I’ve met a couple of cool celebrities over the years. It’s a weird experience seeing a famous person up-close. They always look…different. Surprisingly, only one celeb I ever met acted like a total dickhead, most of the other ones just seemed like normal folks for the most part.
These AskReddit users offered up their celebrity encounters for us to devour. Do you have any of your own? Let us know in the comments!
1. Walter White
I was fortunate enough to meet Bryan Cranston once whilst on holiday in Vegas. I was a bit fanboyish and blurted: “It’s Heisenberg!”He turned to me and then immediately, his facial expression went angry. He walked straight up to me and actually yelled: “How dare you call me out like that…if people knew who I was, I wouldn’t be in this business… next time you call me out like that be ready for a barrel” Then he smiled and starting laughing and we ended up talking for about 10mins or so about Breaking Bad. Gave me an autograph, I was so happy. Asked him if he wanted to join a few of us for a drink but he politely declined as he was waiting for his woman and daughter.
2. Robin Williams
I met Robin Williams when he was in my city filming a movie. On his day off he randomly showed up at a children’s hospital and did the whole Patch Adams thing. He was an amazing person.
3. Harry Potter
Met Daniel Radcliffe at pub in Dublin. Really nice dude. I told him I like his work and he thanked me then introduced me to his friends. Chatted for a little about life and let him be.
4. Drew Carey
Met Drew Carey a few years ago outside a fancy hotel in DC.
I spotted him and nicely asked for a photo. He said not now, but he would return in 10. He came right up to me 10 minutes later and took the photo, made a few jokes with my camera, shook my hand, asked me my name and had a nice small convo.
Class act Mr. Carey.
5. Green Day
I think I’ve posted this before but here goes: In 2005 when I was 19, and had a really bad stutter, I met Green Day. Tre Cool pointed and laughed in my face, mimicked my stutter, said “Freak out much??!” and just walked off when I tried to talk to him.
Cut to 2014, Green Day again in town, a friend and I decide to go bowling. Walk into bowling alley on street I live in, and are completely surprised to discover Green Day are in there bowling. I walk up to bar to get a drink, Tre Cool also walks up to bar, and says hi to me. I think “Screw it” and say “Hi, you know I met you a decade ago when I had a bad stutter, and you mocked me for it, so check it out, no stutter now!” He apologised and said that he knows he was a jerk back then, he probably thought I was so in awe of him that I couldn’t talk, apologised several times, and gave me an AAA pass for the gig the next day, and said come hang out tomorrow so I can prove I’m not an arsehole. So yeah, well and truly accepted that apology and no longer think the guy is a jerk.
6. Han Solo
I served Harrison Ford ice cream once. He was very polite but stern-looking. He kept his head low like he just wanted to get his cone and GTFO before anyone realized who he was, so I obliged by doing my best not to freak out.
7. Keanu
Went to see Keanu Reeves’s band play the Viper Room in the 90s before the joint shut down. My friend’s older brother knew the management so we got to stick around after the show. I got to talk to Keanu for a couple of minutes, the dude was chill as heck, exactly like you’d think.
As we were leaving the venue, we all exited through the same door and Keanu saw this homeless guy begging for change outside. He walked up to him and gave him a wad of cash and handed him his coat just like that. My gut tells me the coat wasn’t cheap either, it looked expensive. This was during winter and I remember it being pretty cold even for LA.
God tier class act, been a huge fan since that night.
8. Shaq Attaq
I met Shaq at the Cheesecake Factory in Sacramento shortly after he invested in the Kings. It was my brother’s bday and he said “what?! Happy birthday little man! shakes his hand Hey! Get my new friend here some cheesecake!” and he shook the rest of our hands and went on his way. Incredibly nice guy. And huge.
9. Robin Williams, part 2
When I was younger, my grandmother and I ran into Robin Williams eating alone in a Whole Foods. We approached him and introduced ourselves and he immediately cleared a space for us to sit and chat with him. I was pretty young at the time, so he spent most of the time trying to make me laugh by doing voices. I may have been too young to truly appreciate it at the time, but looking back I can easily say it’s one of the greatest moments of my life and Robin has always had a special spot in my heart because of it.
10. Ziggy Stardust
Met David Bowie once.
Was torn between melting into a frothing mess and pretending I was cool with it all.
I’m sure it showed, I have 0 poker face skills. I handed him the papers he came in for. He paused, smiled at me ever so slightly and wished me a good day.
I don’t think I breathed the entire time he was there, I was so tightly wound. Can’t even remember if I said anything. I just remember the pause and kinda-smile.
11. Snoop
Met Snoop in an airport. he was really nice, but i could tell he was trying to keep a low profile. so he talked to me for about ten minutes, one of his YUGE body guards came out of the woodwork and offered to take a picture to get me to scram. took the picture and left him alone. really nice guy though. also, extremely long pinky finger nail.
