I'm so glad I have jet lag so I can catch up on Stantonland.
These stories are hilarious.
As a former actor who grew up in Los Angeles I have many celebrity stories. The best one is the time Betty White had me fired. I was guest starring on her failing sit com-- I don't even recall the name-- and I had all the funny lines. When the director was "blocking" us and he told her that her character would avoid me, she said, with the Brian Dennehy venomous glare, Oh, I'm not going near her.
Later that day the producer called me, apologizing, that my character was cut so Betty White could have all my funny lines. Years later I was relieved to hear that she was indeed a mean joke hog on the set of Golden Girls.
Thanks, CK! And oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that Betty White got you cut. What a letdown that is. I hadn't heard about her being difficult on Golden Girls too, so this is all very jarring. I think I should lie down.
I live for stories like this! I may have to write my own up, thanks to you. My weirdest/best is either when Skippy from Family Ties asked me to dance at a crowded bar (I said no, I was engaged and might’ve considered celeb-based infidelity but only B list or above) or when I was on a trip with friends to LA and tripped hard into the person in front of me at the coffee shop, who turned around and was Mike Tyson. He was very gracious and I still have both ears.
Poor Skippy never got the girl. But I think you made the right call. If it had been like Willie Ames or something, then maybe. That’s nuts that you tripped into Mike Tyson! I’m glad you got him on a good day!
Great stories. And I, like Nan, was delighted by the Snuffleupagus reference.
I once was handed a book of matches by Bruce Willis. It was at a bar he owned (owns?) in Haley, Idaho, after a gong show he put on somewhat regularly (and was the sweeper in between acts). He was just hanging with everybody. it was a way fun night.
That's so cool, Holly! I saw him once in a bar when he was in town shooting a movie but I didn't interact with him at all. He always seemed like he'd be a really fun hang. I love that you got to experience the full Bruce.
Courtesy of Nan Tepper's Note about this piece and your AMAZING Walter Matthau impression - I have a fit of the giggles. I laughed right out loud several times through your storytelling! What fun encounters you've had, Chris :)
I'm from Vegas so celebrity sightings have been a staple in my life since childhood :) Mike Tyson attended my high school graduation in 1997! My best friend used to hang out at Wayne Newton's house. And the lead guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd wanted me to be his girlfriend in 2005.. I was 26 and he was 55.. I couldn't do it, he was so sweet though and tried really hard to woo me - sent me dozens of roses to my job and would text me every day telling me he was thinking of me. Oh 26 year old me..
My most favorite celebrity encounter though is from 2018 when I lived in Sedona, AZ... and I got to interact with Jared Leto! So, the story is this - 30 Seconds to Mars was releasing their brand new album "America" and the local newspaper needed a videographer to film a private concert that Jared was giving to radio contest winners. My husband was hired to film it! And I was brought in as a "sound girl".. however, I was stuck at work and crying because Jared Leto is MY MOST FAVORITE MAN ON EARTH and I was going to miss it..
Except that my work people let me go and I raced home and changed clothes, raced to the resort, and got there right before Jared arrived. When he got off the bus he walked right past me and I just started beaming. I was supposed to be pretending to listen with my headphones on for the shoot, but as soon as I saw him I became a fool in love! My poor husband.
So, Jared walks up to the front of the little space where we were all outside and the group of winners was in plush couches just hanging out. He starts asking the crowd if they'd listened to the new album, a few nods and claps (there was maybe 20 people there)..and then he asks if anyone wants to hear a song from the album..CRICKETS.. no one says anything..
So, I yelled out "Please play Rescue Me", he looks right at me, points and says "Just for you!"..and I died and left my body. I think I started to cry maybe, or I just stood there with my mouth open, I can't remember, because I was not inside my body. Thankfully my husband recorded it :)
Okay, that's my essay on my favorite celebrity encounter :)
Shout out to Nan for introducing me to you and your words!! :)
Thanks for reading and commenting, Mesa! I'm glad Nan introduced us too!
I'm cracking up over your Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist story. That must have been so bizarre. I'm glad he was nice at least and not some weirdo. (Freebird!!!)
