Be Excellent To Each Other

As per title.

Was watching series 3 of the US Celebrity Apprentice the other day and thinking about when we briefly met Sharon Osbourne at Gordon Ramsays restaurant in New York and what a complete plum she was. We also briefly met Piers Morgan and his now wife Celia at the same time who seemed nice and happy to meet the public and then we also talked to Jean Baptiste, GR's famous Maitre D from the F Word series, who was an absolutely lovely and charming fella and he even took us around the kitchens for a tour and a piccy. I think the wife fell a bit in love with him (but I straightened her out )

Was just thinking who have you guys met celebrity-wise and who was the nicest and the nastiest you met?

Siouxsie is wonderful and despite her media reputation for being an Ice Queen she's one of the warmest and most friendly people I've ever met.

Lauren Laverne was quite nice too but was a little busy filming the last ever CD:UK when I met her.

Roisin Murphy of Moloko wasn't particularly nice when I met her. Seemed to be largely looking over my head or shoulder as if I was completely unimportant.

Toyah Willcox smiled for the camera but became a scowl face immediately afterwards. I'd been a fan for most of my life but when I met her she seemed horribly fake. Maybe it was just a bad day but still.

I'm not a fan of Top Gear and James May has always seemed a bit aloof and a bit of a cock to me.

I met him this summer and I was proven wrong. He was a genuinely nice guy who seemed interested in what people were saying to him.

I 'met' Morrissey outside Bispham Police Station. I was, for some reason, walking home from school early on my own. I was walking up a big hill and he was coming down it (possibly with some stone tablets). I immediately clocked that it was him or someone going complete out of there way to look like him -tall,big chin,quiff same clothes. I acted all nonchalantly and tried not to stare until we were about to pass, upon which I gave him quick look, upon which he smiled. It turned out he was playing Blackpool that night so that would explain his presence in a unassuming part of Lancashire.

Growing up in Blackpool exposed me (although thankfully not in the legal sense) to many "light entertainers" of the day. I have passed pleasantries with Sid Little, Andrew O'conner (of Chain Letters fame), and most memorably Frank Carson. His face was like one of those Richard Nixon rubber masks bank robbers wear, always fixed in the same slightly unnatural expression.

The most interaction I have had with a 'celebrity' is our current Prime Minister. Dave was visiting Lancaster for some meeting and greeting a few months before the election. I found myself walking down the main high street whilst he was there, attracting sizable (for Lancaster) crowds. I noticed that he was surprisingly tall and orange. He was also very clearly posh. As I made my way up the street he somehow kept appearing in front of me, stunting my progress by shaking strangers' hands in my path. This gave me the opportunity to hear him say the same things to four or five separate people:

1) He was left handed
2) Obama is also left handed
3) He and Obama are therefore alike

I did momentarily consider popping into Smiths to buy a rolled up Private Eye to hit him with, but instead carried on past him. I expressed my opinion to Mimi chum of how pathetic this approach was, that it mattered little what hand he wrote with and it was disappointing to hear him desperately trying to liken himself to Obama on the slightest pretext when it was clear that they had nothing in common at all. I asked, very much out loud, whether he was going to be filmed having a few games at the Morcombe Super Bowl to show how 'down' he was with the man on the street, and how I thought his whole "act" was "pathetic".

He had of course turned around and begun to carry on walking up the street the moment I had passed him, and the now painful arm tugging I was receiving made me aware of his presence. We made eye contact. We both stopped. He raised his finger, opened his mouth and, scowling slightly....exhaled and walked into an estate agency.

Smash the system!

I guess my best one is Linford Christie (in about 1989/1990) My school used to use the facilities at the Queen Mother Sports Center for indoor games, and swimming.

One day, as we were coming out, Linford Christie was there, signing autographs. Now, during the day, one of my friends had managed to wedge the lid on his pen, and none of us could pull it off. So, we decided to ask Mr Christie if he would use that pen to sign something for us... He took it really well, and thought we were trying to trick him. We assured him we were not, and the lid was really stuck, and none of us could remove it. He couldn't remove the lid, but was a really good sport and I had a new found respect for him after that.

Malc

Oh, I had some good banter with Stev Redgrave during the boat show at Earls Court (possibly olympia?) in 1994.

