Asklemmy

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.

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...

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.

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.

Bill Nye (the Science Guy). Total jerk, unfortunately.

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.

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

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.

Neil Armstrong. Got to shake his hand at a symposium where he gave a talk.

I met Jeremy Clarkson - he was alright, very pleasant and funny

I met all of you cool guys here. Witness me!

Isaac Asimov, who called me a few times. Very kind and patient man.

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'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.

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.

I've met a few:

• Richard E Grant - lovely

• Ray Harryhausen - I was a bit awestruck

• Salman Rushdie - scary levels of security

• Wilfred Thesiger - weird experience as it felt like meeting someone from another age

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. ❤️

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.

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.

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 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.

Stan Lee - San Diego Comic Con 1995.

https://i.imgur.io/aQas1rv_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

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.

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.

I've met Billy Idol two times, he was really nice.

Mads Mikkelsen, but it was early in his career - before he went international.

Android Jones. He’s a local artist, I’m not sure if he’s known outside of our area or not, but his art is gorgeous. I cleaned out (physically and digitally) his computer for him after he got back from Burning Man. It was filled with so much sand.

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.

Will Wright at one of the E3 conventions during their glory days.

Met Robert Patrick (best known as the T-1000 from Terminator 2).

He had a booth at a Horror convention. I knew nothing about the convention and didn't know a ton about his other work, but his local agent asked their local family if they knew a Graphic Designer because the booth posters for Robert and Billy Boyd got lost in luggage.

I eneded up being a last minute call for help, had the agent send me what official images they had, and threw together what I could in an hour or two so I could get it to a printer in time.

Was right by Robert at his booth all day, interacting with his fans. He seems like he probably has some political views I'd disagree with, but I've never seen anyone spend time with fans like him. He truly put the time and work in with every single person in that line.

Had no clue how many diverse fandoms he was part of. He seems strongheaded, but very professional and super loving to the people that show up for him.

Got to have lunch with him and Billy Boyd that day, and they're total dorks together in the best way. Billy Boyd is 100% the sweetest man and it was hilarious realizing he had voiced Chuckie.

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

John Waters. I met him at an exploitation movie convention and he was everything I hoped he would be

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'.

Depends on what you mean by met. There was a thing at a nighclub for blade2 and wesley snipes and for some reason shaq was walking around. Saw them and talked with our friends and said neat but I always felt the nicest thing you can do for famous people is to leave them alone. If that counts well then I used to go to scifi/fantasy cons and there were actors who got paid to go or went to shill something. Did background work and the main actors were there off in the distance. Actually met? Well the guy who was the chef for the obamas worked with a charity with this soup and talk thing and he served the soup but I did not really talk much except saying thanks. He gave some of the talks and even announced where he was going when he was allowed to tell people. He literally looked like michael stipe. Then I worked for evl under Dan Sandin and Tom Defanti who if your in the area they are legends. I would not be surprised if relatively famous folks were around and I did not even realize. Seen politicians at the public transit stations. Oh and my extended cousin is Phil Collins and saw him at some extended family reunions.

billy corgan, twice. total dick once, nice the other time. dan aykroyd bought us a shot. ray manzarek of the doors had a strong presence and was direct but polite. chuck palahniuk at a book signing, funny but no opinion either way. john waters was kind and weird, exactly what you'd expect. al jourgensen didn't say much and looked terrible. I corresponded via email with terrence mckenna and he was very kind.

I was working at a small gaming studio and talked on the phone with German Garmendia because we wanted to make a game featuring him and his staff. He's a youtuber, I think he was called "the pewdiepie of latin america" or something like that? He had way too many subscribers, I think about 50M

He was a nice individual from what I remember, very hard working and friendly. I think he was recently "cancelled" though but idk I don't keep up with those things.

I didn't meet him per se, we just talked on the phone, and he's not like... A hollywood celebrity or amything but it's the closest I get.

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

• Troy Aikman - serious, aloof
• Emmitt Smith - extremely kind, patient with children. The kind of guy you would want dating your sister.
• Daryl Johnston - quiet, private
• Nate Newton - funny and good-natured. Not terribly concerned with the rules. Like standing next to a refrigerator.
• Tony Dorsett - dick, rude, would leave his wife alone so long we used to sit with her to keep her company.
• Jimmy Johnson - helmet-haired dick, belligerent, the law didn't apply to him and he can do whatever the hell he wants. Voted (by me) most likely to ask "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?"

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).