It’s easy to idolize someone you haven’t met. You can build them up in your mind as the perfect person, immune to greed, arrogance, and other flaws so many of us carry around within ourselves.

The ultimate test is bumping into them in real life.

A recent r/AskReddit thread has its users sharing their best and worst celebrity encounters, and the responses ranged from heartwarming to disillusioning.

While some stars appeared to be humble and kind even to random strangers, others didn’t live up to their reputation and showed a side of themselves that shattered the admiration fans once had.

#1

I met Weird Al and got starstruck and didn’t know what to say to him. I finally blurted out, “I know you probably hear this a lot, but I’m a huge fan.” He smiled and responded “I do hear that a lot, but I’ve never heard it from you.” Made my day.

Image credits: NOLAComicsFan

#2

At a corporate training session, we had all the best mechanical engineers in one place and I know one dude from reputation, one of those guys that could take a downed helicopter and get it flying again with very little time and spare parts. His record was amazing, he raked in huge sums over this reputation.

I found out he’d sign off riskier projects under other people’s names, so if it turned out to not be doable, his reputation would remain intact and most of those “miracle patchworks” that I mentioned, would be at the cost of tearing down other functional equipment, so he’d take a vehicle with torn to s**t, boast about how he’d put it back together, then proceed to take parts from another of the same kind, but with minor damages and still working, break it down, and use that to repair his pet project, effectively breaking 3-4 vehicles to repair one and make himself look good.

Huuuuuuuuge a*****e.

Image credits: Hermes20101337

#3

I met Wil Wheaton at a big SciFi con a few years ago. It was like halfway through the third day and he’d been signing stuff for hours.

I got to the front of the line and he jumped out of his chair in excitement and yelled “Are those BAT’LETH EARRINGS?! So cool!”

He then proceeded to sign my dorky old TNG comic (with Wesley Crusher on the cover of course) and we put an earring on the cover so he could take a photo of Wes with it. We talked about Open Source software and EFF.

Whole interaction took 3-4 minutes but he was just totally there for it, despite having a hundred other people he’d have to interact with.

He later included the photo in his blog.

Image credits: zardozLateFee

#4

When I was in Junior High, I wrote a paper on Thor Heyerdahl and Easter Island.

In High School I wrote another about his reed boat Atlantic crossing attempt.

I went to college to study anthropology, both because of him and Indiana Jones (I was 15, give me a break).

Through a series of familial misadventures, my money for grad school vanished, and I joined the military to get the cash to finish.

While stationed in Charleston, SC. I was with a buddy walking along the pier when I see this gorgeous three master sitting up ahead. I want to go look at it, and see it’s flying a Norwegian flag. I get closer and start taking with one of the girls on the ship. She says they’re college students and this is sort of an foreign study credit, sailing the ship. From Bergen all the way around to South America. That sounds amazing.

As I’m looking around, I notice that the ship is called the Heyerdahl. I comment that I wrote papers on Thor and got my degrees based on my admiration. She asked if I ever met him, and I just laughed…I was a poor kid from Western South Dakota… What were the chances I’d ever get to meet him?

She said he was right over at a cafe less than a block away.

I remember with unbelievable clarity. He was sitting on a little white bench outside the place with a disposable cup of something, with a book in his hand. There was a small table and chair not far away, and I could only just sit and look.

He looks up about a minute or two later, sees me and says, “I’m sorry, but are you alright?” I didn’t even realize I was crying.

Over the next hour and a half I talked and listened to him, watched him smile and talk about how adventure still existed, you just had to find them, and live them whenever you could.

He invited me to visit him if I was ever in Norway, and we both laughed at that.

When he died in ’02, I bawled my eyes out.

I live in Atlanta now, and a little over a year ago my wife and I went to Charleston for a few days. After dinner one evening we were walking along the pier and I saw where the ship had been tied up. Nothing there at that moment. Then I turned to where the cafe was, and saw the bench.

I sat where he sat for a while.

Image credits: wjescott

#5

Had the weirdest interaction of my life with a musical actor back in 2016.

So I was 17 and had a really bad day. I just came from a childhood friend’s funeral but my family didn’t want to skip the musical since we had booked months ago and the tickets were expensive, so they dragged me along hoping it would make me feel better.

It actually did, mainly because of a solo this musical actor had, which made my day a lot better. So at the end of the night I looked up his name, mentioned him in a harmless tweet praising him for his talent – he liked the tweet, followed me on Twitter and then we didn’t have any interaction for almost a year.

Until my 18th birthday, when I posted a picture of a gift with a caption like “Happy birthday to me – Finally of age!” or something similar.
He sent me a private message congratulating me and I was super excited that someone as popular as him would talk to me. So I thanked him and we messaged a bit back and forth, actually getting along quite well and sharing some interests.
Looking back, the messages were already kinda flirty, but I was shy and innocent – and also I was 18 and he was almost 40 – so I didn’t want to see it and just ignored it.

So at one point we became friends on Facebook since messaging there was nicer than on Twitter and we messaged quite frequently for about two weeks. One day we messaged for hours so he was like “Hey, why don’t we talk on Skype? Wouldn’t that be nicer than writing?”