He had posted a time on a rowing machine, connected to a tv screen making it look like you were rowing down the Thames (I think). Anyone who could beat that time would win some good stuff. I had a go, and despite falling off the seat twice, was within 1 second of his time. He was mightily impressed, and said if I wanted to do rowing I'd have a good chance of doing well, if I could stay in the boat! He was very down to earth, and had a good sense of humour.

Malc

I remember meeting Roy Walker (from catchphrase) in Blackpool brannigans about 15 years ago.

I went up to him and said "don't I know you from somewhere? Are you off the tv?"
He said "yeah "
"Oh I know" I replied "you're that Jim Bowen fella aren't you!"
To which I simply got "Fuck off sonny"

Miserable git!

I first read that as Roy Castle - the sweary child hater.

I'm with Roy Walker. It must be infuriating when idiots approach you every day of your life and say 'BURRGH, DO I KNOW YOU FROM TV?'.

Yes, in slight defence of celebrities, if I met a film star or someone that I liked, and they just ignored me or whatever, I couldn't start to hate them, since they don't really owe me anything.

Saying that, I hate rudeness, still it's unreasonable to expect every celebrity ever to always be cheery and sign every autograph ever thrust at them.

My colleague at work met some bloke off Big Brother once, and apparently he was rude and horrible, and she said she wished she hadn't voted for him at the time, and that he should have been nicer because he "owed her".

Obviously I just laughed. Also at her counting some twat off BB as a celebrity.

Where do I begin?

I'll do a top few nicest and not-so-nicest from the upper reaches of the star pyramid.

Decent folk:

Gene Simmons
Ozzy Osbourne
Marilyn Manson
Chuck D
Tom Morello
Kate Moss
Robbie Williams
Lemmy


Knobs:

Sharon Osbourne
Flavour Flav
Robb Flynn
Lars Ulrich (though sadly this was on the phone so I was probably pissed off he couldn't introduce me to his wife)
Not properly famous like the rest but Tim Lovejoy
L7

You'll have to tell us why Chuck D is in one half and Flav is in the other (apart from the obvious). I presume you met them together?

Yeah. Mr. D was quiet, polite and fist-bumped me, whilst Mr. Flav was a flappy attention whore. Watch any video and extrapolate form that what you'd imagine the pair of them to be like to spend ten minutes in a corridor with, there's your mental reconstruction.

As demonstrated to me by a heavily tattooed, green dreaded, metal guitarist in the late nineties, you go to get on your bus after a gig, there's screaming fans effectively outside your bedroom door. This is Glasgow. The next morning, you wake up and climb out of bed and open the door, you are now in Wolverhampton, and some of the screaming fans are the same. Maybe not so much actors and that but for a touring musician, 'FUCK OFF' is literally the only way you are going to get some peace and quiet when conscious.

(I made him come outside and be nice to said fans later on, bless him he was sharing spliffs round them and making their year).

Well..quite.

Aye, met a few metal dudes. Justin Broadrick and Michael Gira (phone, sadly). Machine Head in 1997. Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly from Neurosis. Skinlab, Entombed, Pulkas, One Minute Silence, Korn, Paradise Lost, Bruce Dickinson (twice).

And Mick Foley. I may have mentioned it in the wrestling thread, but I got him to sign the VHS cover for Mind Games (him vs Shawn Michaels, Sept 1996). He looked dreamily at the pic and sighed 'good match'.

Also various Emmerdale people from when I worked there. Patsy, most Dingles, the delectable Verity Rushworth... oh and Lorraine Chase, who may have the strongest handshake I have ever experienced.

Heh, Entombed. I used to buy ***** of their **** back in the day, when he lived with ****** ***** out of ********. Lovely guys, though naturally one remembers LG Petrov for his irrepressable frontmantics. I have some minidiscs or dats somewhere with idents Monkey and Head from Korn did when they bought a load of time on my old radio show once to plug their shitty album. Idents never went my way. This PR place was supposed to get me Tori Amos talking about 'curling up in bed on a Sunday night' with me and what I got was Saffron from Republica trying to purr and sounding like she was hocking up a wad of phlegm.

I've met Bruce Dickinson. Sort of. In terms of queuing at a rock cafe for an autograph after an excellent acoustic set. Shook his hand, though. Adrian Smith and Roy Z were there, too. Bruce didn't really communicate.

