Who Do You Know? April 28, 2008

Who Do You Know?

By Guest Contributor
April 28, 2008

Random question of the day:

Who is the most famous person you know (who would admit to knowing you back)?



[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]

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  • Hmmm…that’s an interesting question. I suppose the most famous people I know are some of my professors, several of whom are extremely well-respected in their field, even if they aren’t well-known outside of it. I suppose the most “famous” would be the mathematician Alan D. Taylor (he even has a Wikipedia page!) who is, in addition to being an amazing teacher and a great person, also known for his work in foundations of mathematics, fair division problems, and voting theory. He has an Erdös number of 1, so if I ever were to publish a paper with him, I’d be twice removed from Paul Erdös himself!

    Ooh, I just thought of another: one of the philosophy professors (whose class I took) is the wife of the brother of the Unabomber. She and her husband were the ones who figured out it was him and exposed him. In the interests of their anonymity I’ll avoid mentioning her name.

  • I kind of-sort of know Peter Frampton. My sister in law and his wife were best friends in high school, still close. So we’ve been at mutual parties, and last year we went to his New Years Eve party. He wouldn’t know me by name, but if someone said “______’s sister” he might make the connection.

  • Not sure. I’m guessing Nina Hartley is the most famous, but it might be Susie Bright or Annie Sprinkle.

    What about you, Hemant? I’m curious.

  • I don’t know anyone who is truly famous, I don’t think. I do know people who are famous within certain subcultures.

  • April

    I work for Tony La Russa, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, at his animal rescue charity in California. I don’t know much about baseball, but I do know that his involvement has saved thousands of animals’ lives and I feel truly honored to know him.

    http://www.arf.net

  • The only person even close to famous is musician Jason “Lefty” Williams .

    Great guitarist, great person. I feel privileged to know him. (for the record, he only has one hand, hence the ‘Lefty’ moniker. You’d never know it from his intricate playing, though)

    Greta Cristina: Annie Sprinkle? Coolness.

  • Colin M

    Well, PZ Myers is my Facebook friend, does that count? 😉

    I’ve met Anthony Daniels (C-3P0 in the Star Wars movies) in person; he came by to see our robotics lab for an hour or so. He wouldn’t know me by name, but he’d probably remember our lab.

  • P.S.

    Richard Elliott Friedman. We translated parts of Jeremiah and Isaiah together last year, so I certainly hope he remembers me.

  • Sam

    My great uncle was an extra in the John Waters’ film Pink Flamingos.

  • Unbeliever

    That’s easy. John Baur and Mark Summers — the creators of “Talk Like A Pirate Day”. I even knew them before they were famous… 🙂

    [Also, my friend’s friend’s baby is the latest “Erin” on the series “Lost” — but the friend’s friend doesn’t know me, so…]

  • Polly

    Not really famous, yet, but one of my oldest friends:

    Kevin Matossian Co-producer of:

    “Lost” the movie starring Dean Caine, (NOT the TV series)
    “September Dawn” starring Jon Voigt and some others from the Caine clan.

    He’s a Xian (may be a fundie, I can’t always tell)

  • Thanks Hemant, an opportunity to name drop…

    I’d have to remind him, but I once ate dinner with Herb Silverman.

    Otherwise,
    Jeff Rosenstock (ASOB, BTMI!)
    Thad Merritt (Westbound Train)

  • K

    My personal trainer was Anja Langer! That’s HUGE in my book!

    I’ve met a gazillion famous people all over the world but I don’t really KNOW them. Ok, I did know some of them in the biblical sense…not the Sumo wrestlers, just the heavy metal gods. Ok, I’m going to shut up now.

  • I once met the Black Power Ranger, Johnny Yong Bosch, in San Diego. We had a mini jam session, with me on the drums and him on the bass guitar. It was one of the most random experiences of my life.

  • I know actress Chloe Sevigny and have hung out with her several times. Chloe is very tight with my ex-girlfriend Lily Ludlow, who’s only famous in Port Chester, NY, and in the ultra-hip insider NYC art/fashion scene…

  • Why do you ask—I wonder….