You possibly see where this is going, but I didn’t – please don’t blame me for being naive, I was just super young and starstruck.
Of course I said yes, he called me and we talked for about half an hour, about his job, about our day, just everything … and without any notice he just started taking his clothes off and told me that now it was my turn to do the same.

Reality hit me like a brick and after just staring at my screen like a deer in headlights at a car for a minute I hung up and decided that maybe I should stop idolizing people.

Haven’t heard from him since except for a short “Sorry” but learned a lot from that.
Also this is a very fun story to tell at parties.

Image credits: DatasCopilot

#6

I never ask celebrities for selfies as it’s pretty cringe and I know they don’t want to do it.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Slash and I met him backstage at a Velvet Revolver gig and I thought I’d break the selfie rule just this once. I pounced on him and asked for a picture and he said:

‘F**k off, man’.

Somehow that was better than a photo, but I was still snubbed by a hero.

Image credits: gogginsbulldog1979

#7

I met Terry Pratchett while battling very aggressive ovarian cancer.
He told me that my hat was ‘really neat’.
I carry that in my heart today.

Image credits: turingthecat

#8

I went on some dates with a guy I didn’t realize was one of my favourite science writer authors. Like I knew he had the same name but I didn’t realize they were the same guy. Turns out he was a real jack a*s, and some other things.

It ended when I was in a car accident, and I called him to let him know and he said “so? How is that my problem?”.

Image credits: SixicusTheSixth

#9

Not sure this is a “Never Meet Your Heroes” story, but it’s a great example of why you shouldn’t always listen to that advice.

I met Terry Farrell, the actress who played Jadzia Dax on Star: Trek Deep Space Nine, at a convention QnA session when I was 15. She and another DS9 actress (Nana Vistor for the Trekkies out there) were up on stage answering questions, and there were two lines leading to a microphone on either side of the stage. Well suddenly on Terry’s side, the mic went out, and without skipping a beat, Terry got off the stage and started holding out her own microphone to people so they could keep asking questions. Terry even gave a hug to a 4-5 year old girl ahead of me in line. I got to the front, and there I am, an extremely shy 15 year old, arm’s length away from my childhood hero, in front of several hundred people. I manage to tremblingly squeak out that she is my favorite character in all of Star Trek, and before I can say another word, she gives me a big hug. I ended up asking her about her favorite episode (her answer was Blood Oath, for those curious), and went back to my seat.

My dad had also bought me a photo op with her later that day, and when I got there, she exclaimed something to the effect of “Oh, I remember you!” and immediately pulled me into another big hug for the photo. I still have that photo, as well as an autographed photo of her character. Words cannot describe how much that encounter impacted me, I never expected someone who probably met thousands of fans that day to show so much care to one awkward teenager who just wanted to meet her hero like everyone else. Jadzia Dax is everything I wanted to be growing up. She is kind, confident, smart, funny, and adventurous. I still want to be all those things, but more than anything, I hope I can learn to exude even half the kindness that Terry Farrel does.

So yeah, sometimes your heroes really are heroes. :).

Image credits: ConstantlyNerdingOut

#10

I have loved Watchmen (the graphic novel) for many years. In July, I worked in a pop culture convention and one of the guests was John Higgins. I was wary of him, since I was mistreated by many artistas (most of them were unknown, but I treated all of them with the same respect).
Last day, my shift had ended and I decided to risk it, and went to speak with him. He was lovely, couldn’t have been nicer and talked with me for a while. Gave me an autograph and took a selfie with me.

Image credits: LittleQueenOfSpades

#11

When I was 5-6, Batman was the only thing i watched on tv , my mom took us to see Adam West at a store somewhere.
While waiting in line for soooo long , mom went to ask an employee how much longer we had to wait. She overheard Adam West say ” when are we done here? I gotta get away from all these f*****g kids”.

Image credits: MRV-DUB

#12

When I was a kid I was super into Broadway and musical theater. My dream was to be in Broadway. So for my 9th birthday my mom got us tickets to see Wicked on Broadway in New York with most of the original cast. This was a huge trip for us, as we lived on the west coast. My mom had mentioned to someone working at the show that it was her daughter’s birthday and that Idina Menzel was my hero. This was before Frozen and before she was as big of a name as she is now. Somehow, this person brought us backstage after the show to meet the cast. Everyone backstage was very kind and sweet to me, except Idina Menzel. Kristin Chenoweth was super awesome, and Joey McIntyre was really nice and trying to cheer me up, but Idina wouldn’t come out of her dressing room. I got to hear her tell Joey, through her dressing room door, that she didn’t care about some kid and to leave her the f**k alone. 9 year old me was crushed, and even though the others were kind and did their best to salvage the situation, I lost interest in musical theater after that.

Image credits: hummusy

#13

I was a huge science nerd in high school, so of course I idolized Bill Nye. I thought he was amazing for how he made science more accessible to everyone.