It's pretty meaningless to judge people based on these encounters, though. 'You're famous, therefore I can talk to you' is pretty meaningless. Unless it's their job to be famous like people from X Factor or something, I suppose. What I remember of that night was the awesome concert, not 'meeting someone famous'. It's not what it's about, man.

edit: When I was 16 I went to an after show party for Black Sabbath (I was in the fan club). Turned out Tony Iommi and Geezer didn't go to these things, so it was only Tony Martin, Geoff Nicholls and (forgettable 80s Rainbow drummer) Bobby Rondinelli there. Some people would have felt short changed, but I wasn't really bothered. The show was a bit meh, in retrospect, although it was my first concert and loved it at the time. Turned out Tony Martin had the flu.

Lemme see now .....

Firstly, Barry Witwam, who was the drummer with Herman's Hermits in the 60s, but then my bro-in-law knew him quite well and had played in Manchester bands around that time. Nice bloke. Really a hair dresser by trade. Only met him a few times and once lent him a shot gun to go rabbiting.

Second; Helen Shapiro, in her dressing room after a gig about 30 years ago. My sis-in-law was a friend of hers after joining her fan club in the 60s and meeting her on many occasions. Also very friendly and not stuck up in any way.

Third; Jan Leeming. She was guest chairperson at an event my office was hosting at Haydock Park about 20 years ago. I had to write her introduction to the event and she delivered it as though she was an expert on the subject (Open Learning) and was very professional throughout. I was her minder for the rest of the day and she was genuinely interested in what we were doing.

Forth; John Squire (lead guitarist with the Stone Roses). He and his GF lived next door to us for three or four years before the Roses became huge. Quiet bloke, always very pleasant, even when he had to clean our kitchen after work he was doing renovating HIS kitchen caused ours to be covered in plaster dust.

Fifth; Ian Brown (singer with the Stone Roses and now solo artist, of course). Bit of a scally, but OK. Met him many times in the early days of the Roses and once helped him move a second hand fridge into his flat in Chorlton (once again, before they were earning megabucks.)

John Peel, old friend of the family. He was a extraordinarily funny man and exactly the same as he was on the radio and tv in real life.

I worked with Jo Guest in about 2001 at the millenium dome whilst doing a quake 3 challenge (she was there as some eye candy) I thought she was really bitchy when not actually working, just rude and all me, me, me. Everyone else was all gaga over, but i didn't even think she looked pretty...

Malc

Yeah, 1997? Did he do Tears of the Dragon and Children of the Damned?

We've done this thread before I think. Anyway, Jason Manford, Paul Sinha and Alan Carr are all very nice people. The latter was even nice after I died absolutely horribly at one of his gigs. Mick Miller is an absolute gentleman. Paddy McGuinness is a cock, and still can't recognise when you are being sarcastic at him.

Mrs P met Rudy Guiliani at a book signing in Manchester - after a brief chat, he asked her where he could go for a coffee. She pointed him towards a back exit of the bookstore. He grinned and said somethng like "well, lets see if I can get some privacy" and slipped away. Cue panic from the Secret Service agents as they temporarily lost him and she got some stern looks as they bundled past after him.

My daughter knows Jason Manford. Was at the same school and in the same year.

This wins the thread!

I've met:

When I was about twelve walking around Hemel, I was stood at the side of a road waiting to cross. A guy on crutches was stood next to me, I glanced at him, he looked at me and smiled. I crossed the road and all the while I'm thinking "I know him from somewhere" it was only a few minutes later that I realised it was John Barnes. I ran round town after that looking for him. Never did see him again.

Tarrie B and Rico from Manhole in '96 (yes, before Tura Satana and My Ruin). Tarrie was pissed at Rico and wasn't chatting to anyone. Rico was ace and we talked for ages.

Fear Factory at an instore signing in Glasgow around the time of Demanufacture. Also met Drain STH (remember them? Zio will) on the same day. They were all really nice.

I've served Goldie and Vinnie Jones in Hemel Blockbuster. Goldie is awesome! One of the nicest people I've met. He came in the store one day and a guy I was working with asked to have a go in his Porsche. So Goldie threw him his keys while he was deciding what to rent out.

Fat Pat and Kathy from Eastenders in Virgin in Watford. Also Fearne Cotten (not that I knew 'til after she'd left, I didn't really care either). Also served Martin Kemp a few times, he's nice if a little quiet. I never saw him on the days I took my Spandau Ballet albums in.

Colin Edwin (bassist for Porcupine Tree) was a close neighbour for a few years and signed heaps of PT albums for me, he even got Steven Wilson to sign them too, which was nice. He's moved now but still lives fairly close by, so every now and again I see him in Sainsbury's.