Is there a Husband of the Year award I can retroactively nominate yours for? That's some SERIOUS understanding and affection he showed there. It's so cool that you got to have that experience with your favorite celebrity.
It's funny, I actually had a Jared Leto sighting in your hometown. I was on an elevator in the MGM Grand and happened to turn around and there he was with a woman hanging all over him. He was looking right at me so I said "Hey," he smiled and nodded, and that was the end of it.
Oh yes, he got husband of the year TWICE that year - for my 40th birthday he surprised me with floor tickets to see them here in Vegas and I was down directly in front of the stage and got to be within touching distance the entire night. I was invited to jump on stage at the end, but declined and told the girl next to me to go :) She was so cute and so excited, and I was so excited, but 40 and tired..haha :)
I love that you had an encounter with him too! :) :) :)
Thanks for these entertaining tales, Chris. Meant to comment when I first read and got distracted. Seeing Nan Tepper's note just reminded me!
My celebrity encounters mostly date back to my time as a journalist on the UK magazine, Just Seventeen in the 1980s, so most of them would now count as has-beens. But I've written here about interviewing Tom Cruise when he was promoting Top Gun and about meeting the band Queen after their 1986 Wembley concert.
As for celebs in the wild, not that many, but I was seated at the table next to Mick Jagger in a restaurant once (1980s London again) and noticed a steady stream of attractive young women approach him to give him their numbers!
I remember saying to my dining companions that it was very cheeky, as everyone knew he was dating Jerry Hall. But they just laughed. I was a tad naive!
First, you’re hilarious. Second, I’m working as a waiter in a fancy seafood restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri, sometime in late 1984 or early 1985, when I walk up to this table to see a striking black couple, not the standard clientele at the Rusty Pelican. This guy looks really familiar, so me being a dumb 20 year old I say, “Gosh, you look awfully familiar, do I know you?” And he says “No, I don’t think so.” Fair enough, I think, so I proceed to take their order. But when I walk back into the kitchen, one of my fellow waiters grabs me and says, “Tom, do you know who that is?” And I said, “No, I thought I knew him but he said we’d never met.” And this guy says, “You idiot, that’s Michael Jordan!!!!” Which meant nothing to me. So then my fellow waiter (don’t remember his name) said, “Do you want me to take over your table?” I said, “Sure,” because I was ready to get out of there. So he got to wait on Michael Jordan and I got to go home. Good deal for both of us.
Thanks, Tom! That’s an amazing MJ story. I’m sure he wasn’t used to people not recognizing him, and even after you found out who he was, you still didn’t give a shit. I love that. Unrelatedly, the Rusty Pelican sounds like some kind of sex move that I’d rather not know about.
Such a great post! Love that you recorded Ally Sheedy and made her guffaw. This would an incredible thread for people to recount their weird and wonderful celeb tales :)
I've had many myself living in NY. Brian Dennehy laughing, walking down Broadway with an entourage. He seemed alright. Almost running straight into a Seinfeld actor. But the weirdest one happened to my West Texas mom. She goes on a once in a lifetime Mediterranean cruise and her bunkmate is Dennis Hopper's mother
Your Brian Dennehy experience was so much more pleasant than mine. That’s hilarious about your mother and Dennis Hopper’s mother. That woman must have some very interesting young-Dennis stories to tell.
I’d say this was 1990/1991. Killing time milling around a music store in Little Five Points in Atlanta. Early afternoon, the store wasn’t busy, I was just thumbing through albums. I turned to my right and facing me, 3 feet away…..Roger Daltrey. I guess I went into vapor lock and had an expression of disbelief on my face because he laughed, said something along the lines of “hi how are ya”, and patted me on the shoulder as he walked past me and out of the store.
THIS is smacking! (I tried typing amazing but predictive text changed it to “smacking” and I thought you would appreciate that so left it. Let’s make smacking happen.) Back in my youth, my friend Cindy and I used to skip school every time a band came to town and hangout at the Arena all day. If you can think of any 1980’s hair band, Cindy and I probably met them. Except the elusive great white whale, Bon Jovi. NOT YET.