My love of science led to me becoming an astronomy major in college during the late ’90s and very early ’00s. At that time, one of my astronomy professors let me know that Bill Nye had been hired to be the main speaker at my university’s Engineering Open House, then asked if I’d like to be one of Bill’s college guides for the day. I was so excited to say yes!

I first realized I was in trouble when one of Bill Nye’s assistants showed up early to debrief us; he told us to not take anything Bill says personally and that Bill is generally an a*****e to everyone.

Bill Nye showed up very late and very drunk, and he refused to do the full science presentation he had been contracted to do. He had been paid to present for a full hour, but he argued loudly that he wouldn’t do more than 15 minutes.

Bill made a few nasty comments about women in science towards me, insinuating that I was in astronomy just to find a husband. Then he started getting aggressively mean towards the young kids who were excited to see him.

Eventually he ended up screaming at a 5-year-old to “f**k off” while mic’d up in front of an entire gymnasium of people. At that point, college officials asked Bill to leave even though he’d been there for only a short time.

To this day, I’m honestly shocked at how many people still love and idolize Bill Nye, as I’ve heard so many similar “Bill Nye is an a*****e” stories over the years.

Image credits: Spoonula

#14

Met Fellowship members Viggo Mortensen and Ian McKellen on separate occasions while I was working as a camera operator for an entertainment channel.

Viggo was a delight, could tell I was really star struck, so he asked me for a selfie before we got rolling. When I told him my friends and I used to pretend to be Aragorn at playtime in our youth he laughed and told me it was “incredibly sweet”.

McKellen saw me accidentally smash a mirror to smithereens while I was setting up my shot, and couldn’t have been kinder delayed him by cleaning up, on what must have been a very busy day for him.

Image credits: fireplaceandchair

#15

Okay, I have never shared this. When I was 17 (now 40F), my friends and I got tickets to see Mitch Hedberg in a small club in my hometown. We were .vsall in high school, so my mom had to accompany us. We all loved him, listened to his album, quoted him. He was known for kinda having his eyes closed during his set, so at one point, I snapped a flash photo which was allowed at this venue. He said something else then asked, “Hey, did somebody take a picture?” I was too embarrassed, and my mom shouted, “she did!!” So I raised my hands thinking like oh, he’ll throw me a t shirt or something. No. He called me onstage to take a picture with him!!! I was cheesing so hard. Then my mother yelled, “Let her tell a joke!!” And he handed me the Mike. My mind went blank, and I told the most recent one I’d heard. A stupid joke about whale sounds that got no laugh.? I went to sit back down and he was cracking jokes throughout the set about “I don’t know how I’m supposed to follow Fremenade” I was dying. I met his opener and got a pic after the show but I was too embarrassed to go back to Mitch and say hi. Got a great Pic with him onstage, tho!

Image credits: Fremenade

#16

Went to see Penn & Teller in Vegas…and one of their magic tricks during the show involved the audience. The trick worked for everyone in my family, but not for me.

Now they’re well known for meeting people after their show…so we stayed, got autographs and photos with them…even Teller was talking – they couldn’t have been nicer. Penn asked me what’d you’d think of the show….so my stupid mouth just fired back, “your audience trick didn’t work.”

He then asked my family, “did it work for you?”

They all nodded and with an enthusiastic – YES

Without missing a beat, he turns to me, “Well, there’s the problem, you’re an idiot.”

Getting personally insulted by Penn was the high point of that Vegas trip :-).

Image credits: agbishop

#17

I worked as a cashier in a Stateline, Nevada casino in the early 80s. Part of our training included a warning that Bruce Dern often gambled in the early morning and he did not like to be recognized. I’ve been a huge Bruce Dern fan since Silent Running and it was enough for me to spot him from across the room.

One day, I’m training a new hire and Mr Dern came to our window. I had forgotten to warn my trainee about him. After the trainee cashed out his chips, he says, “Has anyone ever told you that you look just like Bruce Dern?” Mr Dern grins and says, “I get that a lot” and walks away. Made my day.

Image credits: cherismail

#18

I met Tim Curry a few years ago and it was a different kind of bad. He was so frail it broke my heart.

Image credits: LadyCoru

#19

I’ve loved Alan Cumming since the very start of his career. I saw his first tv appearance with Forbes Masson. Fast forward almost 30 years, I’ve moved to the USA and met my now husband, who casually mentioned that he knows another Scottish guy, yup you guessed it, Alan Cumming. We met up with Alan when he came to town to perform and despite him just coming off stage and exhausted, he was incredibly friendly and delighted to meet me and the kids . We get together any time he’s in the area and have met up with him in NY. He’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and he adores our kids , he has sent them wee videos on their birthday a few times too. Just a wonderful guy.

Image credits: BeardadTampa

#20

A doctor whose books I read during undergrad,I attended his lectures,looked up to him, during my postgraduate degree I got a chance to work under him and realize what s**t hole the guy was, does not practice nor believe in anything he preaches.

Image credits: WhattheDuck9

#21

Wife took the kids to Pittsburgh to see Def Leppard. The night before, they’re in a restaurant when an older, one-armed guy walks in. Turns out it’s the drummer for the band. They chatted him up and got a selfie. He was happy to see teenagers still liking his music.