  • p.s.–i also know film director jonathan demme. he’s friendly with one of my brothers and i see demme at least once a year at my brother’s super bowl party.

    i’ve also met mohammad ali and joe namath when i was a kid, but they probably wouldn’t remember me. they’d remember my dad, who was a sportswriter for the NY Daily News.

  • I went to high school and was kinda friends with Cliff Starbuck who is the bassist in Ekoostik Hookah. they probably aren’t know of much outside the midwest/Ohio area, but they have been a hugly popular hippie jam band for almost 20 years (that makes me feel old). Almost everyone I know has been to Hookahville at least once.

  • Mark Hoolihan, singer/guitarist/founder of the indie/emo band Jupiter Sunrise. He was my roommate for 2 months, and crashes on my couch whenever he or the band pass through town. I don’t really know the extent of their fame (37 thousand friends on myspace is inconclusive, being myspace, but they’ve played the Warped Tour), but ask him about “Incredible Weirdo” and he’ll tell you all about me.

  • Cindy

    My freshman year roommate (for about 3 weeks) was the stepdaughter of actor Robert Loggia. We all had dinner together one night!

  • the Shaggy

    Hrm. My aunt is the second-highest Wiccan priestess in Canada (so not famous but not… uh… unknown. Wiccans get kinda goofy when I tell them)… erm… author Robert J. Sawyer probably wouldn’t know me by name, but I met him a couple of times and shared e-mail with him and he remembered me. I also knew actor Sunny Thrasher (of My Pet Monster and the Edison Twins fame, amongst other things) for a couple of years. HE would probably remember me, if anyone knows what he’s up to.

  • The famous fisheries professor from UC Davis, Peter B. Moyle, although he might only know me by my maiden name…He’s pretty well known in California’s water world.

  • One person regularly read my blog until it mysteriously vanished, making me the most famous person I know. =D

    (No, I don’t know why my blog vanished. I get the feeling my friend’s Dreamhost account got dissolved for some reason. I bet he was hacking into government networks or something. More likely, there was just an error on the server he hasn’t bothered to fix yet. Maybe he accidentally typed “rm -rf /*” or something. Who knows?)

  • Amber

    My boyfriend talks to a lot of guys pretty well known in the tech/professional nerding field. (Chris Pirillo, Jamie Zawinski, Leo Laporte, ect.)
    I have had a conversation brought up about be between my boyfriend and the manager of Boys Like Girls before. And, I don’t know if this counts, but Scott Adams responded to one of my old LiveJournal entries about Atheism a long while back.

    Ah, the internet.

  • Brian McLaren

  • I don’t know anyone famous. I had a dream last night that I was helping Fidel Castro teach a class in Cuba (in English). I was excited because I was going to tell people that I had met him. I’m no fan of Castro, but he is famous after all.

  • Kunal Nayyar He’s one of the stars of CBS’s sitcom “The Big Bang Theory”. He was a grad student while I was undergrad. Great guy. Had drinks with him a few weeks ago.

    He’s gonna be hugely famous, mark my words.

  • Vincent

    I don’t know anyone famous now.
    I took a class taught by Meredith Small, who’s the go-to anthropology expert whenever NPR does a story about primates.
    Marc Calderon was in my AP Biology class.
    He was one of the members of the early 90s band “Color Me Bad” who all were students at my high school that I’d met, but Marc is the only one who I really could say I knew.

  • mike

    My cousin is the lead singer of the prog band Coheed and Cambria. You’d have to use my full last name, which I’ll take to my grave, for him to know you’re talking about me. I’m closer to his parents than him but damned if I don’t get back stage passes!

  • koz

    MoreseCode: Love TBBT and Kunal Nayyar’s character!

  • Right now that would be PZ Myers but only if you catch him on a good day.

    Someday I’m hoping to meet Hemant Mehta.

