Cardiac161

I was in Electronics Boutique in Vancouver when Jean claude Van Damme showed up with 2 of his kids. He was quite personable (actually quite talkative) and saying how he likes Vancouver, bought a place here, etc etc. It did seem like he was trying to make sure everyone in the place would realize HE IS Jean Claude Van Damme. He looked a lot older with gray hair but pretty much a nice guy.

Met Jet Li when he was filming Romeo Must Die in our building. Very friendly and accommodating. I walked over to get his autograph and that was, if I remember, around November and weather was getting quite cold. I was just wearing shorts and a t-shirt at that time but ran to make sure I could catch him. We struck a conversation about his old films.

Also met Yuen Biao who, I think, is a better martial arts acrobat than Jackie Chan. He used to make films with Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung and kinda semi-retired in Vancouver. Walked up to him during a Chinese New Year gig and told him how I enjoy his past works. He had a huge smile and thanked me.

Robin Williams must be one of the friendliest people in Hollywood. I was walking with a friend of mine when we saw him shopping. He basically said he would wait while my friend ran across the other street to get a camera.

I've also met Naomi Watts, David Duchovny, Wesley Snipes, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Richard Gere, Sharon Stone, Angelina Jolie, Goldie Hawn, Antonio Banderas, Lucy Liu and Jennifer Beals here in Vancouver...and I don't even work in the film industry.

All in all, everyone I met were very nice and friendly...except for Sharon Stone. She was a prick.

mee2

There was a particular instance when my friend was rude to a star, Wesly Snipes. We were at some trendy bar in Beverly Hills when upon leaving we spotted Wesley wearing a pair of tight leather pants, and a bright red sweater. My friend approcahes him and says: "Man, you're too damn dark to wear bright red sweaters".

Giles

interesting choice of word to describe her...

Giles

and what was Wesley Snipes retort to that - a knuckle sandwich?

Marker

While I was attending High School in Korea, Bruce Willis was having a concert in Yongsan Air Base to promote the opening of a new Planet Hollywood. He was shaking hands and greeting w/ a huge crowd of people. A little kid w/ a VHS tape of Die Hard asked him for an autograph and he knelt down and told the kid "Sorry, kid. I can't sign anything today." I'm not sure if this was his decision, but right before he came out to greet us, an announcement was made that there would be no signings. It might have had to do w/ the sheer number of people that were there.

Although this doesn't have to do w/ the celebrities themselves, it's still an interesting story. Ace of Base (minus the blonde girl) was in Korea w/ a small radio concert which I won passes to. There was an interview session right before they performed. Apparently there was something wrong w/ the sound, and the audience couldn't hear a lot of what was being said. My date started to yell to the host that nobody could hear them. After the concert was over and were leaving the building the host started yelling at my date for interrupting her during the interview. I didn't understand what was going on since they were yelling at each other in Korean (I'm not fluent). Eventually, some other men separated the two girls and we left.

Kudama

Comic book celebs:

Klaus Jansen: Super nice to kids

Sergio Aragones: Super nice to kids

Frank Miller: Nice enough, not really a "kid" person

Dave Stevens: Totally cool. I told him I couldn't afford a Limited Rocketeer print and he still talked to me for 20-30 minutes about his experience on the film, why there'll never ever be a directors cut and why they used Howard Hughes instead of Doc Savage in the flick. I decided I could afford the print as a souvenier of meeting him.
Later I was having a Bushmills and he walked into the hotel bar with some buddies. I raised my glass to him and he waved. Class act, all the way.

Chris Claremont: This guy IS Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons. We were a bunch of little kids and here he is talking down. His answer to one kids question went "...well, if you read panel 3 of page 24 of issue 12 then you would know...".
My buddy shouted "I skipped that page!" and Claremont called him an a$$hole.

Giles

since we are suddenly branching off to comic books, that reminded me that I had met on several occasions, Clive Barker - he is extremely nice and friendly to his fans.

mee2

Weslay is not as big and buff as the camera makes him out to be. My friend is more intimidating than anyone at Wesley's table was.

purplechoe

I'm realy jealous of the 2 guys who met DJ Shadow and Layne Staley.