Image credits: InigoMontoya1985

#22

Julia Roberts was a c**t to me at a restaurant when I was in high school.

Image credits: o-o-o-ozempic

#23

I met Eminem in Denver once and he told me if I came to his show, we’d meet up afterwards. I took my little bro with me and we waited for him for four hours in the blistering cold. And when he saw us, he just said no. I know he didn’t miss me, he did that s**t intentionally just to diss me.

Image credits: YounomsayinMawfk

#24

I met Robin Williams while working on a comedy show and he couldn’t have been more kind and friendly, with me gushing about how I wore out his first comedy album on vinyl and had to buy another one. He said “your parents must have been pretty cool, most of them would *ksssht!” (pantomimes breaking a record over his knee)*

After the first day of the shoot, all us camera operators had to be told to back off Robin because we all wanted to be around him, and we had too much footage of him already. He spent a lot of time talking to fellow legend Mort Sahl.

Image credits: ufotheater

#25

I’m a huge fan of “The Wire”. IMO, the greatest show ever made, by a mile. I admire all of the cast, but Wendell Pierce in particular. Not just for his portrayal of Bunk, but he’s done a lot of great humanitarian work too. I was at an event and saw that he was also in the audience. I normally try to leave celebrities alone, figuring that they just want to be treated like a normal person when out it public, but in this case I couldn’t resist. After the event, I went over and said hello and told him how much I appreciated his work. He was completely gracious and humble. Insisted that I call him by his first name, asked me mine. After chatting for a bit, he asked me what I did for work. I told him I’m a structural engineer. He then wanted to know my full name. I told him. “You’re (my name)!”, he exclaimed, “we were just talking about you at dinner last night!”. He had had dinner with one of my clients the previous night and was so impressed by a structure I had designed that he asked the client who had designed it. Now I am not a famous engineer by any stretch (if there even are any). It was just an amazing bit of luck, plus the fact that he’s a genuinely great guy.

Image credits: DiscoStu1972

#26

Met Martin Short in an alley in LA on his way in to shoot that Jersey shore spoof he did on some late night talk show. Nicest guy in the world, told security to back off and that he had all the time in the world to talk to the people who put him where he was that day. Took pictures, signed stuff, just chatted like a normal human being. A family friend of mine kept calling him Marty, and he never corrected him. Seemed to get a kick out of it hahaha. Bid the most respectful thank you and goodbye when time really did run out and he was at risk of missing his call time or whatever.

Image credits: Annoying-donut

#27

Was on a work trip with a total dbag finance bro and we went to a strip club. Mark Cuban was there and my coworker gave him his card and said “If you give me a chance I will make you a lot of money.” Mark Cuban leaned in and said “Do you really think you’re smarter than me?” I thought it was hilarious.

Image credits: tinsinpindelton

#28

Julia Child winked at me. She was just a genuinely fun person.

Image credits: AlanMercer

#29

I saw Nick Offerman do a show at a theater with his wife Megan followed by a book signing afterward. So the show ended fairly late and it was a theater full of people waiting in line to get a book signed so it was obviously going to take a long while.

Nick was the best. He chatted with everyone, didn’t rush anyone along, stayed until after midnight to make sure he talked to everybody and got them a book. About halfway through the line he recognized a couple ladies and brought them out. He announced something like “sorry everyone I just need to stop for a moment because these two are royalty. This is so and so, they did the wardrobe for me on Parks & Rec and I haven’t seen them since.” and shared some brief memories of them working together. The ladies were so excited he remembered them and made them feel extra special. I’m glad Nick lived up to and exceed my expectations.

Image credits: jesterguy

#30

Greenwich Village. NYC. ‘77. At my car w. a girlfriend when Lou Reed comes (literally) bopping round the corner. Big fan so I say, “ Hey Lou, need a ride ?” He replies, “No man, I’m cool !” And ya know what ?
He was, and forever will be, in my book. RIP, baby !
AND for all the die-hards, YouTube The Velvet Underground on Lawrence Welk where his orchestra plays Sister Ray.

Image credits: Trieditwonce

#31

Bumped into my favorite author at a bookstore. Told her how her novels got me through tough times. She rolled her eyes and said, ‘Great, another sob story. Buy a book or move along.’ Guess her empathy only exists on paper. 15 years of fandom down the drain.

#32

Tried to get in line for a Q&A with David Tennant when I was at a con, unfortunately a massive crowd ran up into line before I could get there.

I will say however, watching the interactions he had with fans, he struck me as a very genuine guy who greatly enjoys talking with fans.

#33

I saw Penn and Teller in Atlanta while my dad was recovering from open-heart surgery. They did a meet and greet after the show and I told Penn about my dad and that he was a big fan. Penn wrote him a personal note (in the fake blood he was covered with at the time) and signed it with a giant, bloody hand print. They were both so amazingly cool and gracious.