I’m 100% down for making smacking happen. I love it. It sounds kind of British. “This was a wonderful party, luv, absolutely smacking!”
That’s so cool/smacking that you and Cindy did that! Did you used to get pics with the bands or would that have been too intrusive? If Bill and I can manifest Jackie Mason, I have no doubt that you and Cindy can manifest Bon Jovi.
Well it was Cindy and I who manifested many ghosts on our Ouija board (including the one who refused to leave our friend Theresa’s parent’s bedroom) so we were definitely powerful spiritual junior witches in training. Perhaps we should keep trying. It’s never too late! Thank you, Reporter Chris!
You and Bill CONJURED Jackie Mason. That’s hilarious and brilliant. I need to find someone to play this game with who does good impressions of Harrison Ford.
My favourite random celebrity encounter was one of the few times my prosopagnosia has benefited rather than shamed me. I use the medical term rather than ‘face blindness’ so people understand I mean I am genuinely handicapped! I often don’t recognise people I know quite well. Anyhoooo…..
I’m at a party launching a Literary Festival, on my own, and pick a very tall handsome guy, also on his own, to chat to. He says his name is John. We chat for about 20 minutes about all sorts of things, until I have to go to my event. No way I would have approached him at all if I’d realised he was John Taylor from 80s band Duran Duran. He was a lovely chap.
It definitely feels like we conjured him. The whole thing was SO strange and funny. I saw Mark Hamill do a really good impression of Harrison Ford on some show, so see if you can track him down. Then again, he could probably just introduce you. That might be easier.
That’s so cool about John Taylor! I bet he appreciated the fact that you treated him like a regular person, not knowing that you didn’t realize who he was. While we’re on this subject, I want to give a shout-out to The Power Station, which put out one phenomenal album.
Great stories! I've written about a few of mine on my Substack site. One of my favorites was meeting Woody Allen after a screening of his film "Small Town Crooks" at the University of Chicago. When I told him that I teach a course on his films, he said, "Really? Are there students in it?" Hilarious! I said the same thing to Frances McDormand when I saw her on 8th Avenue in New York meeting her husband Joel Coen. Her response was "Are we really that old?" I also saw Madeline Kahn after a Broadway performance for which she won a Tony. When she exited the theater she said, "I don't do photos." We have a great shot of her hand.
That’s amazing that you met Woody Allen and actually talked to him! And agreed, what he said was hilarious. I saw him speak once but that was it. Frances McDormand’s line was pretty good too. And Madeline Kahn! These are great ones, man.
One of the places my wife and I like to visit is Cannon Beach Oregon—it’s gotten quite touristy but early in our marriage, it retained it’s small and quaint vibe. On one of our early visits, we arrived too early to check into our room so we went to the iconic log cabin restaurant in the heart of the small town. We had caught wind that a Hollywood film crew was filming up north in Astoria—some film called “Kindergarten Cop.” There had been sightings of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the area—I was a big fan of his from his bodybuilding days and even used some of his workout routines when I was training for football. It being in the hours after lunch but still before dinner, the restaurant was empty—we had the place to ourselves until we saw Arnold ride up the entrance, with an assistant, on their mountain bikes. They walked in and sat right next to our table. I made eye contact with him and we nodded. That restaurant filled up in less than ten minutes with people just wanting to come and gawk at him. He was interrupted more than a few times for autographs which he graciously always signed. To this day, I still tell people I had lunch with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Technically, not that incorrect.
I'm so glad I have jet lag so I can catch up on Stantonland.
These stories are hilarious.
As a former actor who grew up in Los Angeles I have many celebrity stories. The best one is the time Betty White had me fired. I was guest starring on her failing sit com-- I don't even recall the name-- and I had all the funny lines. When the director was "blocking" us and he told her that her character would avoid me, she said, with the Brian Dennehy venomous glare, Oh, I'm not going near her.
Later that day the producer called me, apologizing, that my character was cut so Betty White could have all my funny lines. Years later I was relieved to hear that she was indeed a mean joke hog on the set of Golden Girls.
Thanks, CK! And oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that Betty White got you cut. What a letdown that is. I hadn't heard about her being difficult on Golden Girls too, so this is all very jarring. I think I should lie down.