12. Vice Prez
Joe Biden came to speak at my school and then stayed to shake everyone’s hand and talk to them. Guy was literally awesome. He is exactly what you would expect.
After taking a picture with him I saw my friend in line and waited with her so we could go to the dining hall afterwards. We get up and Joe asks me if I saw him before? I said yeah I was just waiting for my friend.
He looked at her and said “I don’t blame you if I was her friend I would be waiting for her too.” and proceeds to tell my friend how she should let me take her out on a date. It was hilarious and an awesome experience.
13. Leo
One day Leonardo DiCaprio came in with who I assumed at the time was his mother. This was the summer after Titanic had come out. He came in during a very slow time of the day when usually nobody was there (around 2pm). He was wearing a ball cap, had a beard, shades, etc. In 2016 we’ve seen a barrage of pictures of Leo all scruffy but back then I think most people wouldn’t recognize him when he wasn’t all clean shaven like Jack Dawson.
He sat in my section and I served chips and salsa at his table and asked for their drink order. That previous winter I had worked at a movie theater and I had seen Titanic about a billion times so I knew who he was almost instantly. I tried not to make a big deal about it but I’m sure he noticed I recognized him. He looked up at me and he said “Yup, it’s me Jack.” I told him I had enjoyed Titanic a lot and that I was a fan. He politely asked to keep the fact he was there on the down low because he just wanted to enjoy his lunch in peace. I told him “Don’t worry man I got your back.” and didn’t mention it to anybody until after he left. When I went to clean up his table he’d left a $100 bill as a tip and wrote “our little secret” on the receipt. I told all the other employees and nobody believed me, the manager ended up pulling the security footage to try and confirm it. One of the waitresses was so pissed at me because she was in love with him (I’m sure most young women were after Titanic). Another class act in my book.
14. Kanye
I’ve said this before but I met Kanye at the Montreal airport back in the days between his College Dropout and Graduation Late Registration album. So he was known, but not as famous as he is today.
We we’re at the same gate. It was an odd day like a Tuesday or something so it wasn’t really full. We we’re both flying to New York, I was with my parents. I came up and said hey and he was very cool about it. We spoke about music mostly, he asked what I was listening to and what was my favorite sports team. He even made me listen to some of his favorite tracks. All in all maybe a 15 minutes convo.
I was 15 back then and even though people always seem to give him shit, I can’t really shake the feeling of that young and chill upcoming artist he gave when we met a decade ago.
Maybe the fame got to him, maybe it’s just his persona.
Also, very soft hands.
15. Darth Vader
James Earl Jones is very gracious and at times even a bit humble. Really nice man.
16. Sandra Bullock
Helped Sandra Bullock at a clothing store I used to work at find shoes for her and her son Louie. She absolutely glowed. Wonderful woman. Would suggest meeting her. So nice. Cute kid. 10/10 would help try on shoes again.
17. Robin Williams, part 3
Saw Robin Williams at an ice cream shop. I was on vacation. I got my ice cream and went outside to eat, and then he came out with his and actually sat down at my table. We talked for a solid 45mins. Best day of my life.
18. Marilyn Manson
I met Marilyn Manson (emo 16-year-old me’s hero) and he let me pet his cat while I freaked out about getting to meet him. He’s nowhere near as scary in person as his persona or stage character. He’s actually very sweet and somewhat shy. He really didn’t know how to handle a young girl absolutely bawling tears of joy just from his presence, haha. He also picked up my sister for a picture because we couldn’t get both him (roughly 6’2″) and my sister (roughly 4″10″) together in frame.
Overall he’s a really chill guy!
19. The Fresh Prince
I used to work in a coffee shop and had a second job in a restaurant when I lived in LA a few years back. I got to meet Will Smith who was a complete sweetheart with a loud ass booming laugh. Eddy Murphy who would order the same drink, was always very kind but would come in with a different girl every time. Vin Diesel who was really nice and courteous. It was especially nice seeing him enjoying some time with his family, his kids were so cute and well behaved! And Christine Taylor( Ben Stiller’s wife) who I talked to about 10 or 15 mins about tea. She was the absolute nicest person ever!
20. Tony Hawk
I met Tony Hawk while I was working at Congress and some lobby was bringing him in to do meet and greets with congressional staffers. It was kind of a weird experience. I don’t think that this will surprise everyone, but he was basically a teenager in a 40 year-old’s body. We asked him if the meet and greets were the only thing he was doing that day and he said he had actually just come from a middle school, where he did some kind of speaking event for the students. He said it was funny because a student asked him how much money he made and his response was basically, “I don’t know, dude, I have people that handle that.” It was very odd because it made him seem very out of touch with reality, but in the most innocent way–like a teenager who recognizes they need money to pay for stuff, but not the actual value of any money they acquire.
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