#34

I’ve been a huge LeBron James fan since I was five. In 2012, my dad surprised me with tickets to a Miami Heat game, and I was thrilled to see my idol in person. As a nine-year-old, I felt like I was in heaven when I had the opportunity to get closer to him. Unfortunately, my excitement turned to disappointment when LeBron seemingly ignored me, even when I presented him with a jersey and he just looked at me like I was nothing. His indifference toward a young girl like me made me question the positive portrayals of him in the media. It’s hard to reconcile the image of a superstar who would dismiss a child’s enthusiasm.

#35

I’m a big fan of Brian Blessed. (You don’t need to know why.) I got the chance to go to a QandA with him. (Present from my brother.) Large enough crowd on the boat, and at one point he strolled down the aisle shaking hands, and I got to shake his hand and thought that was great. I wasn’t expecting anything more. But later on, he posed for photos and I queued. I wasn’t even that interested in a selfie with him. I just wanted to shake his hand properly and try to say how much I admired him. When I got to the front of the queue, I shook his hand and said “They say you should never meet your heroes, but you’re my hero Brian and I’m very glad I met you.”

His reply is between me and him, but he’s a wonderful human being.

#36

I got to meet a very famous flute player that I looked up to. It was a meet and greet, so it wasn’t out of nowhere. I told him that I loved his playing and was a big fan. He just said “Ok?” And then quickly signed the program and kind of shoed me off.

#37

The nicest I have met was Sir Michael Palin – a truly lovely man. He felt like an Uncle I’d known my whole life, and I was the one who had to end the conversation with him as I had to get to university. If I hadn’t had to go I think I’d still be talking to him 20 odd years later!

#38

Went to see James Blake in Philly. On the way to the show, we spotted him at a small coffee shop. Stopped in to say we were going to see him and he was so happy, took a pic with us. At the time, me and my buddies and I were running a small clothing company (high school biz, nothing big). We told James and his producer we had free shirts in our car.

The car was parked in a dingy Philly alleyway. James and his producer freaking trusted us, came to the car and we gave them shirts.

Show starts, James walks out wearing our shirt, and proceeds to shoutout the “two lovely lads who gave us these shirts” and shouted out the name of our company.

I never screamed so loud, it was amazing.

Edit: here is footage from the show, and you can kinda see the shirt (it says AMV, which stands for Anonymous Mad Villany which was the company name cause we thought we were so cool).

#39

Met Tobey Maguire at a fan meet and greet back in 2013. I think it was a promotion for the Great Gatsby movie. Looking back I genuinely felt bad for him because everyone kept asking him about Spider Man and not the Great Gatsby. He called off the event before I got his autograph because some a*****e wanted him to talk about why Sony canned him for Andrew Garfield. As an adult looking back now I see why actors get pissed with s**t like that. I think with certain actors who are most commonly associated with one role in particular, it sucks knowing that no matter what future roles you take, someone in the theater would point at you and say, “Hey isn’t that Spider Man?” I have always sympathized with Toby because of that reason.

#40

Not mine, but a friend’s:

Jason Alexander, George from *Seinfeld*, came to give a guest lecture on acting at the university my friend attended. My friend was on his way to class, when he ran into Jason Alexander who had just finished up his lecture. Instead of saying “You’re George from Seinfeld!” my friend said “Holy c**p, you’re Jason Alexander!”
Jason Alexander heaved a sigh of relief and said “Nobody remembers my name, it’s awlays George this, Festivus that. Know what, kid? Want to get lunch together?”

And my friend says, “Oh, sorry, I’m late for class!” and took off for biology.

He gets to class, sits down, and suddenly realizes he just turned down lunch with Jason Alexander.

Don’t meet your heroes, because sometimes you’re really dumb, and they’ll see it.

#41

I’ve worked in the entertainment industry since 2010, and in that time, I’ve been lucky enough to cross paths with some awesome people and unlucky enough to find out who are a******s behind the scenes.

Best?
Working as a lighting tech for WWE in Sydney about 10 years ago, I had quickly run outside for a smoke near the end of the show while I had some time.

Back of house is pretty dark, there’s not alot of normal lights, mostly blue lights just bright enough that you can find your way around, this is so there isn’t bright light shining from behind any curtains or tunnels facing into the venue through the show.

I had about 10 minutes to get back inside, run around to where my crew were waiting, and get them standing by to pack up the show once it ended.
As I ran into one of the tunnels towards my crew, I bumped shoulders with someone walking out towards the loading dock/car park.

Immediately, I just say, “Sorry mate, didn’t see ya.” I look up, and it’s f*****g John Cena. He literally tousled my hair, chuckled, asked my name , shook my hand, and then walked off.

I physically ran into John Cena and told him I didn’t see him. The realisation of that being what happened once I got to my crew left me feeling all sorts of cringe. But he was polite, took the time to actually acknowledge me, and seemed sincere.

Worst?
Now that’s a hard one..
It’s a tie between Slash from GnR taking nearly 2 hours to rehearse guitar licks and being angry at everyone around him, saying he sounded s**t and it was dragging on. Nobody wants to hear the opening notes to Sweet Child O Mine played poorly, over and over, like it’s a guitar lesson.

