Barnorama All Fun In The Barn
Meeting a celebrity isn’t always red carpets and camera flashes, sometimes it’s awkward, hilarious, or surprisingly heartwarming.
Not me and not met, but a close friend was working on an animal welfare documentary in the UK years ago and wrote to David Attenborough’s management asking if he would be involved. She received a many page long handwritten letter from David where he politely declined because he had too many other projects at the time, and then told her all about the family of hedgehogs living in his garden.
I was local crew for a Weird Al concert several years ago. Al walked up to me and asked if I was from the area. I said yes and tried not to fall to my knees and start worshiping him Wayne’s World style. He asked what’s some good places to take his kids. I recommend the local zoo because they just opened a new sloth exhibit. We talked about sloths for a while and he shook my hand and thanked me for the advice. He was incredibly normal and nice.
I escorted Gary Sinise around for a day. He was the nicest guy, he stopped and talked to every Soldier and would actively listen to them and get to know their stories. We chatted for a while in the vehicles as we were transported from training site to training site.
I first saw him getting off his private plane and he was carrying his own bags which shocked me. You could run into him and never know he was a celebrity.
There isn’t another Celebrity I respect more than Gary.
Tom Hanks comes to the restaurant I bartend at fairly regularly with his writing company. Everyone who waits on him says he’s insanely nice, and if he pays, he always tips at least a bill.
Paul McCartney is an incredibly nice guy. Great tipper, jokes around as if he wasn’t in the most famous band of all time. Total class act, every time I’ve seen him.
I worked at a pretty popular restaurant in Napa Valley through high school and college. Since celebrities are a normal occurrence, staff were never allowed to acknowledge them as celebrities, ask for autographs, etc. Well, Adam Sandler came in, and our 15 year-old host boy was just beaming with excitement. He couldn’t make it obvious or ask for an autograph or anything, or else he’d be fired. Adam, being the awesome guy he is, goes up to the boy as he was leaving our restaurant for the night. He looked at him, pointed in his face, and while handing him a $100 bill, yelled “You remember me for the rest of your life, kid!” with that HUGE Adam Sandler smile. It was epic.
I went to a con and met Linda Hamilton in an elevator. I had ordered a pizza and went down to the lobby to pick it up. She rode up with me and the pizza.
I didn’t recognize her and she looked ad 6 foot 4 inch me and the pizza and said “I’m gonna beat you up and steal your pizza.”
We both laughed and she got off and wished me a good con. I then recognized her and saw her the next day and offered her the leftovers, she remembered and we both had a good laugh!
BB King was a sincerely nice man. Not pretentious at all. BB shook my hand, said thanks, and let me touch Lucille!
He asked if I needed anything and if he could get me anything, and I told him no, but I told him that I didn’t want to hold Lucille, but I’d like to just touch it. He kind of laughed and walked over with it, and let me touch it briefly.
At the time, I had no idea how rare that was, and when I learned that he rarely allowed anyone to touch Lucille, I kind of felt bad for asking, but I’m glad I got to do it.
Not me but my dad. He filmed a Nirvana gig, and Kurt Cobain spat on dad’s camera lens and gave the camera finger. My dad was annoyed as he didn’t really care for their music and owned the camera, but he was pleasantly surprised when Kurt came back over when the Kurt was no longer being filmed, he apologised to my dad, used some tissue to help wipe down the lens and explained how it was part of his act.
Cary and Barbara Grant, I spent a few days with them. I flew them around in my plane, went diving and for a drive and we had dinner with my family one evening.
A few days after they had headed back home, I got a phone call from the local paper and they wanted some follow up information (they had requested an interview with him while he was here). I found out he had acquiesced to their request if they would also include how much enjoyed flying with me in my lovely plane. AND to top this off a week later I received a letter from them which had photos Barbara took of him with each person I had hired to help cook and serve the dinner. They wanted to be sure I would get them to them. He was such an easy going fellow and had a warm and kind sense of humor and they were such a joy to share a few days with.
My stepfather helped build Andre the Giant’s house.
Said he was the sweetest guy in the world, and when the job was done he brought the whole crew out for steaks. He ate two steaks on his own and drank like six beers without even getting drunk. I don’t know how much this applies because I think most people know Andre was a sweetheart who was good at eating and drinking, but there you go.
Sisters best friend used to be a butler at a hotel in Sydney. My favourite story is when she met Jack Black. He got into the room, pointed at the dining table and went “wow that’s a big table, I’m gonna have to hire some friends” and then while she was unpacking his clothes she started folding a pair of his jeans and he went “those are my fancy pants” apparently super nice dude, tipped her like $1,000 by slipping it to her in a handshake. She was never allowed to tell anyone about the celebrity guests until they had well and truly left the hotel.
