Have you ever met anyone famous?

[Remington555]

Less than a month into my broadcast career the first celebrities I got to meet (and probably the most famous) were none other than the Fab Four. The Beatles had just hit number 1 on the charts for the first time in the US and all four of them were so giddy that they could barely string two sentences together. Their accent didn't help either (don't ever confuse a British accent with a Liverpudlian accent...two very different things).

I met Bill Cosby between shows and have never been a fan since. I've known a lot of profane people, but Bill Cosby had the filthiest mouth ever, hands down. At least at the time. Still, I loved his early comedy records (His Noah routine and Why is there air?).

Both Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were so shy that I wondered how they ever managed to get up on stage and perform. Then again, that's a completely different thing from talking to people one on one. They were kind enough to autograph an album (Parsley, Sage) which I gave to my girlfriend at the time, for her birthday. I wonder if she even remembers me...

My best friend and I spent the better part of a Saturday with Garth Brooks throwing a football around and then lounging in his tour bus with him. Guy's got an arm you wouldn't believe. We're actually distant cousins. His grandmother and my great-grandmother were sisters.

We had so much time because the equipment bus broke down and by the time it got there my friend and I were recruited to be temporary roadies to help them get set up. Garth is the only celeb I have a picture with. Most of the famous people I met were long before cell phone cameras were even thought of.

During a half-hour in-studio interview with Shirley MacLaine all I remember is how hard it was to get off the subject of re-incarnation. Strange lady.

Beach Boys, CCR, Grass Roots, BJ Thomas and a bunch of others were all in group situations (as was The Beatles, although I did get to shake their hands) so it's not like I had up close and personal interaction with them.

All right people. Here's a new audience for YOUR brush with someone famous story. Tell us all about it please.

Remmy

PS: I also got to meet Ozzie (but not Harriet) Nelson in Victorville, California at a baseball tournament I played in. The welcome to town sign said "360 Days Of Sunshine A Year". It was a 3-day tournament and when we left town, they only had 2 days of rain left to come.

[psiberzerker]

Cheech Marin, and half of Chong.  (He was passed out on the couch.)  Mike Jordan, and I used to hang out with Britney Griner before she graduated, and left town.  It really depends on how "Famous" you want to get.  Smoked a joint with Willie Nelson at a bar in Boerne.  (Right there in the bar, nobody said a damned thing.)  Used to smoke blunts, and drink 40s with the band C.O.C. back in the day, before they met Pepper Keenan, I hear he's an asshole.  Also, Tim Sult from Clutch, and Levy from MLWTTKK.  

Uhm, still exchange emails, and pleasantries with Boris Blank, Bill Leeb, and Bruno Kramm...  It's a pretty long list, so I'd have to narrow it down quite a bit.  I played 1 game of Airmech with Bill Leeb.

[IdleBoast]

Some of these will probably date me, but...

Mike Harding
Duke of Edinburgh
Terry Pratchett, Josh Kirby & Paul Kidby
Bernard Bresslaw
Johnny Ball
Tim Hunkin
Jimmy Saville.

[psiberzerker]

Terry Pratchett, Josh Kirby & Paul Kidby

Oh right, I met Jack Chalker at a Science Fiction convention once, talked to him at length about the symbolism of centaur chicks with pageboy haircuts, and then the next year, he remembered me.  Picked me out of the crowd, called me up on stage, then stayed after to talk to me some more on similar issues of Worldbuilding.  (Incidentally, he created the Well of Souls.  The world of Worldbuilding for the Markovians.  Also one of the coolest alien races, which I said reminded me of the Mi Go.  Turns out he was also a fan of Lovecraft.)

INS how much of this is way too nerdy for the vast majority of readers here.

[ChirpingGirl]

Yes.

And I often talk with someone who was on a TV show in private. No details. 

[IdleBoast]

How can you be on a TV show in private?

[MissBarbara]

How can you be on a TV show in private?

Grammar stickler as I am, I suspect "in private" modifies "talk," and not "TV show..."

[psiberzerker]

How can you be on a TV show in private?

Wait for the commercial break, cover the mic, and whisper in the host's ear.

Pretty much exactly like they do on Cspan (Whenever Congress is actually in session.)

Not that any of these armchair constitutional lawyers actually watch how the government works.  Politics is like the Olympics, you only tune in ever 4 years, unless someone's caught cheating.  (Or there's a different sex scandal.)