  • The most famous person I know, that would know me by name is Patricia Todd. She was the first openly gay person elected to the Alabama Lesgislature.

  • Robin

    George Takei

  • Probably PZ for me as well. However, I did grow up on the same street at the same time as Rick Green (of Red Green), and he remembered me when I ran into him about 5 years ago, and he’s possibly famouser than PZ, and likely still remembers me (under my real name, of course).

  • Siamang

    Not sure who’s most famous….

    Joel Hodgson, Tom Kenny, Glen Keane, John Musker, Eric Goldberg.

    Hmm…. all animation-related people. I might be de-anonymizing myself with this post.

  • Sasha

    I once got an email from former Chess superstar Garry Kasparov! I arranged a “birthday party” for him at my high school and sent him a giant card along with photos of the party!

  • I know SFWA Author Emeritis William Tenn (//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tenn). Was just at a party with him on Saturday. The SD card from his digital camera was broken and I was trying to fix it for him.

  • Daniel

    I don’t even know any non famous people. 🙁

  • nowoo

    I went on a cruise with James Randi in September and ate at his table several times. I chatted briefly with Christopher Hitchens at last year’s TAM party, and tomorrow I’ll be staffing a CFI table at a Richard Dawkins appearance, so I might get to meet him too.

  • RNB

    My dad … well, he’s slightly famous in Germany anyway 🙂

    Seriously, I’ve “met” a few celebrities in passing, but the more famous the person, the more fleeting the contact.

  • Bad

    I have is a second cousin who is a well known national broadcast/cable news anchor, though I won’t say which. But it is sometimes quite strange to have him speaking at family funerals and such, because just having “that voice” involved makes things seem uncharacteristically newsworthy and historic.

    One of my best friends from high school has seen one of George W Bush’s daughters buck naked.

    I vaguely knew and met Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls back before anyone knew who she was, as she had hooked up with a friend of mine at the time (the fallout of which left me with a rather bad impression of her).

    I once almost met Christine Todd Whitman, but as I was dressed as a psychotic, bloody clown at the time, and I wouldn’t let her into my bathroom. Don’t ask.

    I’ve worked for and met a couple of smaller tier politicians (a governor, a congressman) but they wouldn’t necessarily know me very well other than by name and profession. I did meet Congressman Bill Foster, the ultra-awesome physicist who beat a Republican in a special election for Dennis Hastert’s old seat, back when he was just this fascinating guy who just up and decided he wanted to get involved in politics, and drove several states over to donate his time.

  • I don’t guess that I should count everyone who is on my “friends” list at Facebook. I have never met Phil Plait in person.

    Like Larry, the most famous person that I know who would say he knows me is PZ Myers. I’ll throw in Shawn Otto, writer of screenplay adaptation of The House of Sand and Fog.

  • Maria

    you Hemant!

  • Jen

    Hemant!

    I went to high school with several of the members of the Plain White Ts, though I am sure they don’t remember me. I have gone to a few book signings, but I am not sure that counts. When I met Dave Barry, I told him I loved him (and I do. Call me!)

    In college, I too had some “in their field famous” profs. Since I did theatre, I hope I will know some famous people I can report on in a few years.

    Greta- I would love to meet Nina Hartley. Is she as super awesome as I imagine her to be?

  • I went to high school with Brian Warner aka Marilyn Manson, but I’m sure his memory of me would be as vague or more so than mine is of him.

  • Xeonicus

    @mike:
    Claudio is your cousin???? That’s awesome!!

  • mikespeir

    Nobody. He’s pretty famous. (Or is “he” a “she”?)

  • “My great uncle was an extra in the John Waters’ film Pink Flamingos.”

    Sam, you are totally the winner. I am truly impressed.

    P.S. He wasn’t the guy with the singing asshole, was he? If so, than I am blown away.

  • Polly

    If we can include people who went to our high school but probably won’t remember us, then:

    Graduated in the same class as Tamala Jones, who’s done a ton of TV and movies…she may or may not remember my name, but she might recognize me by face.