Met with Bill Murray once. He said something hilarious, gave me incorrect directions, and then walked off looking like everybody’s favorite crazy uncle.
Not me, but my mom has students that have gone on to work in Hollywood (she teaches film) and they tell her all sorts of [things].
Apparently the reason Tom Cruise keeps getting jobs despite his utter insanity and Scientology connections is that he’s one of the most professional actors out there. He doesn’t [mess around], he doesn’t waste time: if you tell him to do something, he’ll do it. He’s apparently a pleasure to work with.
Dr. Phil, on the other hand, forbids anyone from making eye contact with him.
I ended up singing backup for Gladys Knight one time. She was super nice, called us all her children even though we were a bunch of nerdy white choir people who weren’t all that great at singing gospel style.
Taught Chris Hemsworth’s oldest child on a pony a couple of times. He came with us on a walk one time and tried to crack a few jokes that neither his wife or I got. It was very awkward for about 5 minutes as he explained the joke.
I didn’t work with celebrities, but Heather Locklear lived in my neighborhood in the early 90’s.
She herself wasn’t *bad*. It was her and her group of friends. They were the cattiest group of “frenemies” I have ever seen. The worst possible thing you could do was leave the room, lest they all start talking about how fat you looked in those pants or how badly you need Accutane.
The worst was my father. My father was not celebrity-shy. We lived in an area where you could see a famous person shopping at the supermarket. He went to Heather Locklear in the middle of Gelson’s one time. “Do I know you? You look *so* familiar.” She laughs. “I mean maybe we dated or something?” She keeps laughing. “You *sure*? What’s your name, Hannah? Helen? It’ll come to me…”
My father has no shame.
Worked with Misha Collins when I was working for a campaign in Iowa. It was a get out the vote event, and he was just as nice as people say he is. Very clearly aware of who his fanbase is and who was going to be there, and very conscious of making sure that they had a good time. Very genuine and kind with everyone.
Giancarlo Esposito (Gus Fring from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul) used to live in a town a little ways away from my hometown growing up. The people who owned his house before he did used to host a Bernese Mountain Dog meetup/parade thing, which my family would go to because we had a Berner at the time (this was circa 2003-2005). When Giancarlo bought the house, he kept it up and even had the event catered and would hang out with all these random people and their dogs. We knew he was an actor who was on a bunch of TV shows, but he wasn’t very well known at the time (again, about 5 years before Breaking Bad); we just knew him as a really nice dude who was way more OK with metric tons of dog [feces] on his lawn than most human beings. Years later, my mom and I binge-watched Breaking Bad and she flipped out when she realized that Gus Fring had given her children cupcakes and complimented her dog.
When I was a kid I met Jason Momoa while in Hawaii. They were filming the first season of Baywatch Hawaii and some of the cast was staying at the resort we were in. Him and a couple of other guys came down and chilled in the jacuzzi in their red swim trunks (presumably to show off). I did know who he was then but he was a super cool dude and not nearly as big as he is now. I was a teenager and was a little bit bigger and more built than he was. They obviously make them look a little better on camera. Now I’m fat and he’s solid muscle so…
I remember asking if Pamela Anderson was there and he gave me her room number and told me to go knock and say hi. I did not do that.
I worked security for Mac Miller and Ariana Grande was there, wanted to get food, and needed security. I volunteered and we went to a local restaurant. There was just about no one there so we just sat and ate and chatted. She’s not actually a mean or bratty person one on one, she was polite and the small talk was fine, pretty cool to talk to. Seemed like she liked that the place was empty. For someone who seems to *really* like attention, I got the impression that she *really* doesn’t.
I met Garth Brooks at a Red Robbins in Owasso, Oklahoma. He was having lunch with his family and I really did not want to bother him. However, being a huge fan since the 90s , I couldn’t help but keep looking over at him.
Towards the end of my meal with my family (I was home from college) the waitress said Mr. Brooks had picked up our bill. So, naturaly, we went over to thank him.
For the world’s highest selling artist, he is the nicest man on the planet. He signed my hat for me and even invited us back to his place for a tour of his studio when he learned that I was a fan. It was a great experience and I will cherish that memory my entire life.