I live for stories like this! I may have to write my own up, thanks to you. My weirdest/best is either when Skippy from Family Ties asked me to dance at a crowded bar (I said no, I was engaged and might’ve considered celeb-based infidelity but only B list or above) or when I was on a trip with friends to LA and tripped hard into the person in front of me at the coffee shop, who turned around and was Mike Tyson. He was very gracious and I still have both ears.
Poor Skippy never got the girl. But I think you made the right call. If it had been like Willie Ames or something, then maybe. That’s nuts that you tripped into Mike Tyson! I’m glad you got him on a good day!
Hey, Jackie Mason! Hahaha.
Great stories. And I, like Nan, was delighted by the Snuffleupagus reference.
I once was handed a book of matches by Bruce Willis. It was at a bar he owned (owns?) in Haley, Idaho, after a gong show he put on somewhat regularly (and was the sweeper in between acts). He was just hanging with everybody. it was a way fun night.
That's so cool, Holly! I saw him once in a bar when he was in town shooting a movie but I didn't interact with him at all. He always seemed like he'd be a really fun hang. I love that you got to experience the full Bruce.
Our only real interaction was him handing me the matchbook when I asked for a light. Otherwise, I was just hanging in proximity to his hanging. 😜
Still cool!
Courtesy of Nan Tepper's Note about this piece and your AMAZING Walter Matthau impression - I have a fit of the giggles. I laughed right out loud several times through your storytelling! What fun encounters you've had, Chris :)
I'm from Vegas so celebrity sightings have been a staple in my life since childhood :) Mike Tyson attended my high school graduation in 1997! My best friend used to hang out at Wayne Newton's house. And the lead guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd wanted me to be his girlfriend in 2005.. I was 26 and he was 55.. I couldn't do it, he was so sweet though and tried really hard to woo me - sent me dozens of roses to my job and would text me every day telling me he was thinking of me. Oh 26 year old me..
My most favorite celebrity encounter though is from 2018 when I lived in Sedona, AZ... and I got to interact with Jared Leto! So, the story is this - 30 Seconds to Mars was releasing their brand new album "America" and the local newspaper needed a videographer to film a private concert that Jared was giving to radio contest winners. My husband was hired to film it! And I was brought in as a "sound girl".. however, I was stuck at work and crying because Jared Leto is MY MOST FAVORITE MAN ON EARTH and I was going to miss it..
Except that my work people let me go and I raced home and changed clothes, raced to the resort, and got there right before Jared arrived. When he got off the bus he walked right past me and I just started beaming. I was supposed to be pretending to listen with my headphones on for the shoot, but as soon as I saw him I became a fool in love! My poor husband.
So, Jared walks up to the front of the little space where we were all outside and the group of winners was in plush couches just hanging out. He starts asking the crowd if they'd listened to the new album, a few nods and claps (there was maybe 20 people there)..and then he asks if anyone wants to hear a song from the album..CRICKETS.. no one says anything..
So, I yelled out "Please play Rescue Me", he looks right at me, points and says "Just for you!"..and I died and left my body. I think I started to cry maybe, or I just stood there with my mouth open, I can't remember, because I was not inside my body. Thankfully my husband recorded it :)
Okay, that's my essay on my favorite celebrity encounter :)
Shout out to Nan for introducing me to you and your words!! :)
Thanks for reading and commenting, Mesa! I'm glad Nan introduced us too!
I'm cracking up over your Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist story. That must have been so bizarre. I'm glad he was nice at least and not some weirdo. (Freebird!!!)
Is there a Husband of the Year award I can retroactively nominate yours for? That's some SERIOUS understanding and affection he showed there. It's so cool that you got to have that experience with your favorite celebrity.
It's funny, I actually had a Jared Leto sighting in your hometown. I was on an elevator in the MGM Grand and happened to turn around and there he was with a woman hanging all over him. He was looking right at me so I said "Hey," he smiled and nodded, and that was the end of it.
