Not a big confrontation, but stil funny. My parents were at Costco buying groceries in LA when they saw Tim Curry in the checkout line. They were quietly trying to see what he was buying (to tell stories about it later,) so my dad casually walks by his cart, pretending to put back some cashews or something. He got a look in his cart, and all Tim Curry had in the cart were about a dozen boxes of frozen crab cakes. Just crab cakes, nothing else. My dad turns back around to report back to my mom, and happens to get a look at him. Tim Curry was just staring my dad down, not saying anything, just looking at him because he knew what my dad was doing and he was not in the mood. So my dad, in a panic, says loudly "I love shelfish" then awkwardly walks back to my mom at the cart. Says nothing else until they leave the store.
I swapped spit with Bill Murray. When I was a toddler we went to a Saint Paul Saints game. Bill Murray was there with a bunch of press for some reason that I am unaware of. He happened to encounter my mother holding me, and in a very Bill Murray way he took the pacifier out of my mouth and popped it into his mouth. The press laughed and I, apparently, in a huff, ripped it out of his mouth and put it back into mine. Ta-da.
I met Chris Brown the exact day he beat up Rihanna. He was actually pretty nice, so we were shocked when we heard later that day that he was currently being searched for by the police.
I was at a horror convention years ago, where Adam West was one of the guests. As I was coming back in from outside the convention center, I noticed he was leaving so I held open the door for him.
"Have a good evening, Mister West!" I said.
He turned around, rolled his eyes, and snorted "Whatever."
This royally pissed me off. So I responded, without thinking "Wow, you're a prick!"
He turned back to me, and growled in that Adam West voice "Go to Hell!"
Yeah, Batman told me to go to Hell.
Essentially I was in a hotel and met Alan Rickman. This was a few years back, when the 6th book was out, and as he was signing an autograph for me, he asked if I finished the book. Starstruck, I said yes, even though I wasn't. He then says "Oh, so I guess you know that I'm the half-blood prince, huh?" My jaw dropped. I had Snape Personally reveal his true identity to me.
One of the most embarrassing moments of my life.
I met Emeril Lagasse. I saw him at a shopping mall for some kind of promotional thing he was doing there. I passed by and was looking at him and I ran straight into this big camera. It fell over and everybody just stared at me. Emeril came over and was really pissed, he was all red in the face and asked me why I ran into the camera. Nobody around seemed to notice he was being a huge douche. I told him it was an accident but he just told me to get out of there before I caused anymore trouble. Easily the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me. When I see him on TV it makes me cringe and I have to change the channel.
I was in Las Vegas with my family waiting to walk across Tropicana Blvd when my step-mother became impatient and just jaywalked amidst afternoon traffic. A Rolls-Royce came screeching to a halt, and inside was a smiling Wayne Newton who waived us to cross and insisted on waiting. The guy must be immune to a**holes.
I was at an Obama rally back in August of 2007. We were at Florida A&M, in a smallish gym. We had shaken Obama's hand and talked to him a bit, and ended up following him back behind the barricade, talking to him. He ended up hugging us and all this stuff, but security was not too keen on it so they asked us to move.
Obama climbs up on the bleachers to take a picture with the band. Security ends up pushing me to move on the other side of the barricade (not hard, but it was crowded), and I fell forward.
I reached up to grab the first thing to stop my fall.
It was Barack Obama's ass cheek.
He laughed.
I was waiting tables at a nice restaurant when Pauley Shore came in and sat in my section with his entourage. I waited on him and at one point I had spilled some mustard on the table and Pauley said, "Duuude. You spilled the muuuuustard!" And yes, he was stoned off his gourd.
My grandfather owned a large scale electronics store, that often rented concert equipment. Prince's manager came in the store asking to be helped in front of all these people who were waiting in line. The manager was apparently so annoying that,...
manager: HELLO isn't anyone going to help me?
grandpa: there are plenty of people in line in front of you
manager: yes, well I represent prince
grandpa: I don't care who Prince is, I'm the king.
the end.
My aunt, who has never watched a game of basketball, met shaq in an elevator when he was at the peak of his career. Her son is one of the biggest lakers fans and she kind of recognized his face. This was their conversation:
Aunt: Aren't you famous?
Shaq: Haha you could say that.
Aunt: Can I get your autograph?
Shaq: If you can guess my name.
She never got that autograph.
I had a friend from out of state swinging through town and we met in NYC for lunch and a couple of drinks.
We are eating at the bar and I see further down that Mike Myers (Snl, Austin Powers, etc) is at the other end of the bar watching a soccer game on the television and drinking a beer.
I had never encountered a celebrity before, and didn't want to be some obtrusive asshole. But prior to paying our tab I walked over and said "hey Mike, I'm a big fan, can I buy you a beer?" And without even turning to look at me he says " I can afford my own drinks a**hole, save your money for my next movie".
I stood there speechless for a second and embarassedly turned back to my spot at the bar, we paid our tab and split without saying a word. I really felt like a d**k head, haha.
My dad and I were in London one day, I think we'd been to a museum, I was about 9, maybe 10. We decided to get a cab to a restaurant because I didn't like the confined trains. So as we hail a cab, another gentleman about 4 feet away from us does the same. I turn to my dad and say "Look, it's the man from Fawlty Towers", low and behold, it was John Cleese in the flesh. He was very courteous and insisted that we take the taxi. I also told him that I was a big fan of Fawlty Towers, despite it being made some 20 years before I was born to which he replied "just don't mention the war".
John Williams almost ran me over with a car when I was crossing the road to go to a Boston Pops concert he was conducting.
It was f**king awesome.
