OT: Who is the biggest celebrity that you've met?
To keep OT season alive and well, I'd like to hear any humorous or intriguing stories from you all on who've you met, where, and how did it all go down.
For me, I have a few:
1. Pee'd next to Jeff Daniels at the Midland County Civic Arena when his son was on my counsin's Domino Farms hockey team. It was the mid-90's but even as a kid, all I could do is vision his scene in Dumb and Dumber when he was on the toilet. I really wanted him to reenact it.
2. Met Mr. T at a bar in Bay City when I was really young. Not sure why he was there, but he kept telling me to be respectful to my mother. Pretty sure he was drunk.
3. Wife and I met Joe Girardi outside Trump International in Chicago at a Starbucks. His daughter and my daughter played for like 3 minutes. I played it off like what was happening was competely normal.
Share away...
I met TJ Duckett as well. We were fellow patrons at the world famous Deja Vu of Lansing. It was when he was with the Falcons and he was making it rain. Nice Guy.
Tico Duckett used to live across the street from my parents, he bought the house from Bobby Williams, who moved to White Hills (rich neighborhood) as soon as he got the HC gig. All nice people.
It is spelled Karim Abdul Jabbar.
/s
I shook hands with Arnold Palmer back around 1996 or 1997. True gentleman.
I stood behind Mike Wallace (of "60 Minutes") in a taxi line in New Orleans.
I saw Frank Sinatra in concert.
I touched Mickey Stanley's basketball shoe with the toe of my shoe at a celebrity / charity basketball game back around 1972 or so. He was inbounding the ball right in front of me.
(For the young'uns, Mickey Stanley was the CF for the Tigers back in the 1960's and early 1970's. He was one of my favorite Tigers of the 1968 world champions.)
Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead.
We had just seen his side band Rat Dog play and went to a nearby hotel bar for a drink. He came in after the show and sat right next to me. I just chatted with him like I didn't know who he was as I think this is the best strategy.
Jeter and I were in Intro Psych together and paired up to do a research project. We did an observational study of eating habits in the dorm cafeterias. He and I sat there recording what people ate for hours.
Man, I wish I still had that paper.
I've had a few of the "chance brush with famous person" variety, but one that was more interesting (to me) involved someone who isn't super famous. My family was in California and we met up with an old childhood friend of my father's. We went to dinner with her and her boyfriend, who was this old hippie-looking guy named "Banana" who mentioned that he had been in a band called the Youngbloods. That meant nothing to me at the time (I was probably 13 or so), but I later found out that they are the band that sings "Get Together" ("c'mon people now, smile on your brother everybody get together try to love one another right now.")
Anyway, as I mentioned above not a super famous guy, but to have an entire dinner with this guy (rather than seeing him at the supermarket or something) was kind of interesting. I wish I had been just a little older and realized who he was--would have loved to hear his stories of his band back in the 1960s.
Biggest celebrity though? Chuckie Cheese.
If serious, which episodes/scenes? It's one of my favorite shows. Yes, I'm creepy, but I promise not to hunt you down or anything.
Can you expand on the Parks and Rec work you did? I am a big big fan of the show also.
I exchanged passing pleasantries with Jim Hackett last year, right after he'd been named CEO of Ford Smart Mobility. I was halfway through "great, how about you?" when I realized who it was. It turns out that an important prerequisite for becoming Ford's CEO is to cross paths with me in the Product Development Center lobby. I used to see Mark Fields all the time there, before he was elevated. He was not so much the exchanging pleasantries type, though.
Also met Senator Spencer Abraham back when I was in high school, at some point during his re-election bid.
Bacari Alexander probably doesn't qualify as "biggest", but this is as good a time as any to mention I was on a plane with him earlier this year, coming back from Atlanta where presumably he was up to some scouting and recruiting. U of D's budget is not so great. He was in coach class. Which I guess is appropriate.
banged Liz Hurley in a chance one nighter after a club night.
Elizabeth Hurley? She broke up w/ Hugh Grant in May of 2000. So you were a rebound guy.....
My celebrity encounters (beyond seeing people in "expected" settings like chairty events & fundraisers or booster events where they are headliners):
- Saw coach Marv Levy in a men's room once. Man that dude is short. It was for a Boy Scouts of America fundraiser, but he was just attending as a guest.
- I'm personally very good acquaintances & on first name basis w/ the current Lt. Governor of Illinois.
- Chatted w/ Denzel Valentine just this past February on a flight from Chicago to Sacramento. He was coming off an injury to join the team on an away stretch.
- This last October sat next to Candy Crowley (retired anchor for CNN) on a flight from Chicago to DC. Our plane got delayed for about 2 hours so we ended up chatting about a bunch of non-political stuff. She's got grandkids in the Chicago area she was visting.
- Had a semi private 2 hour dinner w/ Donald Rumsfield.
- I'm on a first name basis w/ my congressman.
- Had an email pen-pal dyanmic thing going on with the current governor of Indiana after we met personally for a business meeting.
- As a kid my parents were friendly with local Detroit news anchor Rich Fischer.
- Ran into & chatted up Chicago mayor Rham Emannuel when he was a congressman. He was on a bike ride w/ his kids. Dude came across IRL exactly as he does on TV--short & angry.
- I used to be very involved in the dance world in high school, and a bunch of my acquaintances from that era ended up appearing on a bunch of broadway shows and television/movie projects/music videos. Nobody "household name" famous, but people who are judges & choreographers on some of these talent reality shows, etc.
