Celebrities You've Exchanged Fleeting Glances With

[buffcoat]

I saw Michael Jordan on the golf course, driving his cart like a maniac back down the 11th fairway towards the clubhouse (we were about to tee off on the 11th).  A 6'6" guy in dark red long shorts and dark red shirt cuts quite a figure, as you would imagine.  In addition to him being one of the most famous people on the planet.

[Dan B]

Uma Thurman, at the Whitney. I stared at her, trying to place her, then moved on quickly once I realized she was a genuine A-list sleb. She seemed bemused - or at least not hostile.

My brother and I saw her looking at a Realty office window near Washington Square Park.  We waited to see if it was her around the corner and then while she was walking behind us my brother made some remark about us acting like stupid tourists. When he turned around, she was laughing or smiling at us.  Then we went on a date with her.

[gravy boat]

I was walking out of a restaurant holding a pizza box once, and I see these two kids followed by their, I suppose, moms coming in.  I hold the door open.  The kids rush past. The first lady, no eye contact with me, goes past. Holy moly, it's every guy my age's high school dream girl -- Phoebe Cates.  I just stare at her.  The other lady then comes through the door and says "thanks."  I turn to look at her and she's got this mischevious smile on her face, with huge dimples, as if she was saying "Busted -  you were just thinking about the pool scene in Fast Times."  It was Laura Linney.

[Laurie]

Elijah Wood, Paris Hilton (does she count as a celebrity?), Lindsay Lohan, Cynthia Nixon, Tim from LSF, one of the douches from Vampire Weekend, Paul Rudd (I melted), and... does Jarvis Cocker count? He's the one who made eye contact with ME! From stage! And he maintained it for 30 seconds, while I stood frozen with my hand over my heart, and he sang, "Girls like it too," and I will never stop telling this story.

[Gilly]

I've talked to a lot of athletes at ballgames. When I was 10 or so I offered Mickey Hatcher some Dots candy but he politely declined and he talked to my dad for awhile. Baseball is still the one sport where players are pretty accessible for the most part. When I was in high school, the Twins were really bad so my friends bought 1 dollar tickets and moved down to first row right in front of the bullpen and talked to some of the players sometimes. But, the Twins were really, really awful so none of them can really be called celebrity. I think Eddie Guardado was in the bullpen that year and Rick Aguielera for a couple months before he was traded. Latroy Hawkins was starting that year but it would have been fun if he was in the bullpen because he's known to be kind of a joker.

[erika]

Oh and Jon Stewart. I was at a taping but for some reason I yelled something out in the crowd (before the show) and he laughed. I made Jon Stewart laugh! Yay.

[yesno]

Crispin Glover

Grote

[Laurie]

Ha ha, Grote, too. And Aasiv Mandvi. But those were actual conversations and stuff. Not so fleeting!

[Regular Joe]

I got to chit-chat for a little while with Doug Benson and Jon Benjamin (on separate unrelated occasions) at the Bumbershoot festival here in Seattle a few years back. Other heroes of comedy that I said "you're awesome" to as I was passing by (but didn't speak to directly) were David Cross, Dana Gould and Aziz Ansari. For a comedy fan living out here where comedy dares not tread, it was like a dream with all the best cameos I could imagine.

To be clear, I didn't go seeking these people like some stalker comedy fan, but literally just bumped into them among the crowds. It was madness.

[todd]

I had a conversation with Bono once!

[jamesp]

Michael Musto. Pretty sure he was checking me out on the street in SoHo.

(I'm not really worth checking out.)

And I was thinking, Michael Musto!! I love reading his columns!! But I really didn't want my enthusiasm to register on my face in any way whatsoever. An amusing moment.

Whenever I hear Spike call into the show, I always immediately think he looks like a fatter, shorter version of Michael Musto.

[Beth]

I used to live in Soho, and worked in this store called Girlprops. I rang up Rose McGowan one day. She was actually really pretty and very nice. Great skin. I think she was in the store with one of the Zappa children, but I can't remember which one.

Also exchanged glances with William Dafoe in the West Village. And a few weeks ago, I was in Manhattan and locked eyes with the fabulous Bernadette Peters coming out of Starbucks. Swoon.

[noise.light]

- Michael Score from A Flock of Seagulls at the very first concert I ever attended.  My Dad was standing nearby and snapped a photo of him waving at me.  It was great because after he waved I immediately looked around to see if anyone noticed my awesome moment.  It was thrilling for 12-year-old New Wave me.

- Bill Murray.  I was walking around Manhattan and saw him emerge from a vintage poster store with a beautiful woman.  I stopped in my tracks and inhaled sharply.  He saw me and imitated my reaction mouthing the words, "I knooooow!"

- Martha Plimpton.  She clearly did not want to be recognized so I moved along.

- Patti Smith's daughter.  I was sitting on some steps with friends and Patti Smith walked by with her young (7 or 8-ish) daughter hanging onto her.  My friends and I just watched her walk by and the daughter saw us all looking and smiled.

[jbissell]

- Bill Murray.  I was walking around Manhattan and saw him emerge from a vintage poster store with a beautiful woman.  I stopped in my tracks and inhaled sharply.  He saw me and imitated my reaction mouthing the words, "I knooooow!"

I'm pretty sure I'd pass out if that happened to me.

[yesno]

joe queer