Your Celebrity Stories

[Ben Shockley]

Met and had a breif chat with a true asshole named bill murray. The man is a douche.  He was rude to all the peeps in VIP.

I can easily see BM as a douche. Of course douche is probably BM's default setting, with celebrity being neither here or there.

I agree with all the above.
From my perspective, Murray was the guy with the second-least talent in the original "SNL" crew; the least-talented being Chevy Chase ~ "least-talented" in terms of getting a laugh from someone who hadn't spent years with him doing whatever chemicals they did and watching him practice and mug for the cameras he thought he'd be in front of someday.

Don't forget how the movie "Stripes" was apparently done to show "Army basic-trainees" without the appropriate haircuts -- just so that "BM" wouldn't have to show his bald spot, which in turn would have hurt his "youth appeal" ~~

[BigDave]

I met Morgan Freeman in a Target in Marietta,Georgia in 1994. I also met former Vice President Dan Quayle in 1996

[HorrorRetro]

My father-in-law lived in the same apt. bldg. with Janis Joplin in the early '60s in San Francisco.  They used to walk to Safeway together to get groceries.  He left before she made it big.  He moved up here to Washington and lived in the Tolstoy commune where he met my eventual mother-in-law.  He's had some interesting experiences.

[korrine]

His douchery consisted of being rude to the wait staff and just an overall attitude of superiory.  I cant say there was one thing he said or did specifically...he is seriously one of the nastiest human beings I've ever met. Tone of voice, facial expressions... he was a jerk in every category. I have met other celebrities and always had a good experience.. very uneventful .. you just walk away thinking. Hey that guy was awesome..or what a great person ..yeah Bm was not someone I ever thought of as talented.  Not what I would call goodlooking either

[Sardondi]

...From my perspective, Murray was the guy with the second-least talent in the original "SNL" crew; the least-talented being Chevy Chase ~ "least-talented" in terms of getting a laugh from someone who hadn't spent years with him doing whatever chemicals they did and watching him practice and mug for the cameras he thought he'd be in front of someday....

To this day I am flabbergasted that the doofus Chevy Chase could have possibly thought leaving SNL for the movies after one season was a good move. God, what a moron.

[Eddie Coyle]

To this day I am flabbergasted that the doofus Chevy Chase could have possibly thought leaving SNL for the movies after one season was a good move. God, what a moron.

          Suzanne Somers, McLean Stevenson, Conan O'Brien, Shelley Long and Bernie Leadon laugh at his judgement.

[MV/Liberace!]

To this day I am flabbergasted that the doofus Chevy Chase could have possibly thought leaving SNL for the movies after one season was a good move. God, what a moron.

i thought he left SNL because his girlfriend wanted him to.


ouch.

[Sardondi]

          Suzanne Somers, McLean Stevenson, Conan O'Brien, Shelley Long and Bernie Leadon laugh at his judgement.

Heh. Coco, too? I didn't watch or follow, and I had sort of thought he had screwed up by trusting network execs about their plans for him. Oh, and until a few years ago we would have put David Caruso (NYPD Blue) at the top of the list. At least until he pretty much abandoned the movies and did his grimacing and akimbo-ing on CSI-Pensacola or whatever it is.

i thought (Chevy Chase) left SNL because his girlfriend wanted him to....

I've heard him say that at various times in the last decade or so (we are talking about 37 years ago after all) . But it's obvious to me that's Chevy's auto-revision that "I moved because my girlfriend did" was brought on more by the ubiquity of incredulity such as I have expressed than anything having to do with factual accuracy. It's his face-saving attempt to control The Narrative.

[Eddie Coyle]

Heh. Coco, too? I didn't watch or follow, and I had sort of thought he had screwed up by trusting network execs about their plans for him. Oh, and until a few years ago we would have put David Caruso (NYPD Blue) at the top of the list. At least until he pretty much abandoned the movies and did his grimacing and akimbo-ing on CSI-Pensacola or whatever it is.

Yes, Caruso immediately came to mind reflexively, but those distinctly unique and creative CSI shows have given him an unexpected redivivus...especially after Jade, which should have lead to William Friedkin's superannuation.

        Coco, is another Harvard man without a hint of common sense or street smarts. Outsmarted by Leno. That hurts. But Bill Carter's book about the Late Show Wars of 2008-10 makes it clear that Coco is an arrogant putz who miscalculated every step of the way which has lead to his exile on the Siberian cable outlet of TBS.

         Back in CNBC'S formative years and O Brien's first year on NBC(1993-94) his program was rerun on the fledgling financial network at night...his lead-ins included the very happening Dick Cavett, the pre-comeback Tom Snyder and other has beens....Coco's career was in better shape then.

