What is the weirdest celebrity sighting or encounter you have had?

I've met a number of celebrities, but the weirdest sighting I had was sometime in the late 90s early 2000s. I was crossing Hollywood Blvd with a friend and this huge, black SUV was trying to turn left off of Highland onto Hollywood. They were going pretty fast and obviously not paying attention, because the vehicle came to a screeching halt just before hitting us. I turned in shock and anger, ready to yell at the driver, but as I looked through the windshield, I saw Dennis Rodman at the wheel.

I paddled a canoe with Rumor Willis (not a euphemism).

aziz ansari in the pasta isle at whole foods and i said "hey"

Carrot Top when i was walking past and a donut shop in NY and i go "hey thats carrot top" and he goes "hey"

- Met Bekele testing out his new shoes with the sub2 team, a couple days prior to 2017 VLM. Was not very talkative.

- Met Kipchoge twice doing shakeouts w his squad just before VLM 2019 and VLM 2018 (both obscenely early)

- Came across Susan Krumins when cycling to work, the day after her London 2017 World Champs race

- Doing a cool down in Belfast, couple days after Armagh 5K this year I ran past Stephen Scullion walking in Ormeua park w his sister, I did a quadruple-take as I couldn't believe it was him. He came over for a quick chat when he saw my reaction. Really nice guy, asked me loads of questions about myself so I barely got to say anything you think you would when you meet someone you look up to like that. Very weird.

About 12 years ago, I was on a work trip and was flying business class to Amsterdam. After the dinner service they dimmed the lights so people could get some sleep. As I was trying to doze off, a super tan guy in a white muscle shirt kept walking up and down the aisle using the seat backs to steady himself. Of course, every time he touched my seat back, he would wake me from my light sleep. He does this for a couple of hours. Finally the plane lands in Amsterdam and the flight attendant gets on the intercom and tells everyone to remain seated as they need to bring on a wheelchair to help a passenger off the plane. While a couple hundred passengers wait, they wheel the chair in and muscle shirt guy sits down in it. As they wheel past me, I realize it is Tony Curtis. Clearly he could walk, he just wanted off the plane first. Total dick move.

Michael Crighton: stood behind him in a buffet line in Hawaii in New Year’s Eve 1999. He was huge.

About 6 years ago, I attended a party at Sharon Stones’ house. John Goodman and James Caan we’re there chatting, and looking at me, doing that move—“where do we know him from?”, like they were trying to figure out who I was so they wouldn’t be embarrassed meeting me. It was a boring party, and Hollywood types are not my favorite, so I waited in the car for the event to end when I took people home. (I was representing a major auto company sponsoring the small event, so it was only high ranking execs, and Hollywood people, and me.

I met Bill Marx, son of Harpo Marx at a grocery store in Palm Desert and enjoyed a long conversation with him. It helped that I read his book. It was amazing getting first-hand accounts of “Uncle Groucho.” I thanked him for his time, he thanked me for pulling him away from the tomatoe soup.

My wife served Mark McGwire in 2005 at Starbucks in 05. Coincidentally, he came within inches of hitting my sister in his red corvette leaving an A’s game in 1989. He apologized to my pops and had a nice conversation.

My brother in law knocked down Steven Spielberg in the old Chapman University film department in 01. It was a long, dark corridor, he was late for class and running, turned the corner and plowed into a middle aged man. He apologized, helped him up, and looked at him, and realized who he was. Brother in law got out fast.

I met Pete Carrol once at a track and field coaching clinic. He’s a pompous jerk.

My cousin is a well-known Silicon Valley tech giant. I won’t say his name, but I couldn’t even call him if I wanted to. I’d have to call his parents or sister and relay the message. He’s nice enough, just worth $850M, so I’m not important to be on his radar since 2012.

I met Memphis Grizzlies owner Robert Pera at a conference related to the company he owns. After he gave a presentation, I came up to him and asked if he knew why the Mike Conley (who at that point was looking like a bust) -Ramon Sessions (who was looking like a rising star) trade fell through. He said he didn't know because that was during previous ownership and management.