    These next two would probably not remember me at all:
    I once tutored “Erkel” (TV show: Family Matters) Jaleel White in math. HAHAHA!

    Lark Voorhies of “Saved by the Bell” was in one of my 8th grade classes.

  • Nancy

    Jake Peavy of the San Diego Padres. I was his 8th grade science teacher.

  • Joel said

    I once met the Black Power Ranger, Johnny Yong Bosch, in San Diego

    😐 that is so awesome.

    Larry Moran said,

    Right now that would be PZ Myers but only if you catch him on a good day.

    Someday I’m hoping to meet Hemant Mehta.

    little does he know…!! yay june!

    I once had dinner with Larry Moran… that’s pretty huge in my books.

    I know Nelly Furtado. And by “know her” i mean she was once on my radio show in BC and the city we were in had deemed it “nelly furtado day” when really it was “international day to end racism” so I asked her what she thought about that and she said “well, i’m multi racial, so it’s like the same thing” …thats when i called her the nasty “b-word” on air and she added me to her black list – that is she’ll never do an interview for me again… but she knows me by name! woo!

    Also George Stromboulopoulos. …Americans likely don’t know him (and i’m not just misspelling stephanopolous).. but he’s big in Canada. He hosts the Hour on CBC. We go for bubble tea.

  • At some point or another, I’ve met a lot of famous people (Nicolas Cage, Eric Schlosser, James Watson, Jeff Garlin, Trey Parker and Matt Stone). If it’s not obvious, I enjoy stalking various celebrities/authors when I get the chance… But none of them know me back. So they don’t count for this list.

    I have met a lot of atheists I consider celebrities. (Though I have yet to meet PZ…) And I interview some famous people on this site, but that’s more “business” than “personal.”

    Julia Sweeney *might* know my name 🙂

    In terms of movie/TV people… I went to high school and worked on the newspaper staff with Rachel from Real World: Back to New York.

    If you ask me who I want to meet, the list would be huge.

    (Jennifer Garner, I know you read this site. Call me.)

  • Rest

    Kim Jong-il. We play Unreal Tournament death match about once a week.

    Okay, really (har!)…

    My parents were friends with the parents of Jarome Iginla, the Calgary Flames NHL player. Jarome probably came over to my house when he was a little tyke but I don’t remember him.

    My dad was friends with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Canadian novelist Carol Shields, who sadly passed away in 2003.

    In 1968, my mum saw Paul McCartney walking through Hyde Park in London with his Old English Sheepdog named Martha. No, my mum didn’t faint at the sight of him.

    Gotta go. I think that’s about it.

  • Julie

    Amy Poehler (I wonder if she remembers me. Ah well.)
    Penn Jillette (Absolutely remembers me.)

  • That would be you Hemant, though maybe someday Rebecca will share that distinction.

  • My dad coached US Representative JC Watts from Oklahoma. I thought he was bullshittin’ me until JC showed up in my hometown Wal-Mart to buy bullets and called my dad’s first name out while we walked down the isles. He even has the team photo from back in the 70’s. It looked very Bad News Bears-ish.

    I also played youth baseball with NFL football player Sam Rayburn.

    I went to college and sang in some classes with New York opera tenor Steve Sanders.

    I went to high school and college with acoustic guitarist and folk music man Travis Linville.

    Each one of them are still great guys, very down-to-earth.

  • Jodie

    Does the answer “Hemant Mehta” count if someone else wrote it here first?

  • Margaret Downey

  • I hung out with John Popper in Newark Airport in 1998. We shared a Tuna sub, chatted a few minutes, then he signed my copy of Details, before he got on a plane to fly to LA. He had been in NY filming Howard Stern’s Movie. Nice guy. Amazing musician.

  • Richard Wade

    My wife’s cousin’s best friend’s old room mate’s pen pal’s drinking partner’s acquaintance is George W. Bush, but I won’t admit it. Needless to say, with such a close connection I have been interviewed by the Secret Service but I declined their offer of protection.