Bam Margera being a c**t to people and a drunken sleezebag to under-age girls at a festival. Mind you, everyone paid for tickets to meet the artists at these festivals, all proceeds going to charity, and this dumb f**k was up there taking all the attention and just genuinely being a mess of a human.

That being said though, he did promise to find us in the pit later at one of the smaller stages, and he kept that promise by running through my group of friends and yelling “get in there, pussies!” Before disappearing into a circle pit.

Mariah Carey stepped out of her dressing room in a towel to stop myself and another crew member moving cases to a truck, mid bump out of her show, demanding we take her bags to her car that’s waiting. When we told her sorry, we can’t do that as its not our job and we aren’t cleared to even be communicating with her, she basically snapped and said we wouldn’t work on her next show in another state, I’m guessing she assumed we were touring crew. We were not. So, no f***s given! Carry your own bags, wench.

I’m sure if I really thought about it, there would be better and worse memories, but for now, this is what came to mind.

#42

Worst: Joss Whedon, was in line for autographs when he started writing for Astonishing x-men and the line was hours long. He took time with everybody else to answer their questions and be a person. Didn’t even look up at me or make eye contact.

Best: Max Brooks. What an amazing guy. He was late for his signing at an event I was at, but I was the only person who was in line for it. Everybody else bailed because he was late. Once he arrived, he apologized profusely. And we had an almost thirty minute time chat just about his book and his process. He personalized in his autograph, in my copy of World War Z and was a great person to converse with.

Honorable mentions for being great:

Nichelle Nichols
Walter Koenig
Amber Benson
Peter Mahew.

#43

Not me, but something very funny that happened once.

My grandpa was a univerity teacher of pharmacy and has made numerous books/paper to his name. I think a building or two too. Anyway, he was giving a conferance in my town, so ofc I went to see him! After the conference I went to chat to him, and like. I’m his oldest grandkid, he kinda helped raised me, he *adore* me. So we are chatting, and then this young profesional barge in, and cut our convo, because he wants my grandpa to help review a study I think. I keep trying to tell my papi that i’ll talk to him later, but the guy interupt me and end up saying something like “can’t you see that this is important??”

Grandpa informed him I was his grandchild, and politely told him to go f**k himself.

It was very hard to not laugh out loud. I had never heard my grandpa swore before.

#44

The “ best “ was having a famous basketball player ( Olympic gold medalist) be a absolute c**t to me for no reason

Made me realize at a young age that people on TV or famous people in general are not to be looked up to regardless of position/money or title. It was a valuable lesson I wouldn’t give back

And it’s something in wish more people really took to heart.

#45

When i was 18 i had vip passes for this kpop group i liked, which included taking a group photo. during the concert i had a sign with my favorite member’s name on it and i was convinced he’d looked at it and smiled. at the photo op i excitedly asked him if he’d seen my sign. he told me to “be quiet”. so i guess he knew the english he considered important. now, years later, the same guy has sexual harassment and drunk driving charges.

#46

I was married to my first husband, and one day we went to a funky used record store to see what we could find. My husband held out a CD from someone we’d never heard of that had a weird, intriguing cover on it, and that was on a record label that we respected a lot, so we took a chance and bought it.

We went home, put it on, and became immediate, hardcore fans. Both of us would have said that he was our favorite artist, though he was so obscure and “cult” level that we never really expected to be able to see him or anything.

Which is why it was a complete surprise that, 6 years later and 2 years after husband and I divorced amicably, I ended up meeting and marrying this very same musician.

This was a terrible mistake — for sure the worst I’ve ever made — but one of the most tragic things about it is that I lost a bunch of music that was so important to me, and carried me through so many times in my life.

They say don’t ever meet your heroes, and that may be true. But definitely don’t marry them. Good lord.

#47

When I was a kid, there was a big Scouts meet in the east of England, with activities like rafting and archery. The main event was supposed to be Bear Grylls, who was Chief Scout at the time, attending to meet and do some activities with us.

It got to the time he was supposed to be there, but didn’t turn up, so we started the activities without him. Just when people had given up hope, a helicopter landed, and we were all pushed into a marquee tent to greet him. 

He came in, gave a brief maybe 20-second speech about how nice it was to see so many scouts, then got into the back of a car and sped off.

Edit: I found a (https://youtu.be/MbWX8qxzcu8?si=pqiSokkpbGgGIuPl&t=28) signing autographs before getting into the car and leaving, i’m even in the video as a kid

at around 20 seconds in you can hear him give a half-assed apology and a scout leader says ‘We’ve done our best, you made it and that’s all that matters’.

#48

My wife and I went to a David Byrne concert (Everything That Happens Will Happen Today tour). I was parked across the street from the lot where there were two tour identical buses parked. We were early, so we were just hanging out in our car.

From (evidently) a stage door, David Byrne comes out and walks over to one of the buses, puts a key in the lock and nothing happens. It wouldn’t turn. He pulled it out and put it back in and tried to turn several more times to no avail. He was standing there staring at the key with a look of frustrated confusion on his face, and I hollered, “This is not my beautiful bus!”