Not me...but my fiend in college worked at the arena and was working a concert- they got access to the caterings. As he was destroying a turkey leg, he looked up to see Eddie Money staring at him in disgust.

You're all classic Starfu@kers.

Sat next to Reba Macintyre and Kelly Clarkson and their families at a pizza joint in Telluride last summer while on vacation there.

Very nice down-to-earth people.

Just going with the running theme of this site, I met a bunch of celebrity runners in the late 80s at my high school my coach was on the 1988 OG coaching staff and he was friends with a lot of elites. We had Seb Coe working out at our track for a few weeks once, and Jim Spivey used to run on our track sometimes too.

The most interesting for me was running along in the Zurich Marathon in about 2005 and looking over at this African man running next to me at about 15KM and who should it be but none other than my running hero Cosmas Ndeti. He was there as an agent/coach of one of the elites and was running part of the race for fun. I chatted with him for a few minutes-he was a really friendly guy.

Also met Dave Bedford in a bar. He made fun of me hair. Funny guy.

Not my story, but the spouse's. It's pretty good, so thought I would share it. On a business trip in 1995, and a few hours before game time he's handed a free ticket to a Lakers playoff game. The seats are 10 rows off the floor. He saw Jack Nicholson, Harry Dean Stanton, Dyan Cannon, Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan, and Denzel Washington. Went to the concession stand to grab a beer, and Rob Lowe was standing directly behind him. It was John Wooden night, so got to see him, too. It was also Game 4, and the Lakers clinched the series against Seattle. He said it was just unreal. You don't see much of that where we live.

LondonLocal wrote:

- Susan Krumins

- Stephen Scullion

I hate to break this to you, but neither of these two people are a celebrity.

I fell over on the track and when I looked up it was Kelly Holmes.

Yorkie

I've talked with: Kirk Cousins, Draymond Green, and Magic Johnson through MSU connections and lots of former pro football players.

Used to live in LA. So talked with the following celebrities on flights, public places, and grocery stores:

Steve Buscemi (nice and quiet),

Anthony Kiedis (shifty and paranoid and did not want to be noticed).

Jared Leto (short and aloof)

Amy Schumer (super nice)

Jeff Goldblum (an absolute parody of himself, very nice).

Howard Stern (did not want to be bothered)

Tiffani Amber Thiessen (saw her in the year 2000 and she was stunning in person)

John Tesh - (super big and tall, awesome person)

Jeff Schroeder - he was on the show Reality TV show Big Brother (super cool and funny)

Edward Furlong - exactly how you imagine him to be...walking down the street looking like he just woke up. Super chill and normal.

Elijah Wood - wearing sunglasses and stand-offish

Jonathan Brandis - R.I.P - met him in Florida at Disney World. The guy looked amazing in person.

Not weird but unusual to see two almost simultaneously: 2 a.m. in NYC about 30 years ago. Walked past Joan Rivers, who was walking her dog across from Central Park; she was a tiny woman. Half a block later, Rodney Dangerfield stepped out of a cab in front of us.

Okay, this is random...

Took my dad on a trip to go to the College World Series for a few days. He had always wanted to go. We were grabbing lunch at a small restaurant before one of the games and when I went to pay, I saw they had homemade cookies. I picked up a couple as a snack and this voice behind me says "Good choice. They have great cookies here."

Turned around and it was Warren Buffett. Smiling.

I think I responded with "Thanks. I'm a sucker for the homemade desserts of any kind".

Mr. Buffett: "Have you tried (whatever place it was on whatever street)? They have amazing homemade pies. Not as good as my wife makes, but still pretty darn good" (yes, he actually said darn)

Me: "No, we just got into town yesterday to watch the baseball games"

Mr. Buffett: "Oh, very nice! That is always a great time"

At this point, my dad (who was using the bathroom) walks up and Mr. Buffett says "If you'll excuse me, I want to continue this conversation, but I need to pay my bill first and stop holding up the line" and starts laughing.

We all leave the restaurant. Somehow, he and my dad start talking about growing up in the midwest (my dad in Wisconsin and Illinois) and they just hit it off. We wind up talking to him for probably 30 minutes outside the restaurant sitting on a bench in the shade.