Arch Enemy (Wages of Sin tour) a couple of times. Angela is fucking rude and just hid away on the bus, the rest of the band are really lovely and shared their JD and pizza with us after a show.

Dave Gibbons (co-creator of Watchmen) lives locally and frequents my local comic shop, so I've met him a bunch of times.

At book signings I've met Bret Hart, Warwick Davis, Dita Von Teese, Paul Gascoigne, Charlie Adlard (illustrator on The Walking Dead), Guillermo del Toro and Alan Moore.

At a poetry reading earlier this year, I met Amber Tamblyn and David Cross

At conventions I've met:

Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Weismann (George McFly in BTTF II), Ricky Dean Logan (BTTF II), Darrick Robertson (co-creator of The Boys), Tom Sizemore, Steve Davis, Dennis Taylor and Nicole deBoer.

Star Wars cast members that I've met at conventions:

Ray Park (Darth Maul)
Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca)
Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett)
Daniel Logan (baby Boba - AoTC)
Caroline Blakiston (Mon Mothma)
Tim Rose (Salacious B. Crumb & Admiral Ackbar)
Kenny Baker (R2-D2)
Dave Prowse (Darth Vader)
Mike Edmonds (Logray)
Richard Bonehill (Nien Nunb)
Gerard Home (Squidhead) (He was also Mr. Muscle in those adverts for oven cleaner)
Paul Blake (Greedo)
Gary Kurtz (producer on Empire Strikes Back)
Chris Muncke (Captain Khurgee) (It turns out he was actually my sister's teacher when she was in junior school)
Garrick Hagon (Biggs)

I've also met various band members at their gigs as well as those of others, but I really can't remember who.

Favourite that I've met: Would have to be a toss up between Goldie for the afore-mentioned reason; Ray Park, simply because he's fucking awesome; Daniel Logan for the same reason; Jeremy Bulloch, because he always makes time for everyone. It doesn't matter how busy he is, he will chat for ages and involves everyone around him and Amber Tamblyn, for declaring her love to me.

Least favourite that I've met: Tom Sizemore for being a fat cokehound and just grunting at me; Kenny Baker was rude and grumpy but then he is fucking old, quite deaf, can't walk and has stumpy fingers and David Cross, simply because he's engaged to Amber Tamblyn.

Does that man EVER stop smiling?

When I walk up to him, maybe. otherwise, no.

I remember when they were just called Drain. Hottest Alice In Chains ever.

So do I. They had to change it when they went to America.

To be fair, she was working as eye candy for a Quake 3 challenge. I imagine she wasn't exactly in the best of moods with regard to the state of her career, there.

In 1996/1997 Grifff Rhys Jones filmed an episode of bookworm in the Internet cafe where I was working, he was alright, polite and whatever, but he did keep himself to himself, and looked like he didn't want to be there, and was critical of the coffee...


Malc

I was once good friends with a girl that went out with RICK-AAAAH off EastEnders. He was quite a laugh, although it was a bugger trying to go out anywhere because everyone would want to talk to him.

I've met Kevin Spacey at a party (or someone that sounded just like him, some Beexers will know the story), he was funny and properly drunk. I saw Lily Allen's second or third UK concert in a small bar and spoke to her at the bar afterward - and borrowed her lighter. Jimmy Carr is just a ridiculously nice guy. Derren Brown was fairly cool but obviously in a hurry, Jimmy White is short, Anneka Rice likes Wheetus (specifically Teenage Dirtbag), The Duke of Edinburgh likes Basement Jaxx (specifically Bingo Bango). Just last month I had a brief chat with Chris Moyles in a pub garden, and we decided that we don't look alike - we're both just fat men with beards.

I've met a whole load of Club DJs - Tong, Seb Fontaine, Fab and Groovy, Teisto (couldn't understand a fucking word he said), Lottie and suchlike.

And, finally, and bestly, I spoke to Holly Willoughby a few times. She's best. I loves her.

Internet coffee is a perfectly fine beverage.

Dude...
What about Steve Corino and Al Snow?

Fair point, I think she was well paid for it mind, it was very, very well financed.

Eurogamer review of it here: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/battletop_uk1

Bloody Hell it was 11 years ago!

Malc

Eurogamer were about eleven years ago?

Ah, he used to play snooker, at the place opposite where I grew up, he often parked his car, on the road below our living room window. I think my brother spoke to him a few times, and was alright.