I used to manage a Spencer's Gifts in an upscale mall in PA. Bam Margera and his crew came in on a very slow weekday. One of his guys asks at me to close the store so Bam can shop without being hassled (out of earshot of Bam). I politely informed the guy that we don't close the store for anyone. The guy gets loud and in my face threatening to call my bosses and get me fired...and this guy was really big and intimidating. About 20 seconds into his loud ranting I suddenly see a fist come out of nowhere and drop the guy. It was Bam. He very calmly told the guy, who was now streaming obscenities and trying to pick himself off the floor, to shut the f**k up and wait outside. He then profusely apologized and continued shopping while the rest of his crew laughed their asses off. He bought a few shock pens and a few t-shirts. My opinion of Bam changed that day dramatically from negative to positive.
Have you ever opened a door at the exact moment someone else was about to do the same thing on the other side and bashed their head in? My mom did this to Leonard Nimoy.
My dad owned a liquor store in Malibu near the homes of many celebrities. I worked there for a summer and a couple regular shoppers included Denise Richards, Jay Leno and Drew Barrymore. (My dad stocked these smoothies called Odwalla solely on her request. She was the only one who ever bought them)
However, his best customer by far was none other than Mark Hamill. He was on a first name basis with my dad. He came in maybe 3 times a week and always bought 4 packs of "True Blue" cigarettes. (Again, something my dad carried specifically for him)
His career wasn't doing too well I guess. He drove a crappy car and his shirts were always some free promo item from a cartoon. I remember he wore a Pokemon shirt once. When I finally got the nerve to talk to him, I told him I was a big fan of Star Wars. The next time he came, he gave me a signed photo of him hanging onto Slave Leia. He signed it "To Justin, FORCEFULLY yours, Mark Hamill". Great guy.
Pizza place in Sacramento, CA.
It was the Warped Tour and Hillary Duff was on it. The night BEFORE the concert she and her posse (yes she had a posse) decided to stop into our restaurant. When I saw her outside, I immediately asked to be the person to take her order, even though I was a cook. The cashiers obliged.
So she walked in and I gave our usual greeting. She walked up, I explained the menu all courteous-like, and her group ordered. After everything was done, I asked, "And what name will be on the order?"
She just looked at me like I was f**king crazy. "Uhh, Hillary..."
"Is that two L's or just one?" "Only one..."
As I took her money and stuff, she asked, "Do you really not know who I am?"
"No, should I?" was my only reply.
She mentioned she was Hillary Duff and was on TV and actually playing at the concert the next night...
"Huh, that's strange." I said. Then I yelled to my friends in the back, "HEY GUYS! You ever heard of anybody named Hillary Duff?"
"Nope." "Naw." "Who?!"
It was classic. Not really a confrontation, but still fun in my mind.
I ran into Tom DeLonge from Blink 182 a couple years ago at a starbucks. I recognized who he was and said, "I used to love you guys!" he looked at me and said, "What do you mean, used too?" Then walked off. I really meant to say a compliment. Oh well.
Not me but a friend of mine....
He was out with his girlfriend for lunch at a very fancy hotel in Dublin, Ireland and Colin Farrell happened to be there too. This was back at the height of his fame. So my mate sauntered over to him and said something like 'Hey Colin, any chance of a photo?'. Colin Farrell being the cool dude he was then was like 'yeh, course man, no bother' and started fixing his hair etc. At that point, my mate hands HIM the camera and poses with his girlfriend.
In fairness to Colin Farrell, he didn't know what to do at first but he did actually take the photo and they still have it to this day. The photo that Colin Farrell took of him and his now wife. I love that story.
Don't know if it was confrontational so much as it was rude, but I once met David Hasselhoff at Redondo Beach when I was about 7-8 years old (so this was in the arc of his career in the mid-90s, plus my pop-culturally oblivious parents were the ones to spot him so you knew that meant this guy was primetime). I asked him for his autograph, and without skipping a beat or looking at me he said, "I'm playing with my children right now, beat it."
I stood there not sure how to react or what to do, and he looked at me and gave me this weird face like he just smelled the most rotten thing that could ever billow into the nostrils of a human being and yelled, "F**k off you little s**t!"
I ran away scared.
I was at a Hibachi restaurant for a friend's birthday. There were five of us in total but the tables seated seven. They were packed that night so they told us they would be filling our table. Before long, who should come over and sit with us but Gene Wilder and his wife. At the time my friend and I were young and hadn't seen him in anything other than Willy Wonka, so when the food came we asked him if the snozberries tasted like snozberries. Luckily he didn't miss a beat and replied with "we are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams"
One of the most surreal moments of my life
I went to a Pittsburgh Pirates game when I was 8 years old so we went early to see batting practice. My sister and I were out leaning over the wall trying to catch a ball and one landed just short of my glove. Now I hate my self but I can not remember the player's name but he was on the Reds and he ran over and tossed the ball up to me. While the ball was in the air this huge man knocks me over trying to catch the ball and knocks it back onto the field. The player runs over and starts screaming at the guy in a combination of English and Spanish and actually got the guy thrown out of the park. Then he had me lean over the wall and he jumped up and placed the ball in my glove. And told me to enjoy the game.
My granddad once beat up Andy Rooney to take Judy Garland out on a date.
No, really. He beat the s**t out of him.
I got into a staring contest with the lead singer of Mudvayne, Chad Grey.
We were in a bar in Portland, Oregon. I looked at him, he looked at me and did that 'open eyes wide and stare intently' at me. I took my glasses off and mad dog stared at him. He grit his teeth, I made my eyes wince. Then we both kind of nodded and went back to our drinks.