    On the other hand my cousin’s pen pal’s drinking partner’s wife’s acquaintance’s best friend’s old room mate is Osama bin Ladin, but I won’t admit it. Needless to say with such a close connection I have been interviewed by the FBI and the CIA but they decided not to imprison me in an undisclosed location.

    Drawing upon that it would then logically follow that George W. Bush’s acquaintance’s wife’s old room mate’s best friend’s cousin’s drinking partner’s pen pal is Osama bin Laden but George won’t admit it, and of course in reverse Osama bin Laden’s pen pal’s drinking partner’s cousin’s best friend’s old room mate’s wife’s acquaintance is George W. Bush but Osama won’t admit it either. Needless to say even though there is such a close connection between the two, the Secret Service, the FBI and the CIA won’t touch this with a ten foot pole.

    (sigh) Being so closely connected to famous people can be such a burden.

  • Kathryn

    Dan Savage, maybe?

  • Michelle

    My godfather’s boyfriend is a hairstylist. He’s done the hair for the Playboy Playmates (they REQUEST him, that’s how much they love him), and he currently made a contract with Head & Shoulders to be their spokesman, or something along those lines, I know he has a contract with them and he’s a model for them now. He’s also been on a Spanish TV show before.
    So technically he’s famous, right?

  • Bryce
  • James Koran

    Jesse Ventura: He used to take my brother and I to football games in south MPLS in the 70s. Then by interesting coincidence in 1990 I married into the family Met him through his wife Terri’s parents for family get togethers. Jesse Ventura likes to keep State and Church separate and I admire him for that!

  • H of Cashburn

    Morgan Freeman’s son, Alfonso, worked for me as a computer operator for a few years. I never met Morgan, though. I saw Alfonso’s picture in a magazine recently in an article about Morgan’s roots, so does that make Alfonso famous? I think it was People magazine.

    Wilt Chamberlin asked me for my phone number. But then, who didn’t he ask?

    And Lee Trevino asked me to join him for a round of golf sometime, but I think he was joking. I don’t think that one counts at all.

  • Needless to say with such a close connection I have been interviewed by the FBI and the CIA but they decided not to imprison me in an undisclosed location.

    Aha! Richard! I knew I saw your name somewhere before… On a top secret surveillance log! LOL

    Your comment reminded me of Mike Dennehy, who is Brian Dennehy’s brother. He used to be my boss in the NYO of the FBI. I talked to Brian on the phone once when he called.

    and… my brother used to be friends with Yanni, if relatives count. 🙂

  • MercuryBlue

    Anne Walsh aka whydoyouneedtoknow. She has a couple thousand people who get email alerts from any of three sites whenever she updates her Harry Potter fanfics.

  • Rest

    My mum has a crush on George Stromboulopoulos. I always bug her about it.

    Bubble Tea sounds great! I’ll have to look for it.

  • Rest

    Last message was directed at Katie Kish.

  • This is for Mike C. 😉

    I know Jeeeezus!

  • Ubi Dubium

    Well, my husband is pretty sure that Tim Kaine (Governor of Virginia) would recognize him, and maybe Mark Warner. He also used to know Michael Powell pretty well (former head of the FCC).

    Before Bruce Hornsby was famous, he used to practice piano at a church in Williamsburg. I had a job locking the church, and so I got to kick him out every night.

    And the Bad Astronomer was in my 6th grade class!

  • “Greta- I would love to meet Nina Hartley. Is she as super awesome as I imagine her to be?”

    She’s pretty great. I don’t know her super-well — we’re not, like, BFFs or anything (we’re friendly casual acquaintances and she occasionally comments on my blog) — but I know her well enough to say that she’s genuinely warm and friendly, very thoughtful and perceptive, and off- the- charts smart.

  • Linda said, …I know Jeeeezus!

    Good one Linda…

    BTW, I know the Flying Spaghetti Monster… although He really isn’t a monster…. He just seems that way to those who don’t really know Him.