As it was time for us to get going to the game to not miss it (and presumably him back to the office), he shakes our hands, calls us by name and says "Enjoy your time in the city. If you need anything while you are here, whether it's recommendations for places to eat or visit or want to come by the office, feel free to contact (name)" and literally reaches in his pocket, gets a pen and paper out and writes a name on a piece of paper and hands it to my dad.

Why he didn't just give us her business card, I have no idea. Turns out it this person was his personal assistant.

Okay since you asked...I’ve got a bunch more. (Some you’ll need to think about)

Oh and to the other contributor, yes Pete Carroll is a jerk.

Keep in mind over 30 years here near the Riviera Country Club in LA there are opportunities daily to have encounters. Here we go with more:

I’ve shared the church hymnal with Nancy Reagan and Dennis Quaid. Chatted often with Ray Liotta at our daughters’ dance practices.

While running Tom Hanks threw a football to his son as I intercepted it.

At Ralph’s Adam Sandler was waiting in line to return a broken coffee mug. He’s very polite and liked by all here.

In line at Gelsons with Steven Spielberg I turned and said “I’ve got a great idea for a movie. What about a little space creature that gets left behind on earth and found by some kids.” He laughed and said “You think that might a good plot?”

Also at Gelsons waiting at the deli next to Eugene Levy I asked him “do you where the pie section is?” He pointed them figured it out and laughed.

Was flying back East to see REO Speedwagon and the band was near me in first class. Upon taxiing I said to Dave Amato “It’s time for me to fly”. He laughed and Bryan Hitt then invited me to their backstage party.

In line at Starbucks at Planet Hollywood in Vegas Britney Speers was behind me in pajamas and slippers. I simply said “Good morning Britney” and from there had a nice conversation. She was extremely friendly.

Came out of the elevator in my office building and sitting on the lobby floor playing an acoustic guitar was Axl Rose. Not too talkative but we chatted a bit about the music industry.

Years ago I attended a bachelor party at Hollywood’s female mud wrestling club. Went to take a leak and noticed Tom Byron sitting at the bar. We started talking and he was buzzed telling me that he wanted to ‘f’ the girl in the yellow bikini but was nervous to speak with her. This from a guy that had banged over 5,000 girls in his career.

At Ralph’s I saw Jake ‘Body by Jake’ and in his cart had two boxes of Twinkies. I laughed and asked him if that is the secret?

Sat next to Ritz on a flight once and watched him pick the salt of his pretzels before nibbling on them. Nice guy he is.

Also nice is Bill Rodgers who bummed a ride with me to the airport after Azalea Trail Run.

In Phoenix once my friend and I saw a drunk Henry Rono take off one of his shoes in the parking lot of the hotel and just left it there.

Sat next to John Candy at a restaurant in Santa Monica. Three days later he died.

At Laker games my company had floor seats next to Lamar Odom’s three seats, who at that time were occupied by the Kardashians. The mom and Chloe were very fun and nice. The one time Kim was next to me that fat butt of hers was always on my thigh. What a pig she is.

Went to a party for the Eagles and Warren Zevon and Jeff Bridges ended up playing with my little daughter most of the evening, both claiming she was theirs.

Eating at Brentwood Country Mart near me was Lou Ferrigno and his wife. As I walked by I stopped and pretended to be star-struck and said “Are you Bill Bixby?” His wife cracked up. Lou had no sense of humor and said “Not funny.”

The first few year of being a Laker Kobe lived up the hill. I was doing hill repeats and after about 5 I noticed Kobe was out front near his cars. He commented on how strong I looked running up the hill. I thanked him then said “If I wasn’t in the middle of my workout, I’d challenge you to a game of one-on-one and I’d post you up down low.” He grinned his big smile, laughed and said “Naw man, I’ll give you one of my spin moves and knock it down.” I replied “You’re all talk.” Then we both laughed. I wished him a good day and he wished me a good workout.

And not an encounter but when I was in middle school back in Illinois, my friends older sister was a victim of the Illinois Enema Bandit.