[Pragmier]

The 3's Company exit not withstanding, Suzanne Somers has proven to be a savvy business person and estimated to be worth about $100 million.

I worked for south Florida hotels throughout the mid 80s & 90s and met many celebrities. The nicest I can remember was Don King who was travelling with his wife. Very polite, he treated the staff respectfully. A great tipper  who was not at all the boisterous public persona in person.

[Juan]

I was working for a production company, shooting the 1988 Democratic National Convention.  I met Dan Rather.  He was sitting on someone's motorcycle trying to act like he knew something about motorcycles, speaking East Texas, and it appearing he had sparks flying off his body.  He was filled with energy.

Later that day, I shot a half-hour interview with then Libertarian Party Presidential candidate Ron Paul, who came across as a reasonable medical doctor with a good bedside manner. 

[b_dubb]

CoastGab Movie Star

OK b_dubb, I did the hard part (found and downloaded, scanned it until I found Spaghetti lady, then edited the scene)

Now, which one are you?

Damned Youtube doesn't allow embedding, but link should work. I also added as an attachment

b dubb CoastGab movie star

[attachimg=1]

it's been a LONG time since i've seen any of this.  what a ridiculous movie.

[Eddie Coyle]

it's been a LONG time since i've seen any of this.  what a ridiculous movie.

I never watch that type of movie, however...

         Sunday July 18, 1999(weekend JFK Jr died) was hot as hell in Boston and I was working the 3:30pm-12am shift. I was was at a local bar around 10pm(second break), and hammered and this foolish movie was on at that bar, I guess my inebriation lead to being easily amused and I actually neglected to return to work and stayed to watch this claptrap. Nobody noticed I was gone(a commentary on my vital importance)

               AA Meeting.
       "My name is Coyle and I'm here because I sank to watching Robin Williams movies"

[Sardondi]

I was working for a production company, shooting the 1988 Democratic National Convention.  I met Dan Rather.  He was sitting on someone's motorcycle trying to act like he knew something about motorcycles, speaking East Texas, and it appearing he had sparks flying off his body.  He was filled with energy.....

Who knows which comes first: the ego, which makes them seek out that kind of job; or if the job gives them a taste for the constant ego-stroke.

Sometime in the early 90's I had to work an investigation in a small town which turned into a fairly high publicity thing, and so it brought the usual media suspects. I tried to eat dinner late one night at this restaurant at the same time as Sam Donaldson, who turned the entire restaurant into his own personal stage. From his table he bellowed...bellowed...his every thought to the six or eight tables which were still occupied that late. He was by himself, but it never seemed to enter his mind that there might have been people there who didn't give a rat's ass what he thought about that town, the people, the restaurant, his meal, or anything. What a jerk.

[ChewMouse]

               AA Meeting.
       "My name is Coyle and I'm here because I sank to watching Robin Williams movies"

Eddie, even hardened alcoholics would avert their eyes to hide their disgust. They would look at each other sideways as they sing-songed: "Hiiiii, Coyle."

What a nightmare.

Sometime in the early 90's I had to work an investigation in a small town which turned into a fairly high publicity thing, and so it brought the usual media suspects. I tried to eat dinner late one night at this restaurant at the same time as Sam Donaldson, who turned the entire restaurant into his own personal stage. From his table he bellowed...bellowed...his every thought to the six or eight tables which were still occupied that late. He was by himself, but it never seemed to enter his mind that there might have been people there who didn't give a rat's ass what he thought about that town, the people, the restaurant, his meal, or anything. What a jerk.

Sardondi, where the hell is the rest of this story? What was the small town? What was the investigation? Some woman killed her husband, or vice versa?

This is the kind of story I want to read from you. I know you have all kinds of fantastic tales. Are you bound by some kind of legal HIPAA stuff? If not, I want to see more of this.

[HAL 9000]

Are you bound by some kind of legal HIPAA stuff? If not, I want to see more of this.

HIPAA SCHMIPAA I say! I've been through enough HIPAA shit to last a lifetime. "If people only knew," I used to say. Well, maybe I'll start. A number of years ago there was a baby-switch at my institution. National/international headlines. I was deposed about what I knew, but all was settled, because of State immunity as to liability - I think the maximum liability was $2 million.

The back-story is, there was a second baby-switch, of a different nature. I called Nightline (when Koppel was still there), NBC, and CBS news - no one cared... I finally contacted the Washington Post and my hometown newspaper; they were VERY interested. Clandestine phone calls, emails (this was the very early stages of the Web.)