  • I know Lois Winkler (my grandmother), plumbing designer of the most recognizable monument in Pittsburgh: the fountain at the point. Her design (with the help of her design firm) beat Frank Lloyd Wright’s design for Point Park in Pittsburgh. She’s also responsible for most of the major hospitals in Pittsburgh, as well as the Civic Arena. The Civic Arena is the oldest standing and active arena in the NHL. I still refuse to call it by its modern name.

    I’m also remotely related to the Wright Brothers on my mother’s side.

  • I have sat at Jessica Lang and Sam Sherpherd’s dinner table and had Jessica’s cherry pie. She’s a killer baker. I think she would remember me, especially since my father was her daughter’s fav h.s. teacher.

    Otherwise, my uncle is the guy on the pringles can. No joke. Dennis Gage, the guy who had the show My Classic Car, is my uncle.

  • Adam

    I used to work at the President’s office at Purdue, and am on a first name basis with Dr. and Mrs. Jischke.

    The reason the President’s Leadership class at Purdue has a dress code is because Pattie let me wear sweat pants and slippers, and el Presidente didn’t think it was professional enough. The next year, there was a dress code.

    Other than that I’ve met Lou Holtz, Gene Keady, and my sister got asked out by Jeff Jordan (Mike’s son)

  • Howard Stern & Jim Florentine

  • The thing is, when you know someone, they cease to be famous and just become “someone your know” or “friend” (possibly “hated nemesis”).

    OK, how about famous author Brennig Jones. I know a couple of people who’ve been on the telly box but not in a good way.

  • Danielle

    I guess the most famous person I know is my cousin R.J.Stewart.
    He was a main writer for Xena the TV show for most of it’s run, he also wrote the movies The Rundown and Major League 2 and I believe he created the TV show Cleopatra 2525, but we won’t hold that against him.

    My great uncle, who’s name I really can’t remember, created the original NBC peacock….but of course they stole his idea and fired him from the art department soon after that … so he was never really famous for it.

  • Phlebas

    I’ve met a bunch of the luminaries at TAMs. Hung out enough with Randi so that he at least recognizes me on sight, although I’m not sure he knows my name 🙂 Everyone else there knows me because I’m married to a SkepChick.

    The most famous person who does know my name is probably Loreena McKennitt. She not only knows my name, but also my phone number, and she’s good for a call once or twice a year.

    Once my 13-year-old niece becomes either a famous model or tennis star, she’ll probably be at the top. But she is still absolutely slain by fart and booger jokes, so she’s not ready for fame yet. (Anyone know a joke that involves both farts and boogers? She’ll be grateful…)

  • Depends on if we can count dead people, since they obviously can’t recognize us anymore, but I took two years of classes from and hung out with Charles Gordone, the first black man to win the Pulitzer Prize for literature. And he and I were both in a production of King Lear with Jeffrey Dench, Dame Judi Dench’s brother, who might conceivably remember me.

    As far as living people, the most famous one I’m positive would acknowledge me is J.D. Roberto, an actor and game/reality show host who’s appeared in such shows as Outback Jack and You Lie Like A Dog.

  • bernarda

    For me, at university I had Herbert Marcuse for a professor and with other students was sometimes invited to his house. He probably didn’t notice me much. I also had Angela Davis as a teaching assistant. But that was a long time ago.

    Younger readers here may not know whom I am talking about. So here is a little documentary.

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5311625903124176509&hl=en

  • bernarda

    For me, at university I had Herbert Marcuse for a professor and with other students was sometimes invited to his house. He probably didn’t notice me much. I also had Angela Davis as a teaching assistant. But that was a long time ago.

    Younger readers here may not know whom I am talking about. So here is a little documentary. “Herbert’s Hippopotamus”.

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5311625903124176509&hl=en

    (I submitted this once but it didn’t take, so again)

  • That would be Karen Maezen Miller, who should be more widely known than she is. She wrote Momma Zen (an essential book for mothers) and writes at Cheerio Road.