I went to Steve Backley's Dad's Pub for a Christmas meal once, I don't think Steve was there, or maybe he was for a few minutes, but he had to go to training. (my dad was good friends with his dad)

Malc

I remember when it was started by members of (I think EED - Eat Electric Death) and it was a big rival to Barrysworld, I didn't think much of it, as it had a Q2 influence, which I wasn't fond of, being from a qw background (the camps merging a bit with q3). For that reason I don't really go there for gaming information, unless I follow a link...

Malc

I haven't met a single famous person. I walked past Britney Spears on the street once, apparently, but didn't notice her. Ditto Adam Sandler.

Sod! I fucking love Britney.

Have I ever mentioned my days as a wrestling referee? Well... pull up a chair, this could take a while....

I've met loads of wrestlers and the majority of them are really nice, polite people if a little, shall we say.. unhinged.

Masato Tanaka didn't speak much English but was happy to show off the massive bag of cocaine he had in his suit case. The Sandman is proper bonkers. Raven is pretty funny and took a shine to me because I looked like a friend of his from America. Al Snow is very polite and knows a lot about how to make a good match work for the crowd. Goldust was a little spaced out and was very big. Bret Hart was a genuine class act and seemed very laid back. Jeff Jarrett kept himself to himself but wanted to entertain the crowd in the best way possible. Hacksaw Jim Duggan was loud. The Blue Meanie ate more pizza than I've every seen anyone ever eat. Rhyno liked swearing. Abyss smokes and was suffering from jet lag. C.M Punk was cool and was happy to talk tattoos with me. Christian Cage was very well dressed... and I went clubbing with Chris Jericho in Bristol. He almost had a fight with a guy who kept asking him about different wrestlers. "What's Hulk Hogan really like? How about Kevin Nash? What about Eric Bischoff? What about Vince McMahon?... etc, etc"

I've also met Jason Donovan who was really nice and Chris Shiflett from the Foo Fighers who is actually quite small.

AND.... I've been hit on the head by Timmy Mallets mallet.

Readingthis on my phone so can't look back easily, who was the one who mentioned going to school with Jason manford? He's from my town, which school was it and where do you live?

Daley Thomson used to go out with the girl next door, and came round for tea.

Barron Knights used to come into the nursing home that my mum worked at.

Two of the dwarves from the seven dwarves reality show were at the coach station last week.


Beat that, beexers...

Jeremey Beadle lived in the flats opposite mine, and Lionel Blair used to be seen walking past my primary school.

Malc

Forgot, bff met Danny Dyer last month at a club. He sat with her for the whole night and was "wonderful and gorgeous and funny and handsome and and and" "you do realize he was trying to get into your pants right?" "oh fuck!! he was wasn't he shitshitshitshit!!"

Went to a competition winner thing with APOD a month or two back to have dinner with Graeme Swann. He was a great laugh, pretty much like you'd expect, and was happy to answer questions truthfully and not stick to 'sanitised' answers.

I interviewed Fountains of Wayne waaaay back in the day. They were very nice. Oh, and the singer from Athlete is a friend of a friend, and a lovely chap.

My "famous people" list is pretty crappy, actually.

I met Glen Michael of Cartoon Cavalcade fame (will mean nothing to you unless you're Scottish and over thirty). He came to the Cowdenbeath Gala when I was about 5 and happily agreed to having his photo taken with me.

Kirsty Wark, whose production company I worked for briefly while at university, seemed nice enough when I met her, but I think she'd much rather have been interviewing someone famous than shaking my hand and saying hello.

David Steel appeared to have the attention span of a gnat, in spite of being a nice enough bloke, and caused me great distress by disappearing to the toilet when I was trying to get him onto the stage for a live TV programme.

Nancy "Bart Simpson" Cartwright seemed to be a nice lady when I saw her signing books in a Dublin book store. It is, however, freaky as hell listening to Bart Simpson's voice coming out of a middle-aged woman's mouth.

I won't even mention Dave Prowse, as I'm sure every Briton of a certain age had him visit their school.

Blimey, what a terrible list. FAMOUS FAIL.

I've worked at A TV studio, radio station and theatre before now so met famous people all the time, most of them boring and I can't be bothered listing them. However, I really don't like Fern Britton.

How come?

I've just remembered that I've been drinking with Fred Dibnah. He liked to talk, but was a fairly interesting chap.