Well, I don't want to hijack this thread so I'll stop. HIPAA and all, ya know.
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or maybe I'll just start a new thread 

[Eddie Coyle]

Eddie, even hardened alcoholics would avert their eyes to hide their disgust. They would look at each other sideways as they sing-songed: "Hiiiii, Coyle."

What a nightmare.

                You know my admission of viewing Patch Adams is definitely a first step to...committing suicide. Goodbye cruel world, the second I watched that film I'd crossed a threshold of living too long.

            At the AA meeting, I can picture the women who turned tricks, the men who molested the their kids, the dude who shot his friend...snickering at my Mork story.

[MV/Liberace!]

Who knows which comes first: the ego, which makes them seek out that kind of job; or if the job gives them a taste for the constant ego-stroke.

Sometime in the early 90's I had to work an investigation in a small town which turned into a fairly high publicity thing, and so it brought the usual media suspects. I tried to eat dinner late one night at this restaurant at the same time as Sam Donaldson, who turned the entire restaurant into his own personal stage. From his table he bellowed...bellowed...his every thought to the six or eight tables which were still occupied that late. He was by himself, but it never seemed to enter his mind that there might have been people there who didn't give a rat's ass what he thought about that town, the people, the restaurant, his meal, or anything. What a jerk.

When I was in DC about 8 years ago, I heard Sam Donaldson's AM radio show. What an insufferably uninteresting cunt of a man he is.

[onan]

HIPAA SCHMIPAA I say! I've been through enough HIPAA shit to last a lifetime. "If people only knew," I used to say. Well, maybe I'll start. A number of years ago there was a baby-switch at my institution. National/international headlines. I was deposed about what I knew, but all was settled, because of State immunity as to liability - I think the maximum liability was $2 million.

The back-story is, there was a second baby-switch, of a different nature. I called Nightline (when Koppel was still there), NBC, and CBS news - no one cared... I finally contacted the Washington Post and my hometown newspaper; they were VERY interested. Clandestine phone calls, emails (this was the very early stages of the Web.)

Well, I don't want to hijack this thread so I'll stop. HIPAA and all, ya know.
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or maybe I'll just start a new thread 

I will join you. I too have to put up with more HIPAA than I can stomach. First it does nothing to truly protect anyone's privacy. Yeah maybe the nosey next door neighbor won't learn anything but the real decisions makers have all the info they need to make critical decisions about how one's healthcare can and should be managed.

And along with that... try explaining the 3 pages of HIPAA legal wording to a paranoid schizophrenic at 2:00 in the morning... good times.

[ziznak]

I've seen some HIPAA gone awry.  Personal records actually passed around and jokes made.  Screwed up stuff if I do say so myself, and it takes some really screwed up stuff for me to recognize it as such.

[Ben Shockley]

...Coco, is another Harvard man without a hint of common sense or street smarts. Outsmarted by Leno. That hurts. But Bill Carter's book about the Late Show Wars of 2008-10 makes it clear that Coco is an arrogant putz who miscalculated every step of the way which has lead to his exile on the Siberian cable outlet of TBS.
         Back in CNBC'S formative years and O Brien's first year on NBC(1993-94) his program was rerun on the fledgling financial network at night...his lead-ins included the very happening Dick Cavett, the pre-comeback Tom Snyder and other has beens....Coco's career was in better shape then.

O'Brien (if I may be so informal as to call him that) bugged me for many years.   He first came onto my radar screen when I correlated his name appearing in the credits of "The Simpsons," back around 1993, with that show inexplicably starting to feature a musical/singing segment in every damn episode, at which point I irrevocably stopped watching.

I'm with Sardondi (believe it or not) in thinking O'Brien trusted the execs too much in his going for the post-local-news slot a few years ago.   By "execs," we're talking about 22-year-olds with Ashley Banfield /Chris Hayes slit eyeglasses; they figured that since every New England / New York college kid they knew [pretended to] love[d] "Coco," he'd be a sure win in the earlier hour, before said kids went out for the night.
Unfortunately for "Coco," those exec kids were just geeky enough to never have really gone out enough to know that the hap'nin kids are already out by 11:30 Eastern, and so can't carry the Nielsen water for a show.   Mom and grandmom and the slightly hipper part of the Noory audience still thought "Coco" was just a little too risque for them. So --you know-- failure.


Edit: I said, O'Brien bugged  me; past tense.   He doesn't bother me much now.  I figure that he and the starstruck too-cool-for the-room geek kids who believed in him are a little chastened now.