Oh yes, he got husband of the year TWICE that year - for my 40th birthday he surprised me with floor tickets to see them here in Vegas and I was down directly in front of the stage and got to be within touching distance the entire night. I was invited to jump on stage at the end, but declined and told the girl next to me to go :) She was so cute and so excited, and I was so excited, but 40 and tired..haha :)
I love that you had an encounter with him too! :) :) :)
You married a good dude! And that concert girl owes you big time.
For real though! :)
My husband’s a celebrity sighting geek. This made us both laugh out loud and recall his many encounters.
Nice! I'm so glad you both enjoyed it!
Thanks for these entertaining tales, Chris. Meant to comment when I first read and got distracted. Seeing Nan Tepper's note just reminded me!
My celebrity encounters mostly date back to my time as a journalist on the UK magazine, Just Seventeen in the 1980s, so most of them would now count as has-beens. But I've written here about interviewing Tom Cruise when he was promoting Top Gun and about meeting the band Queen after their 1986 Wembley concert.
As for celebs in the wild, not that many, but I was seated at the table next to Mick Jagger in a restaurant once (1980s London again) and noticed a steady stream of attractive young women approach him to give him their numbers!
I just saved your Tom Cruise and Queen pieces to read later! And that's so funny about Mick Jagger. I wonder how many of those numbers he called.
I remember saying to my dining companions that it was very cheeky, as everyone knew he was dating Jerry Hall. But they just laughed. I was a tad naive!
First, you’re hilarious. Second, I’m working as a waiter in a fancy seafood restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri, sometime in late 1984 or early 1985, when I walk up to this table to see a striking black couple, not the standard clientele at the Rusty Pelican. This guy looks really familiar, so me being a dumb 20 year old I say, “Gosh, you look awfully familiar, do I know you?” And he says “No, I don’t think so.” Fair enough, I think, so I proceed to take their order. But when I walk back into the kitchen, one of my fellow waiters grabs me and says, “Tom, do you know who that is?” And I said, “No, I thought I knew him but he said we’d never met.” And this guy says, “You idiot, that’s Michael Jordan!!!!” Which meant nothing to me. So then my fellow waiter (don’t remember his name) said, “Do you want me to take over your table?” I said, “Sure,” because I was ready to get out of there. So he got to wait on Michael Jordan and I got to go home. Good deal for both of us.
Thanks, Tom! That’s an amazing MJ story. I’m sure he wasn’t used to people not recognizing him, and even after you found out who he was, you still didn’t give a shit. I love that. Unrelatedly, the Rusty Pelican sounds like some kind of sex move that I’d rather not know about.
Such a great post! Love that you recorded Ally Sheedy and made her guffaw. This would an incredible thread for people to recount their weird and wonderful celeb tales :)
Thanks so much, Alisa!
I've had many myself living in NY. Brian Dennehy laughing, walking down Broadway with an entourage. He seemed alright. Almost running straight into a Seinfeld actor. But the weirdest one happened to my West Texas mom. She goes on a once in a lifetime Mediterranean cruise and her bunkmate is Dennis Hopper's mother
Your Brian Dennehy experience was so much more pleasant than mine. That’s hilarious about your mother and Dennis Hopper’s mother. That woman must have some very interesting young-Dennis stories to tell.
She has passed on and I never got very far into it with her. But I imagine them sometimes talking together in their cabin
I’d say this was 1990/1991. Killing time milling around a music store in Little Five Points in Atlanta. Early afternoon, the store wasn’t busy, I was just thumbing through albums. I turned to my right and facing me, 3 feet away…..Roger Daltrey. I guess I went into vapor lock and had an expression of disbelief on my face because he laughed, said something along the lines of “hi how are ya”, and patted me on the shoulder as he walked past me and out of the store.
Just had to scoop my jaw back up off the floor. Tony, that is incredibly cool!
To be fair, if Rosie didn’t popularize “cutie patootie” someone else would certainly have.
So you’re saying “cutie patootie” was an inevitability? What kind of world are we living in?
THIS is smacking! (I tried typing amazing but predictive text changed it to “smacking” and I thought you would appreciate that so left it. Let’s make smacking happen.) Back in my youth, my friend Cindy and I used to skip school every time a band came to town and hangout at the Arena all day. If you can think of any 1980’s hair band, Cindy and I probably met them. Except the elusive great white whale, Bon Jovi. NOT YET.