  • It would have to be E.O. Wilson………..very down to earth guy….

  • David D.G.

    I have met quite a few famous people, especially authors and actors at sci-fi conventions (a couple of whom are on my MySpace friends list), but I can’t believe that they’d really know or remember me as an individual.

    My late companion had been the poster child for United Way in the Dallas area when she was 9 years old. Even more impressively, one of her college teachers (film scriptwriting class) was actor Lawrence Montaigne, who valued and like her as a student just as much as she liked him as a teacher; he actually called out of the blue once to say hello to her, that he was in Dallas and wanted to see her — and I had to tell him that she had just passed away a couple of weeks before. I hate irony sometimes.

    Currently, the most famous person I know (who knows me back, and knows it) is probably Bret X, a disc jockey at 97.1 The Eagle in Dallas. It’s local fame of a sort. Oh, and my son, Tristan, is “locally world famous” as a musician in Charlottesville, Virginia!

    And this might qualify: I know, and I am known to, King Henry VIII and Queen Anne Boleyn out at Scarborough Faire Renaissance Festival! :^D

    ~David D.G.

  • Lix0r

    Corey Taylor, lead singer of the bands Slipknot and Stone Sour.
    He lives a few miles from me, I hang out with him frequently and even ate “Xmas” dinner with him one year.
    Don’t worry, no prayers were said, he’s a good atheist too.

  • I’d have to remind him, but Chris Solinsky.

    He ran for UW-Madison was the NCAA national champion in 2005 and 2006 in the indoor 3000 meters, 2007 indoor 5000 meters, and ’06 and ’07 outdoor 5000 meters.

    I’m a runner myself (very slow compared to him) and have randomly run into him and run with him every now and then.

  • Will H.

    A girl in the grade above in Grade School is on Nickelodeon’s Ned’s Declassified Guide to Surviving School Lindsay Shaw. According to Wikipedia, she’s also gonna be on Aliens in America.

    My dad is kind of a big deal in Nebraska politics. A couple years ago, some of his friends wanted him to run for Congress as a moderate Republican. My grandfather was even a bigger deal. He was chairman of the Nebraska Republican Party back in the 1970s, and he knows just about every Nebraska Pol, and I’ve met quite a few of them because of him.

    I was volunteering for Obama back in February during the Caucuses, and I got into a pretty good discussion with Scott Kleeb who’s running for Congress, and if you’d ask the blogosphere, is the hottest guy running for Congress.

    Oh, and I have a part time job at Target, and about a year ago, I helped load a TV into the Trunk of Melissa Midwest’s car. I didn’t recognize her, but the other guy did. She runs an adult website, so googling for her is NSFW.

  • Wow! I totally forgot my buddy Brian Pittman from the Christian band Relient K. I used to work with him at Pet Supplies Plus before Relient K hit it big. He’s not with them any more, but he was with them for their first several CD’s.

  • Emmers

    I know an actor at the Stratford Festival, Cam Oates… he’s helping to direct our school show. Uhh. Oh, and David Keeley, another actor at the Festival, is the father of two of my friends.

  • julie marie

    my next door neighbor is the local TV weatherman. and my backdoor neighbor is big in the evangelical Christian world. he is one of the pastors at one of the top 15 influential churches in America. Oh–he used to be my pastor too. But doubt he’d know me. Sigh. Such is the anonymity of a mega-church.

  • Eliza

    I’m trying to picture what the responses would look like if you asked a group of celebrities the flip question: “Who is the most ordinary nobody you know (who you would admit to knowing)?”