The coolest celebrity I met were the 2 guys from Crystal Method. They were doing a show in Chicago at club Vision about a year and a half ago. I brought with me their first album "Vegas" cover to get it signed. I got up close to their dj booth with the cover in hand. One of the guys who was helping them out saw me holding one of their cds and trying to get their attention as they were spinin, so he pointed me out to the guys, (a lot of other people were trying to get autographs on napkins, etc..) so Scott Kirkland comes up to me, shakes my hand and asks me for my name which I had to shout over the loud music. He and Ken Jordan both held on to it for a while and gave it back to with both of their signatures. When they were done with their set they asked me and my friend who is a DJ (no one any of you guys have heard of) to hang out and chat with them at vip lounge and talked about music for over an hour. Me and Scott had so much in common when it comes to music, me being an amateur musician myself. Very cool guys.

Playitagainsam

Having worked as a journalist for quite a few years, I had the pleasure to meet some nice people and the displeasure to meet some real morons.

The most negative experience I can think of was Sting. Great musician, but a total arrogant bastard in everyday life. Very unpleasant to talk to. I was supposed to interview him before a concert, and he only spoke through his agent, although I was in the same room. A close second is Nicole Kidman, whose ego has been, shall I say, very inflated lately, and she thinks everyone talking to her is a leech or a stalker.

The weirdest celebrity I've ever I met was Michael Jackson, in '96 . I sincerely doubt the guy's mental stability.

Among politicians, I was told Mitterand was very difficult (I must've been lucky, then, since he was a good subject), and Yasser Arafat is very hard to talk to, because of security (well, duh!)

Damage

A few celeb stories, no-one made the JERK list...

Ozzy Osbourne - Back during his Blizzard of Ozz tour, he did a record signing at a local music store. He didn't say boo but he signed my LP. He was quiet, seemed hung-over, which in hind-sight seems reasonable.

Joe Flaherty - Count Floyd from SCTV was super cool. I was downtown on course and he was standing in front of an office building having a smoke. I did a double take, which he noticed and chuckled over. I walked back towards him and told him I was a big fan, thanks for the laughs, blah-blah-blah, and he said thanks.

Randy Bachman - Legendary songwriter for The Guess Who and B.T.O. My wife and I bumped into him walking through a park. (He was in town for a concert that day.) I was a nervous wreck and tripped over my lips repeatedly while he and my wife yapped and yapped. Very nice, very humble, cool guy.

Robby Takac the singer/bass player from Goo Goo Dolls - My wife and I met him after a show. Just a cool dude.

RocShemp

Could you go into a little more detail regarding his answers and comments on those subjects?

MGBGT

I was high-fived by Sarah Hughes at a skating show in CT back in '01--There was a cast of other skaters as well, and they all made contact with those of us at the lip of the rink. This was a few months before she made history at the SLC Olympics. I haven't actually met her, but from other's reports she's very sweet.

I've at least seen several other celebs: Paul Shaffer on the streets of New York, twice.
Christopher Hewett (Mr. Belvedere)~He lived in a loft in NY a block up from where I used to work (This was back in the '80's), and he always had an assistant with him. Once he looked liked he'd been injured with bandages on his face, and he was using a cane.
Howard Cosell~Many, many years ago when I was a small child with my mom we saw him approach a NYC cab.
Edward Woodward (The Equalizer)~I saw him shopping at Tower Records in NY--Some local teens were joking and one suggested going over to ask him to help them (Like his TV character would).
Also saw Eva LaRue and Sydney Penny who were both on All My Children at the time shopping at Tower.
Also at Tower I saw Michael Gross of Family Ties and Tremors fame, and he had an credit card that may have been maxed-out. He wasn't causing a scene or anything, and in fact, I think he even signed an autograph for someone. He seemed to be much nicer than what you'd expect in that situation.

In NY (The now-defunct NY Coliseum near Central Park) waiting on line to go in and see Nirvana (several months before Kurt Cobain committed suicide), I saw Shaffer again, and Ellen Cleghorne from SNL.

