice.
Tracy Morgan I had a brief encounter in NYC after his Bugatti passed by me and I caught up with it. He took a quick picture with my daughter and I got to shake his hand and say thanks for the laughs.
He said thanks for watching. Very nice in the brief moment I met him.
Met Lin-Manuel Miranda at the end of a line of fans after I got to see Hamilton.
I was legit, the last person in a line of 400+ screaming teenage girls. He took a pic with me, and signed my book. I told him I was about to drive home to MPLS that night.
He said “man that’s crazy”! Very nice guy.
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