I’m 100% down for making smacking happen. I love it. It sounds kind of British. “This was a wonderful party, luv, absolutely smacking!”
That’s so cool/smacking that you and Cindy did that! Did you used to get pics with the bands or would that have been too intrusive? If Bill and I can manifest Jackie Mason, I have no doubt that you and Cindy can manifest Bon Jovi.
Well it was Cindy and I who manifested many ghosts on our Ouija board (including the one who refused to leave our friend Theresa’s parent’s bedroom) so we were definitely powerful spiritual junior witches in training. Perhaps we should keep trying. It’s never too late! Thank you, Reporter Chris!
This is a smacking exchange.
Um, quick favor: can you create a new section in your Substack devoted to Ouija boards and ghosts and publish like every day? Please and thank you.
I can actually! And psychics. I have a tremendous amount of stories about psychics.
Why do you not live next door to me???
Because we would probably have been arrested by now? I don’t know. Do you think the other neighbors would like us? Or are we “too much?”
You and Bill CONJURED Jackie Mason. That’s hilarious and brilliant. I need to find someone to play this game with who does good impressions of Harrison Ford.
My favourite random celebrity encounter was one of the few times my prosopagnosia has benefited rather than shamed me. I use the medical term rather than ‘face blindness’ so people understand I mean I am genuinely handicapped! I often don’t recognise people I know quite well. Anyhoooo…..
I’m at a party launching a Literary Festival, on my own, and pick a very tall handsome guy, also on his own, to chat to. He says his name is John. We chat for about 20 minutes about all sorts of things, until I have to go to my event. No way I would have approached him at all if I’d realised he was John Taylor from 80s band Duran Duran. He was a lovely chap.
It definitely feels like we conjured him. The whole thing was SO strange and funny. I saw Mark Hamill do a really good impression of Harrison Ford on some show, so see if you can track him down. Then again, he could probably just introduce you. That might be easier.
That’s so cool about John Taylor! I bet he appreciated the fact that you treated him like a regular person, not knowing that you didn’t realize who he was. While we’re on this subject, I want to give a shout-out to The Power Station, which put out one phenomenal album.
Great stories! I've written about a few of mine on my Substack site. One of my favorites was meeting Woody Allen after a screening of his film "Small Town Crooks" at the University of Chicago. When I told him that I teach a course on his films, he said, "Really? Are there students in it?" Hilarious! I said the same thing to Frances McDormand when I saw her on 8th Avenue in New York meeting her husband Joel Coen. Her response was "Are we really that old?" I also saw Madeline Kahn after a Broadway performance for which she won a Tony. When she exited the theater she said, "I don't do photos." We have a great shot of her hand.
That’s amazing that you met Woody Allen and actually talked to him! And agreed, what he said was hilarious. I saw him speak once but that was it. Frances McDormand’s line was pretty good too. And Madeline Kahn! These are great ones, man.
This really was exactly what I needed to read today.
I’m so glad to hear that, Cici. Thanks for reading!
This was a fun read!
One of the places my wife and I like to visit is Cannon Beach Oregon—it’s gotten quite touristy but early in our marriage, it retained it’s small and quaint vibe. On one of our early visits, we arrived too early to check into our room so we went to the iconic log cabin restaurant in the heart of the small town. We had caught wind that a Hollywood film crew was filming up north in Astoria—some film called “Kindergarten Cop.” There had been sightings of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the area—I was a big fan of his from his bodybuilding days and even used some of his workout routines when I was training for football. It being in the hours after lunch but still before dinner, the restaurant was empty—we had the place to ourselves until we saw Arnold ride up the entrance, with an assistant, on their mountain bikes. They walked in and sat right next to our table. I made eye contact with him and we nodded. That restaurant filled up in less than ten minutes with people just wanting to come and gawk at him. He was interrupted more than a few times for autographs which he graciously always signed. To this day, I still tell people I had lunch with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Technically, not that incorrect.
Thanks, Kert! I love your story. You absolutely, positively had lunch with Arnold! “Get to the choppah!”