Probably the most famous person I’ve seen in person close up is Steve from Gamers Nexus. He’s in my area and I saw him in a bakery I was at once. I didn’t speak to him though, didn’t want to cause a scene or take up too much of his time, though thinking about it I’m sure he would have been stoked to have a fan say hi. Whoops!

For a few years of my life I had a standing happy hour at a bar in the building I worked in. I was out sipping a beer with my friends, and the trailer park boys walked in!

I’m a huge fan so I was starstruck. Eventually I worked up the nerve to say hello, and they were delightful and funny. Got a quick picture, wished them luck on their show, and I went back to leaving them be. 10/10, would bother again.

Like most Londoners, I have shouted “wanker” at boris johnson.

Back in the 90s, I worked for a major record company, and met a LOT of incredibly famous musicians. Most were cool, some were dicks, and some were really really nice.

One of my favorites was Lindsey Buckingham, who has a prickly reputation. After he sang three songs in our conference room with his acoustic guitar (amazing!), he sat to sign autographs for us. I got to him, and said “Lindsey, I meet a lot of people and I never get star struck, but you’ve been one of my guitar idols forever, and I really am pleased to meet you.” He had been going through the motions, but at that he gave me a big genuine smile, and said, “Thats really kind of you, man, you want to take a picture?” He hadn’t taken a pic with anyone else.

Of course I said yes, and sat next to him. He threw his arm around me, and I have cherished that photo, with both of us with big wide grins, ever since.

I’ve always heard he was a real asshole, but he was nothing but genuinely really cool to me in the 3 minutes we interacted.

Cheech Marin at an art show/book signing. He was every bit as affable as I had hoped.

The entire Dallas Mavericks and Texas Rangers teams, Oprah, Michael Jordan, at least a dozen fortune 500 CEO’s, and former President Bush.

The most notable person for their behavior was MJ. That guy is 110% asshole.

Most of the other athletes were pretty cool. We would talk about all kinds of things, not just sports.

Oprah did not give me a car and I was bummed about that but she was pleasant otherwise.

All CEO’s were assholes except Mark Cuban. There is something about the personality of a person that is a CEO that I despise. IMO they are subhuman.

Bush was a husk. His eyes looked as if there was not a thought in his head. When someone talked to him he seemed surprised. Like he was not fully aware of where he was.

There are many more but these were the most notable.

David Foster Wallace, shook hands and chatted at a book signing… He was very pleasant, shy-seeming, like you’d expect. RIP!

Philip Seymour Hoffman, shook his hand and chatted briefly, after seeing a play he was in. Oddly similar to DFW: shy, warm, very human. Also RIP!

(I guess, don’t shake my hand?)

You know that thing where two people, on opposite sides of a door, try to turn the handle and open the door at the same time? I did that with Bob Hope. Later that day I was playing foosball with some kids and their aunt, Bonnie Raitt, came over to talk to them. I was a stage hand for a relief concert.

Only a few porn stars. And Katie from Kinky Katie Radio. They are regular people just like anyone else.

In Toronto I ran into Styx at the airport.

I mean it literally. I bounced off Tommy Shaw and kind of reeled into James Young. (Totally my fault.)

They were actually really nice, checking if I was OK and once it clicked who I was talking to, putting up with my squeeing fangurl behaviour. Both of us were waiting for our respective flights so I got to talk with them a good half-hour before my flight started boarding.

Stumbled upon Jeremy Clarkson biking in a European capital. We instinctively approached him to just confirm if he was us, and he politely asked to not bother him because he was on holidays. We felt a little bad and of course left him alone. It must be a little sad to be famous and be recognized everywhere

Some bands when I was young (it used to be much easier to sneak backstage) U2, Warren Zevon, Rush, Tom Petty, all were nice.

Some bands before they were famous, Nirvana came here in their little white van to play at a club and I bought a shirt from them. Would have asked them to sign it if I’d had any idea they would get popular.

Once I was literally being frisked against a wall when the British punk band GBH walked by and they yelled shit at the cops, and encouragement at me, which was an experience that made me question the nature of reality. It was surreal. I didn’t meet them, but it certainly made an impression.

One politician, our governor at the time Bob Martinez, when he was working at a restaurant. He looked so fake.

I think all people are just people, basically. Musician, actor, politician, those are just jobs.

I saw Tom Green at a ski resort in Colorado sometime around 2005. We yelled at him from the lift, and he looked up at us then sped off down the hill.

I once saw footballer John Barnes at a nightclub! I asked if he’d mind posing for a photo, he was so nice about it and got it done really quickly. He was obviously practiced. It was a really nice interaction he didn’t have to do.

Bob Vila from This Old House was in front of me in a Dunkin Donuts when I was a kid. My dad was a carpenter and we used to watch that show all the time. I pointed out who was in front of us and my dad replied “yeah, he’s an asshole” lmao. I guess he met him once and he was rude as fuck.

Been to tons of concerts too. My friend and I met the band Goblin at a small show once. They walked around and chatted with people after their set. Super nice Italian guys in their 60s and 70s. When they came to the US to tour, they didn’t bring any instruments because it was too much of a pain with customs. So they bought all of their equipment used and then practiced on it in a local studio to get things tuned and ready. Pretty cool move.

I didn’t actually meet him but one time back in the Warped Tour days, I saw Mark Hoppus from Blink-182 next to an outdoor stage waiting for their set. I said to my friends “watch this,” walked over like I had backstage access, got stopped by security (as expected) but it garnered enough attention to make Mark look over at me. When he did, I gave him a what’s up nod with a raised eyebrow, and made a kissy face at him in dorky Blink-182 fashion. He shot me back the funniest WTF face. It’s forever ingrained in my head.