Celebrity Meetings

I have always had the worst luck with celebrities - I never casually run into them at a book store, they never sit next to me on the plane. Even S witnessed a movie shoot (at his office building) and got to glimpse at George Clooney. But I recently (does a couple months ago count as recent - it should at least count as somewhat recent right?) met a celebrity and wanted to write about that experience. After I am done with that I might write about another celebrity I met and who was really kind to me. (PS. I just realize that both these celebrities might not make you to go "Wow". But they made me go "Ooh wow" because I love comedy so much)

Without further ado - the first celebrity we met was Bob Odenkirk. He has a new book out called "A Load of Hooey" which is a bunch of sketches. It is hilarious! So he was in Seattle for a book signing. But it was not the usual book signing, it was more like a show. He did some standup, read a little from his book with hilarious voices and then there were some sketches performed. And it was all in a tiny venue so it was like having front row seats to an awesome comedy show. We laughed hard at everything and then it was time for the actual signing. I was hyperventilating the entire time I was waiting in line because Bob Odenkirk is so clever and I am not. I was sure I was going to say something cheesy and stupid and he just roll his eyes at me. S didn't do anything to calm me down and found my anxiety amusing. When we were close to the head of the line, a volunteer asked me to spell my my name and he wrote that on a post-it note that he stuck on my book, to make it easier for Bob (yes we are on a first name basis now) to write and sign. When it was our turn we said our hellos and  I gushed about how much we had enjoyed the show. Then he asks me for my name and I said that I had a rather weird name and he should use the post-it note to help him. To which he replied "I can spell, I am not an idiot" and then proceeded to spell my name wrong! I was annoyed (but not overly so because, you know, it's one of the funniest men on TV) and with all the mock outrage  I could muster I loudly exclaimed "OMG, I can't believe you spelled my name wrong after that speech" He was a little taken aback and then fixed it and then signed it with an additional inscription.

So you guys, my name is interesting and even Bob Odenkirk thinks so! This is specially more funny because the person who introduced him got his last name wrong and he made a quip about that at the beginning of his show. To make up for all this, he spent relatively more time with us and made sure we got a great picture.

When we were heading out S says to me "Well at least you are fair. I thought you only yelled at me when I make a mistake, but apparently you don't care who it is and will yell at anyone if they screw up." I decided I was going to take that as a compliment. :)

Now it's time to recount the tale of another celebrity meeting I had a few years ago when I was in Madras for vacation. I am sure all my readers from Madras know who S.Ve Shekar is (who am I kidding, it's not like I have any readers other than Srini or S when I tell him I updated my blog). And anyone who knows me knows how obsessed I am about his plays. The day I landed in Madras, there was a play scheduled and I decided to do despite the fact that I was tired and jet lagged. It was one of my favorites (Halwa) and I knew all the dialogues by heart and it was amazing to watch a live performance from up close. After it was done, S.Ve.Shekar was interacting with his fans and since I was most certainly his fan I wait in line to meet him. But like I said earlier, I was tired and jetlagged and I had forgotten to bring my phone or a camera with me and I was feeling really upset that I couldn't get a pic with him. Soon it's my turn and I went on and on about how I had bought all his DVDs from kalakendra.com and how much I loved his work. My parents chimed in to say that I had just flown in from the US and didn't want to stay home and miss this performance. I think that touched a chord in him. So he asked someone to take a picture of me with him on his phone and he took down my number (I gave my sister's number) and promised to message it to me. I thought that was very nice of him and as soon as I got home I asked her if she got any messages with a picture and she hadn't. I figured he was a busy celebrity and probably forgot and bemoaned the fact that I forgot to take my phone with me. A couple days later I was watching TV in the living room when my sister bursts out of her room with an excited grin on her face and says "S.Ve. Shekar wants to talk to you!" He actually called me to ask if I had gotten the picture! I was flabbergasted and blathered something indicating I hadn't. And then he said his phone sometimes acted up with pictures and asked for my email address. He said he would transfer the pic onto his computer and would email me. And he did! I was so touched by this kind gesture. I know of celebrities who charge people for photos and autographs and I didn't think they ever thought about their fans. To take all that trouble for someone who was just visiting shows a lot of character. Also I made S totally jealous (he wasn't in India with me)

*I kinda look terrible in this picture because of the a fore mentioned jet lag. But I am still publishing this picture because it means a lot to me

So this concludes another post from me! And a twofer post at that too :)