  • kshack

    I’ve met several celebrities that wouldn’t remember me at all. The one that might, and not by name but association, is LaDanian Tomlinson of the San Diego Chargers. I worked with his aunt at Planned Parenthood in Waco and he stopped by a few times.
    My hubby played high school football with Jeff Ireland, the guy Bill Parcells just hired as the Dolphin’s GM.
    I’m friends with a few of the ATF guys here in Waco – they had there 15 minutes of fame a decade or so ago at Koresh’s place.
    But the best – and I don’t know if he remembers this like I do… My sister went to preschool with Billy Graham’s grandson. He accidentally stepped on her fingers one day. Because of that, he was the only kid in her class that she did not invite to her birthday party. A few times each year I remind her of that and tell her she’s going to hell for dissing that little Graham boy.

  • Robin Quivers? THE ROBIN QUIVERS?

    I loved listening to you and Howard when I worked in NYC!!!!! It was one of my guilty pleasures! 🙂

  • Allison, from the current season (10) of America’s Next Top Model. She’s not too friendly and got kicked off second.

    I also know the grocer from Shawshank Redemption. He’s one of my friends’ dad.

  • Tao Jones

    Rick Campanelli of ET Canada / MuchMusic fame would be the one who would admit to know me… bumped into his parents today actually.

    I’ve *met* a number of famous people. Dan Akroyd, Pam Anderson, Alex Trebek, Paul Shaffer, Brett Hart (tons of other wrestlers).. Master T (if any Canadians remember him, that guy was a jerk and barely 4″ tall)..

    I even touched Paris Hilton’s arm once. Washed it right away as I didn’t want to catch anything.

  • Joon

    I know Garth Miller, who is possibly the best Australian rock climber currently around, and is way up there as one of the best climbers in the world. I climbed with him in the Blue Mountains and met his family, and I still see him around sometimes. Very nice guy.

  • While I’ve met lots of famous people over the years, the most famous one that would admit to knowing me back would probably be Phil Plait. I’m good with that 🙂

  • I’ve played with Mike Vax (of the Stan Kenton Orchestra) and Jay Gibble (of the Capitol Bones), among a few other musicians of note, although honestly I can’t recall names at the moment. Vax would definitely remember me, and we trade e-mails on occasion.

    My fiancée went to high school with Jenna Morasca, winner of Survivor: Amazon, and, apparently, some sort of internet show related to the series, but I honestly haven’t a clue about any of that. I don’t think they actually knew each other, though. She also is related to retired pitcher David Wells, one of only 17 people to pitch a perfect game in the Major Leagues. She’s not sure exactly what the relation is, though, and they’ve never met.

  • Ubi Dubius

    I went to college with Jon Stewart. We’re both William and Mary, class of ’84. Michael Powell (Colin’s son and Chairman of the FCC) was in the class of ’85. We were in ROTC together and ran into each other in the Army as well. I went to law school with Andy Card, son of W’s Chief of Staff. I’m active in Virginia Democratic politics so know Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Jim Webb, Gerry Connolly (my new Congressman), and others. My cousin Weeb Ewbank coached the Jets in Super Bowl III.

  • Sergio Guillen-Pantoja

    I know actor Sergio Peris-Mencheta and writer/director Carlos Molinero. Sergio I still see from time to time (to play role-playing games and/or boardgames), but I’ve lost contact with Carlos lately (note to self: fix that).

    Cheers.

  • Suzi

    All musicians, coincidentally. The late Cliff Burton (from Metallica) and I were good friends when he was in his early teens. We were neighbors. He was a really good, sweet kid. I knew Mike Bordin (from Faith No More) a couple years later. His sister and I were good friends and I’d see him when I went over to their house. I didn’t keep in touch with either one past my mid-teens, though.

    The most famous person I’ve met and been photographed with to date is Bruce Springsteen. It was very anonymous, though. I did the fan thing after one of his shows, happened to have my camera handy and while he was autographing my album, I whirled around next to him and had my photo taken. I don’t think he was even aware of it, but it made my day/week/month/year.

    Oh – and the prez is my LinkedIn friend – but let’s just say we’re not so close that my email address is on his Blackberry.

  • riffraffinthezoo

    Alfre Woodard’s Dad used to be a semi-regular at my Dad’s jewelry store. He was a great guy. Oh and Gaylord Sartain came in a couple times too.