[IdleBoast]

How can you be on a TV show in private?

Grammar stickler as I am, I suspect "in private" modifies "talk," and not "TV show..."

 

[ChirpingGirl]

CJ will not explain anything to you if you don't get it.

Unless you pay a fee of $39.95 for each thing you don't get.

[Elizabeth]

I'm not sure what constitutes "famous".....
But as my dad was an high ranking officer in the USMC.....I have met several Medal of Honor recipients. (does that count..??).
Charles Bolden Jr. (2 Star General and Director of NASA) is a friend of my father.
(Marines tend to stick together....its a brotherhood thing that goes on for life).
 
Love,
Liz
 

[Katiebee]

Some of these will probably date me, but...

Mike Harding
Duke of Edinburgh
Terry Pratchett, Josh Kirby & Paul Kidby
Bernard Bresslaw
Johnny Ball
Tim Hunkin
Jimmy Saville.

ooooooo! Terry Pratchet! You lucky person!

[psiberzerker]

Charles Bolden Jr.

Awesome.

[Jed_]

Yaphet Kotto came into a dive bar I was shooting pool in in Baltimore many years ago when he was filming a series called ‘Homicide, Life on the Street.’  I asked the woman bartending to get him and the woman he was with whatever they were drinking.  He nodded his thanks upon receiving the drinks.  Because he was with someone, I let them be.  He even danced with his companion a couple times to the jukebox.  As I was leaving I stopped and shook his hand exchanging a couple words.  He has fucking huge hands.

[RopeFiend]

Katiebee is gonna shit a purple twinkie...

I met Robert A. Heinlein at a small restaurant a couple of blocks down from the Hyatt in Phoenix in the mid-to-late '70s.  He was there for a sci-fi con.  We chatted only briefly, as I didn't want to delay his dinner.  He remembered me the next day when he was signing books at the con.

edit: THIS is the book I had him autograph.   https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Glory_Road

He kind of smirked and said "Well, I'm glad that SOMEONE enjoys this!", as apparently the reviewers had panned it at one time.  I still re-read it every decade or so.  It's not hard fantasy, or hard sci-fi, but somewhere in-between, and more like a waking dream than anything else.

[IdleBoast]

Some of these will probably date me, but...

Mike Harding
Duke of Edinburgh
Terry Pratchett, Josh Kirby & Paul Kidby
Bernard Bresslaw
Johnny Ball
Tim Hunkin
Jimmy Saville.

ooooooo! Terry Pratchet! You lucky person!

Several times - he did loads of book signings (I have almost everything he wrote, signed - they, and the various other memorabilia I own, fill a whole book-case), but he also did a weird farm-based convention every couple of years, with a bar set up in a barn and a few hundred people camping in a field.  For a few years I was friends with the guy who was the model for the original Rincewind images (I think he's dead now).

[psiberzerker]

he also did a weird farm-based convention every couple of years, with a bar set up in a barn and a few hundred people camping in a field.

Awesome.

[Army of One]

Ooo! Famous...well, depending on the circles you hang around in, they may be famous (almost all of the people on my list have their own Wikipedia pages, if that says anything; no, I did not write them, I did not even contribute). I'm probably going to end up revealing my identity and location because of this.

So, let's start with the ones I know personally. I was at school with Adam Marshall MLA (Northern Tablelands), and am friends with musicians Aleyce Simmonds (country) an Roshani (blues).

Okay, they're the minor ones. Let's go up the list. I've met:

• Sam Atwell in an Indian restaurant;
• Darren Hanlon, after he performed twice at a cafe I worked at;
• Lindsay "The Doctor" McDougall, guitarist for Frenzal Rhomb, at another cafe event;
• Xavier Rudd, after a concert.

I've also met another politician whose name escapes me thankfully, as he as later convicted of child sex offenses (not against me, for the record).

And, possibly, possibly, I'll get to meet the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

[Remington555]

I'm probably going to end up revealing my identity and location because of this.

Disclaimer: The OP is not responsible if people figure out you're in Australia!

Remmy

PS: I hope you do get to meet the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Be sure and let us know if you do.

[Jed_]

I saw Xavier Rudd play in a small club in Baltimore a few years ago.  So Aussie musicians get around.