- I've seen a bunch of famous people "in passing" like walking by in the street or in the airport, or hotel lobby, but never spoke to them directly they include: Mateen Cleaves, Gretta Van Sustren, Russ Feingold, Shaquille O'Neal.
- I know it doesn't count, but by one degree of separation, I've got friends who had very extended interactions with Chris Pratt & his wife (they were vacationing at the same small Italian villa as my buddy & his wife were staying for their honeymoon, so they basically hung out every evening together at dinner time for a week); and a friend of mine was very good childhood friends w/ Leonardo DiCaprio. He said that Leo was a total nerd as a kid & apparently they still swap emails/talk on occasion.
Here's what I posted back in 2015.
When I was bartending I had George Blaha come in and he was the nicest damn guy. He said he voted for Terry Stotts of Portland for coach of the year (15-16 season) and that Draymond was pretty close to becoming a Piston and that James Harden would be an MVP candidate sooner than later.
James Joseph Harbaugh. We drove over to the satellite camp in Blue Springs, MO last summer. In a totally crafty move, I had my 6 year old daughter draw him a picture as a gift. When the practice was over, we caught up with him before he left the stadium. He chatted with us and asked my kids if they liked football and he was very gracious about getting the picture from my daughter. All I could say was "thank you" as he shook my hand.
I also met Macho Man Randy Savage in the TGIF in the B Concourse of Hartsfield about 15 years ago. He was with two blondes. He was much bigger and much more tan than I expected. Oh yeeeyah.
Met Reggie Miller growing up. He lived close to my friend in his neighborhood.
Bob Knight at the Indianapolis airport. Turned out he was on our flight. He was very cordial and funny (yes really). That probably had to do with him being on his way to fly fish.
Friend of mine dated a water polo player at Mich, so we went to their Halloween party. All athletes and 3 of us "normies." That's what they called us. Played pong teamed with Stauskas against Glenn and Spike. Shotgunned a beer with McGary and shared a smoke with Nik. Tim was there, basically parenting. Everyone was very nice, except Spike. He was kinda a dick. McGary even went out of his way to find me on his way out.
Saw Hardaway at the bar a few times. Tried to buy him drinks. He either wasn't drinking or wouldn't let me. I was for sure drinking...so can't be too sure.
Cool story bro.
Edit: Texted my buddy. He reminded me that we just walked over to his house to see him. Reggie happend to be just getting home from errands and was outside. We played HORSE! I had to have been 7 or 8. He was incredibly nice.
My brother-in-law is a doctor, and Ron Jeremy came to his office for something or another. Got to talk with him a bit, and take a picture comparing...sizes (with hands spaced apart how "big" we are). Seemed like a really nice guy, but holy crap is he ugly.
Was with an old female friend from high school who is still smoking hot in her 50's.
She asked him if his member was really 9 7/8" long (I hammered her precise knowledge).
He replid "no, it's only 6"...from the floor". And, yes, he is one ugly dude and just oozes filth.
Rosa Parks. She was the guest of honor at a small reception. Got to shake her hand and she chatted with us for a bit. She was the nicest person one could meet. I was star-struck, awed, mouth-open agog the whole time, and I'm not one to fawn over a celebrity. But then again, she was no mere 'celebrity.'
And so it's tough to say. I was mistaken for Ed Sheeran's dad during the live Grammy broadcast two years ago - I'm a member of the Recording Academy - I sat between Ed and Weekend. I've hung out with Beyonce, Tom Shadyac, blah blah blah. I packed my parachute next to Tom Cruise. My best friend since kindergarten is an Emmy winner who produces and appears on the WGN morning show each morning. Another hometown friend, who had a crush on my sister, is a double Grammy winner for producing Pink and Blink 182 inter alia. An ethnic organization I belong to has me dropping in on the Kardashian sisters from time to time as a guest. I have so many funky contacts with "leaders" and "stars" aka celebrities that I wouldn't know where to start. I guess I should mention the late Carrie Fisher and I spent an afternoon together at a filmfest, by happenstance, and I liked the heck out of her. Or that I used to eat supper with the late Harold Ramis. Blah blah blah. My only observation to contribute is these folks are all human beings when they aren't appearing on your screen or sound system.
Sooooo....who's the most famous person you've, ahem, slept with?
Your mom/sister/grandma/girlfriend/blah blah blah. And she worships me. (oink) And let's not neglect the family pet who also likes me better than you do.
Nothing better was when one is at a downtown GR bar and he buys rounds of budlights for the whole bar
It's really weird that Emily Kinney is going to turn 32 this year.
Joe Cada - (2009 WSOP main event winner from Michigan)
Richard Petty
Both were nice guys.
Had Manny Ramirez spot me on the bench once. I worked at a private health club, and he and the Red Sox were in town to play the Tigers. He was there with a trainer of his own. I was at the gym before I started working and thought - this guy looks familiar, must be a regular member. So I asked him for a spot. His big grin lit up and he obliged. He said "sure man," with a pretty heavy accent - which is when I realized who it was. I played it cool, not acting like I knew who it was... probably cranked out a super heavy 185 4 times.
Donald J. Trump NYC 1990
Barack Obama DC 2009-2016, 5 different times
John Riggins, Sonny Jurgenson, Billy Kilmer, Ron McDole, Charles Mann, Dexter Manley in '70s and '80s in DC
Jay Leno 1984 Raleigh NC
Meg Ryan - current neighbor in MA (and played golf w J Mellencamp and her)