My daughter went to an alternative high school for kids who had a hard time with mainstream high school. She has anorexia and major depressive disorder. Tyler Joseph (Twenty-One Pilots) comes in when he is in town because his mother is my daughter’s math teacher. He supports his mom and what she does for these kids. My daughter got to have a piece of his birthday cake.
I met Henry Winkler while I was waiting for a table at a well known pizza place. He arrived alone to pick up takeout. My parents said hi and he chatted with my family until his food was ready. He was particularly excited that my brother was a fan of his series of children’s books. Pleasant guy, extremely personable.
My mom teaches Chris Rock’s daughter. He’s pretty down to earth. One time she brought in chocolates that he made and I got some. I have eaten chocolate handmade by Chris Rock lol.
I work for a science fiction/fantasy convention in my area. one year, we had George R. R. Martin. He is basically what you expect, a funny, surly, dirty humored old man. Super fun to hang out/drink with.
John Legend was extremely humble and nice.
A lot of actors and musicians are really shy people when they’re not performing.
Andre 3000. This was over 15 years ago. When I was in high school, I worked a local family owned plant nursery. Andre, his wife, and their (then baby) boy used to come in and shop almost every weekend. He was a super nice guy. One time, he bought an entire pallet of sod. He had a brand new Lincoln Blackwood pickup truck, and the pallet wouldn’t fit in the bed with the forklift, so I had to load it by hand. He went in, bought a pair of gloves, came back out and helped me load it. Also told me that he was going to go home and lay it out by himself. Kind of shocking considering how much that guy is probably worth. Something that didn’t strike me at the time, that I now realize as an adult, was how good of a father he was. His son was just a baby, but man did he love that baby. Every time he would walk up to put a piece of sod in the bed of his truck, he would peek in the window and make a face at his son sitting in the back seat. The kid would cackle like a banshee. After we finished, he gave me a $100 tip, which, to a 15 year old in the early 2000s, was a ton of money. Truly a stand up guy and a very talented artist.
My college professor worked with Bryan Cranston two years ago on a show. She said he was super nice and humble.
Of all celebs I have met, the one I remember most fondly was probably Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin). He was incredibly humble to his crew members, and incredibly nice to the people working at the event his band was playing (his solo tour, not the zeps) – He took time to say hi to anyone in the room, from the young kids running errands to the stage managers and the people in other bands playing that festival. Made a great impression on me to see an absolute legend being so humble and approachable.
The guys in Red Hot Chili Peppers and Muse were also incredibly nice people. Iggy Pop is one of the smartest people alive and a super classy dude. Steven Tyler was fun and also really nice to work with – these are a few that stand out.
I met Dick Van Dyke at a hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was by far the nicest actor I have met. He allowed us to take pictures with him and my daughters. The best part, he had a bowl of Capt’n Crunch on his table from the breakfast buffet. He also had a book with him and I was a bit disappointed it wasn’t “Moby Dick”. Anybody over the age of 35 might understands the reference.
Served John Barrowman multiple times whilst working in a department store in Cardiff while he was filming Torchwood (classic ‘not quite the right request to the story, I know), but he was the most polite and talkative customer, a very welcome change to the regulars who have too much money and not enough manners!
I saw a comedy show a few days ago with one of the comedians being Ray Romano. I waited outside the back by the van with my friend and one other guy. We waited at the corner of the road because security wouldn’t let us get any closer. They got in the van and as it pulled away, the one guy held up a Ray Romano CD booklet and said “Mr. Romano, may I please have a signature?” The van stopped, Ray opened the door of the sprinter, and was super friendly. He signed the Booklet and took a selfie with the guy and allowed me to get a picture with him. Sadly my friend wasn’t able to get a picture with him because Ray had to go but the fact that he stopped the van at all was super nice, and something I wouldn’t expect anyone to do.
Bill Nye. He’s kind of a [jerk].
I met him at a science teacher conference where he was a keynote speaker. The speech was fine, but he was a jerk in the meet and greet. Seemed bored and uninterested and sarcastic.
Steven Seagal apparently likes to be bossed around by women. One of my female co-workers found that out by accident when she’d had enough of his [nonsense] and snapped. He refused to deal with any other employees after that.
My friend’s uncle works cyber security for big name musicians a lot. He told me he worked with Linkin Park for about 5 years, Avenged Sevenfold for 6, Tim McGraw for 3, and Kanye West for 48 hours. Go figure.
Of the ones I’ve met Sandra Bullock was the biggest sweetheart and Kevin Bacon was the biggest [jerk].
Also, a certain lady whose name rhymes with Hennifer Harner talks [trash] about the extras when she thinks her mic isn’t on.