[Eddie Coyle]

O'Brien (if I may be so informal as to call him that) bugged me for many years.   He first came onto my radar screen when I correlated his name appearing in the credits of "The Simpsons," back around 1993, with that show inexplicably starting to feature a musical/singing segment in every damn episode, at which point I irrevocably stopped watching.

I'm with Sardondi (believe it or not) in thinking O'Brien trusted the execs too much in his going for the post-local-news slot a few years ago.   By "execs," we're talking about 22-year-olds with Ashley Banfield /Chris Hayes slit eyeglasses; they figured that since every New England / New York college kid they knew [pretended to] love[d] "Coco," he'd be a sure win in the earlier hour, before said kids went out for the night.
Unfortunately for "Coco," those exec kids were just geeky enough to never have really gone out enough to know that the hap'nin kids are already out by 11:30 Eastern, and so can't carry the Nielsen water for a show.   Mom and grandmom and the slightly hipper part of the Noory audience still thought "Coco" was just a little too risque for them. So --you know-- failure.

Every O'Brien I grew up with inevitably became "Obie". I get the feeling that Coco has never been called that in his life, the lace curtain fuck...ok, my cultural hostilities aside...

          Reading about Coco and his inner circle, it was like a late night version of Halberstam's "The Best And Brightest", Coco and his whiz kids barreling ahead without ever considering that things may not necessarily go according to their plan. Any negative or critical press was dismissed as the work of philistinic cretins who didn't attend the Ivy League, so who cares what they think.

          Of the execs, Dick Ebersol(hardly an oracle) was the only one who seemed to grasp that Conan was not a "star", thought he was a leaden performer who didn't connect with a larger audience. "Subtle humorists" are terrific for NPR quiz shows, but hosting the Tonight Show, forget it. Quite amusingly, Conan(named Leno's successor in Fall 2004) actually began to slip in the ratings in 2006-08, and Craig Ferguson beat him occasionally. So by the time he took over for Leno, his star was dimming if anything.

[Ben Shockley]

             Every O'Brien I grew up with inevitably became "Obie". I get the feeling that Coco has never been called that in his life, the lace curtain fuck...ok, my cultural hostilities aside...

Never apologize.

          Reading about Coco and his inner circle, it was like a late night version of Halberstam's "The Best And Brightest", Coco and his whiz kids barreling ahead without ever considering that things may not necessarily go according to their plan. Any negative or critical press was dismissed as the work of philistinic cretins who didn't attend the Ivy League, so who cares what they think.

Okay, so I was too generous in thinking that he was naive and trusted the execs.   Your assessment is more like what I initially thought of him when he "came onto my radar screen," mentioned last time.   My turning off "The Simpsons" for good was also just me not being hip enough to appreciate Yeardley Smith singing "show tunes," in character.

barreling ahead without ever considering that things may not necessarily go according to their plan

That worked real well for the Japanese Navy in WW2, didn't it?

          Of the execs, Dick Ebersol(hardly an oracle) was the only one who seemed to grasp that Conan was not a "star", thought he was a leaden performer who didn't connect with a larger audience. "Subtle humorists" are terrific for NPR quiz shows, but hosting the Tonight Show, forget it. Quite amusingly, Conan (named Leno's successor in Fall 2004) actually began to slip in the ratings in 2006-08, and Craig Ferguson beat him occasionally. So by the time he took over for Leno, his star was dimming if anything.

Let me guess, Coyle:  "Coco" is frequent fodder for the Boston newspapers editorials and features, for you to know these tidbits..? 

[Eddie Coyle]

Never apologize.
Okay, so I was too generous in thinking that he was naive and trusted the execs.   Your assessment is more like what I initially thought of him when he "came onto my radar screen," mentioned last time.   My turning off "The Simpsons" for good was also just me not being hip enough to appreciate Yeardley Smith singing "show tunes," in character.
That worked real well for the Japanese Navy in WW2, didn't it?
Let me guess, Coyle:  "Coco" is frequent fodder for the Boston newspapers editorials and features, for you to know these tidbits..? 

         Not an apology per se, more of a clarification of my innate annoyance towards Coco, the Kennedys, Barnicle(appropriately named) because this milieu presents themselves as the personification of Boston Irish, when they're really representing less than 10%. Matter of fact, these types gave my forbears more headaches than a billion Brahmins could have, the old immigrants hating the new ones, and since my kinfolk arrived between 1885-1922, the welcome wasn't warm. I can see Coco carrying Orange Order flags on July 12.

         Now that I think about it...Coco definitely had a Shinto gameplan, but circa August, 1945. With no Hirohito to cease the disaster.