He laughed.

Then he had the good sense to walk over to the *other* bus and try the key there.

It worked.

#49

The good: I met Stan Lee at a convention. He was signing books (to let you know how long ago this was, he was doing it for free.) I said “You must get tired of having to sign so many autographs.” He just smiled a big smile and said “No way. I love it. My fans are so important to me.”

The bad: Went to a trade school to learn makeup. A famous makeup artist was a guest teacher there (think classic 80s horror). One student told him they needed to leave early for something. He said fine. I then walked up to him to tell him how much he had influenced me. First thing he said when I approached him was “I guess you’re too busy to stay for my class too, huh?” I felt kind of hurt that he was so negative. He spent the rest of the lecture talking about all his achievements, which were all over 15 years in the past.

#50

I used to work for a kettle corn stand for a baseball team that Bill Murray partially owned.

He ordered some kettle corn and called me the kettle corn queen.
When I told him his total, he said “Oh, I don’t pay. I just tip really well.” And he put a $20 in my tip jar!

Ever since then of course I believe in all the cheeky Bill Murray stories. He really is like that.

#51

I was at a comic convention and had decided to bring my Batman: The Animated Series poster (one that released as a promotion for the cartoon back when it came out) so I could get it signed by the man himself, Kevin Conroy (voiced batman for those who don’t know).
My SO had stuff she had to take care of first since she was a guest at the con so when she was done we went to the autographs area to see if we could catch him.
I went from happy (when I saw he was still there) to sad (when I saw he was packing up to leave). I was crestfallen but my SO said, “at least say hello and ask when he’ll be back”.
So I walked up and told him I loved his work and asked when he’d be back.
He told me to f**k right off–I’m absolutely joking; he said, “I think we’ve got time for one more–no need to make you wait, right?”
He looked to his wrangler/manager who, clearly, wanted to just go and kind of motioned as such and he just shook his head and said, “it’ll only take a minute”.
He unrolled the poster and admired it for a minute. Saying he hadn’t seen one of these in quite a while. I told him how I’d debated getting it signed because of it’s age and I’d decided that if I could get Batman to sign it then it was worth it. So he signed his name and wrote, “I am BATMAN” on it.
He seemed so genuine and nice. I did not expect him to stop and make time to sign it and would’ve gladly come back but it was amazing that he stopped everything just for me. Everyone I’ve heard who has met him said that they all felt like that when they met him.
He even said the line in his Batman voice and the child in me was filled with pure glee.
He passed away a few months after that. If he hadn’t taken the time then I wouldn’t have ever gotten the chance again (at the time, he came to town pretty frequently so I figured I’d get it next time around). Based on everything I now know–he was already not in great health (he did look really thin at the time). Which, to me, makes it even greater than he took extra time for one last signature.
He was and forever will be the one and only, true, Batman.

#52

Ever since I was a kid, I loved the look of the 1980s Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, the C/D body style, last of the truly full sized Cadillacs with the long tail, vertical brake lights, vinyl top and the Cadillac crest flying over the hood. 

In college I wound up buying one used that was in decent shape, and up close the build quality was a real letdown. Everything seemed loose and rattly, the ride wasn’t anything special and the 307 V8 engine was utterly gutless, even for a malaise era engine. With a balky carburetor and tiny intake ports, it struggled climbing hills or passing. A lot of generic 80s economy cars would have beat it in a drag race. 

Years later I switched to Oldsmobile, and found myself an older model Ninety-Eight Regency with an Olds 350 V8 and not only does it run circles around the Cadillac for torque but it’s been extremely reliable, even at 45 years old now, and the overall build and road mannerisms seem much more solid. It made me fully realize how long Cadillac has been coasting on its name. .

#53

I worked at a venue that sometimes had comedy shows with decent comedians. The venue owners were so thrilled to have Dustin Diamond headlining one night, and a bunch of them showed up to meet him. 

He was a huge d**k to everyone, especially the owners. His set was mostly him making fun of the venue and the staff, with the owners in the front row. He acted like he was just too good to be around us, and aside from the occasional chuckle, nobody really laughed at his material. 

After his set, Dustin made his rounds through every female server on my staff and asked them outright if they wanted to come back to his hotel room to bang.  Nobody was a fan of his after that night.

#54

I got to meet John Noble this year in April at Armageddon. Am a massive fan of him as Dr Walter Bishop in Fringe and when he plays Denethor in LOTR. When I got a picture with him I made a point to shake his hand and introduce myself like I was meeting any other person. I think he appreciated it a lot because later when he signed my 50th anniversary copy of The Hobbit (unfortunately I don’t own any LOTR books) he initiated a handshake and thanked me earnestly for coming, which I noticed he didnt do as much with the other fans waiting in line who had just said a quick hello and taken a photo with him as if he was a prop. It was really heartfelt when he thanked me for coming, and I appreciated his gentle enthusiasm. I got to watch his panel before all of this and he was a pleasant, funny, and kind individual. Was an absolute privilege and a pleasure to meet him.