Josh-da-man

For the flipside, Harlan Ellison has an essay, entitled "Xenogenesis," which is about a-hole fans.

The "highlight" of which, is a fan walking up to Alan Dean Foster at a science fiction convention and throwing a cup full of warm vomit in his face.

For some reason, I imagine the fan looked like Jason Lee.

CitizenKaneRBud

I was at the movie theaters in 1999 to see the Ewan McGregor film 'Eye of the Beholder' a few weeks after it opened, and in the near-empty lobby right next to me was Cal Ripken Jr. buying a tub of popcorn. It was a 3-4 o'clock show, so it made sense that he'd be there when it would be least crowded. The snack-workers grinned as they served him, as well as a few surrounding people. I smiled (that's my natural reaction seeing 'famous figures,' a huge smile. I'd of course never approach them, but I smile). So, I sat down in the theater, and saw Cal walk in, there to see Eye of the Beholder too.. I immediately asked myself, of all movies, why would he see this one? He sat a few rows ahead of me, and I was worried that his bald, shiny head would distract me the duration of the movie (although in retrospect, watching his bald head would have been better than the film). It was exciting though, watching a movie with Cal Ripken Jr. Unfortunately, when the opening credits began, he got up and left, never to return. To this day I wonder why. I guess he was there to see Bicentennial Man.

Giantrobo

why did the "fan" do that?

Groucho

I'll second that, although I found him to be a bit creepy as well.

Shannon Nutt

Holly - your story about George is funny because I ran into him once when I was entering a hotel and he was exiting one...I introduced myself to him and he asked me if I wanted to take a jog with him (it was about 8 in the morning). Apparantly the man hates running alone!

I should also add my encounter with Dean Haglund, who played "Langly" on The X Files. I was working for the FBI at the time, so Dean was as interested in what I do as I was interested in what he did. I had just gotten married at the time, so he told me he'd sign his autograph with a piece of marital advice.

He signed "Deny Everything" on the autograph! (An X-Files in-joke, for those who aren't "in the know")

Nick Danger

My roommate and I were in the supermarket buying beer for a St Patrick's day party when we were approached by two men in suits who had been checking out the beer display. One introduced himself as one of the Maloof brothers, and he recommended that we try a certain brand of beer. He pulled $5 from his wallet and told us to buy a six-pack.

My wife has worked the SF and horror conventions for years as a dealer and occasional guest. She says that most authors, actors, and artists at conventions are very pleasant once they get away from fanboys and autograph hounds. She says that Clive Barker is like a happy, friendly kid, but that there's something twisted deep inside the man. She once shared a room at a New Orleans convention with Joe Christ, which was weird. Carl Lundgren dragged her out to Bourbon street and made her have a good time.

scott shelton

What would YOU do in that situation?

I'm not sure I would be thrilled with a late night wake up call myself.

shaun3000

I think he was joking...

Gyno Rhino

No kidding.. Do you need sarcasm tags put into use or something?

scott shelton

THAT'S a joke?

Wow. Hilarious. Watch out Chris Rock...

Get Me Coffee

A few months back I was chillin with friends a local bar (Down the Hatch) West on 4th Street in Manhattan. Well guess who was there...? SNL funny man Jimmy Fallon. I always liked this guy until I met him. WHAT A MUTHA F*#@#!er! I nearly punched his teeth to the back of his throat! This scumbag was hitting on my girl! I'm sure as hell glad my girl friend brushed him off, but still c'mon man WTF! He was all over my girl! If you ever run into Jimmy Fallon hide your girl. Because this fool doesn't hold back. But don't worry he's real small, one knock to the head and I'm sure he'll be down.

CUBuffsMike41

How about stories where I was the a-hole to the celebrity?

I've seen 2 of the girls from Real World (not that they're huge celebrities) out at bars in Chicago. Saw the lesbian lover of the black girl of the Chicago cast, and the weird blonde chick from the New York cast. My hammered and obnoxious self just pointed and lauged at them..."HA HA real world girl!!!"