Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Pardon me, celebrity guy

When we went to see Jon Stewart on Sunday, this guy was sitting in our row. I had to stand up to let him get to his seat.

I did stare at him a little bit, because well, there were a ton of Americans there, some of whom I know reasonably well and some of whom I know by sight...a little bit. I'm rubbish with names and faces or where I might know you from, so you can imagine social situations are often a little bit uncomfortable for me. I thought "I know this guy, but from where? Is he going to feel snubbed if I don't speak to him?"

I knew he could tell I was on the verge of recognition and he was looking at me a little bit funny. I thought he was trying to place me, too. But no - it was British stand up comedian Jimmy Carr and he was probably just trying to place me in the continuum between adminiring fan and dangerous stalker fan.

This has happened to me several times, because as bad as I am at recognising people I say, went to high school with or who lay for three hours on the gurney next to me giving me a life saving transfusion, I'm equally bad at recognising celebrities. I've walked past Patrick Stewart thinking "Who does that old guy think he is? Why is he smiling at me like that?", before taking another hundred steps and saying "d'oh".

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Being in Nashville, we have country music luminaries all over the place. But my one really famous movie actor sighting came in a tiny pizza place just off Half Moon Street in London. Across the room with a couple of friends was Jon Voight. No guts. No glory. No autograph.

genderist said...

Oh! Are you two coming over for breakfast Xmas morning?

Can't wait for the crackers!!