#55

My then teenage daughter met Alice Cooper at a convention. She waited for the line to clear and shyly approached him for a signature, then asked for tips as she intended to have a career in music. He was very kind and took the time to talk to her about it and tell her about his own experience.

#56

Today I will learn about this saying.

#57

Was running to a ferry on Vashon Island and ran straight into John ratzenberger ( mailman from Cheers aka Hamm from Toy Story). He knocked me down to the ground (by mistake), and I banged my knee pretty bad. He made sure I was OK. This was about 30 years ago. I think I was 11 years old at the time.

#58

I met John Cena when I was 16. I was a massive of fan of him since he started in the WWE. It was my first time ever really meeting a celebrity. Nothing exactly bad happened but I made a joke (can’t remember it now, but it wasn’t inappropriate or anything) and he just sort of looked at me straight faced. His manager he was with laughed at least.

I was a bit embarrassed and didn’t want to meet another celebrity again for years till I met Jason Mamoa by accident. He was awesome.

#59

Early ’80s, NYC club, my wife’s friends story. Call her Amy.

Amy was clubbing somewhere in Manhattan, next in line for the bathroom. Christopher Reeve and a friend chat her up. She is star-struck, completely. Amy’s turn comes up; Reeve and friend ask if they can join her, to do cocaine.

Her heart breaks a little – Superman does Coke :(.

#60

Was kinda into ski racing as a kid and was working with my instructor when he held me back in the lift line a chair only to catch the next ride… lo and behold it was Picabo Street with us on the chair! My little preteen soul was in awe!

She was badass! Pulled a full 6 inch sub out of her jacket and started chowing down and chatting away about eating enough, racing, skiing, life, etc. I can barely remember what she said I couldn’t stop staring! She took 2 runs “with” us, I could barely pretend to keep up of course but she was so nice. I was in awe. Amazing person. Still think back about how she was just so cool, what an incredible experience, great role model!

#61

I was so excited to meet Ray Bradbury as a teenager because I love his books. Dude was so incredibly rude lol. Looking back, I love it lol.

#62

Bobby Knight….. sat across the aisle from me on a flight. One of my basketball friends almost made the ‘84 Olympic team he coached. Missed because of chicken pox… so I said “Terry is my buddy. Would he have made the team if not for chicken pox?”. Bobby: absolutely! Bobby started sharing stories about U Wisconsin (which pursued him before Indiana). I decide to ask…. Tell me about Barkley during training camp for the Olympics. How did he not make the team? Bobby chuckled, he was great, even unbelievable but too big. And then he laughs and says “I made George Raveling tell him he didn’t make the team” with a huge smile on his face.

I’ve never been so bummed a flight ended.

#63

My band got to open for 80s metal band Y&T. While loading in as I’m wheeling my gear past the open door to the green room the headlining band is in there, I get excited, one of em starts yelling about who he’s gotta blow to get a coffee maker. A coffee maker? Wait, where’s the hookers and blow man?

#64

I’m a composer and was auditioning at a very prestigious institution for a graduate degree with one of my absolute heroes.

We sat and listened to a couple pieces in my portfolio that were tangentially inspired by some stuff he’d done, and he outright accused me of plagiarism and joked he should sue me.

Funny thing is, this guy’s early stuff also sounded a bit like his own predecessors, which I pointed out. He scoffed and changed the subject.

That’s when I realized everyone is full of s**t to varying degrees.

#65

I’m a real nerd about state and local history. One of our former governors is from the same community as my dad’s family. The man always had a reputation for being hardworking, trustworthy, and genuine, and a friend to the regular people – but the times I have seen and spoken to him at different events, he comes across as completely false. Everything about him says “politician,” from the sugary voice he uses to talk to people that’s so “friendly” it’s almost hostile, to the way he code-switches depending on his audience. (At a history lecture attended by educated people, he pronounced “library” correctly. At a reunion day for attendees of the old community school – mostly elderly and working class – he said “LIE-bree.”)

Both brief conversations I’ve had with him were almost exactly alike – and felt as if he had conversation templates in his head. Both times I mentioned who I was descended from that he knew as a child, and both times he said, exactly, “Oh, yes, a FINE Christian man!” It felt like a stock response he probably gives everybody.

While I’m glad he was never outright nasty to me, I find his falseness incredibly demeaning. I understand why he was a one-term governor and don’t get why he has always been painted as this paragon of statesmanship.

#66

I’ve always liked Karen Allen. She was at a local comic con, but I didn’t have the money to pay for an autograph so I didn’t want to wait in line just to say hello. (Sometimes you can do that, but most of the time the Con frowns on it.)

I was walking past her table in my giant pumpkin monster costume, and my friend said, “Karen Allen just snuck a picture of you!” She saw my costume, pulled out her phone, and took a photo.

The next day I walked past in a different costume, and she wasn’t at her table, but her handler was another friend of mine, so I went over to say hi. Just as I got there, Karen popped up from behind the table (she had been bent over, getting something out of her bag), her eyes got big, and she said, “Oh, hi, there!” My (handler) friend introduced us and said I was the big pumpkin guy from the day before. She was a delight, and it was really nice to meet her.