        I highly recommend Bill Carter's The War For Late Night, which Coco loyalists trash on Amazon to keep ratings down, a very amusing book about knaves and egomania. Unfortunately, being where I am, Coco has been on my radar since 1987 when he was writing for the astounding late night dud "The Wilton-North Report" which lasted four weeks in Dec '87/Jan '88. The Boston "media" has been touting this guy since he was Lorne Michaels lackey on SNL from 1988-on as well. So my exposure to him has been constant, like a flea in the ear canal. He had decent music guests on his 1993-2009 show, but that's it, most of his skits were warmed over Letterman detritus.
       

[Ben Shockley]

        ...I highly recommend Bill Carter's The War For Late Night, which Coco loyalists trash on Amazon to keep ratings down, a very amusing book about knaves and egomania. Unfortunately, being where I am, Coco has been on my radar since 1987 when he was writing for the astounding late night dud "The Wilton-North Report" which lasted four weeks in Dec '87/Jan '88. The Boston "media" has been touting this guy since he was Lorne Michaels lackey on SNL from 1988-on as well. So my exposure to him has been constant, like a flea in the ear canal. He had decent music guests on his 1993-2009 show, but that's it, most of his skits were warmed over Letterman detritus.       

I didn't know about those credits, but I knew he had some link to "National Lampoon," which I thought was toilet paper the few times I looked at it in the early '80s.
Any televisual product that suddenly and out of obscurity thinks it's "cool and popular" -- "The Simpsons,"  "The X Files,"  "Law and Order" -- I immediately drop.   The "coolness hype" I figure is some contrivance of the earlier-mentioned slit-eyeglasses kids plotted over ostentatious coffee.   Any product that was thinking that about itself from the start -- any of O'Brien's shows, "Friends" -- is a no-go for me anyway.

[Eddie Coyle]

Any televisual product that suddenly and out of obscurity thinks it's "cool and popular" -- "The Simpsons,"  "The X Files,"  "Law and Order" -- I immediately drop.   The "coolness hype" I figure is some contrivance of the earlier-mentioned slit-eyeglasses kids plotted over ostentatious coffee.   Any product that was thinking that about itself from the start -- any of O'Brien's shows, "Friends" -- is a no-go for me anyway.

        Many of the Chris Hayes types being scions of wealthy types who sit on boards, if not run the various corporations/agencies that give us new pablum each quarter. Their friends in the media tell us "what's cool", and the requisite hype that comes with it, magazine covers, profiles in serious journals "Time" and "Newsweek". Sadly, it seems that the "people" really do want this crud, because when an Adam Sandler film does 43M at the box office in the last week of September, that's more than hype, that's the sheep doing their part as well.

        The hip glasses thing...it's a sign of uber self consciousness run amok. I remember the fashion-challenged nerd Keith Olbermann of 1992 being a truly terrific talk show host(granted it was sports) and was a entertaining, engaging guest. As he got "hip"(-the glasses being a weathervane), he became insufferable, and by 2006 or so had become a parody. His Cronkite-aping and Murrow fixation became pathological.

        Though Olbermann was off the rails a decade prior, when he had blurbs on the 1997 Rykodisc Bill Hicks reissues, all the while Keith was a spokesman for Boston Market. I guess he never heard Hicks Artistic Roll Call bit which covers Hicks opinion on those celebrities who endorse product..."shills at the capitalist gangbang"

[Sardondi]

Just happened to read a Guardian piece (keep your friends close, but your enemies closer) on the 87th b'day of the great B.B. King. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/oct/06/bb-king-music-blues-guitar

I had to stop a minute and let this line sink in when I came to it: "Some of his (King's) 15 children (all by different mothers) and innumerable grandchildren are in the audience...". 15 children. Each by a different mother. I note he's been married twice, the last ending in 1966, so at least two of his children are legitimate (unless he took legal action to legitimize some). As for the others, who knows?

Ye gods and little fishes. 15 half-siblings with a recording artist father who has doubtless made millions over the years (although probably spent a bunch as well). Just imagine the hell storm that will follow BB's death. It almost makes me wish I was the lawyer representing his estate, because there should be years of constant litigation before that ball of worms is untangled. Unless of course BB leaves no estate and huge debts.

Not very admirable, but certainly in the tradition of the delta bluesman going back to Robert Johnson and the hellhound on his trail. I just know that if BB leaves more than a modest estate it ought to be a battle for the ages.

[McPhallus]

Screamin' Jay Hawkins is known to have fathered up to 75 children from different mothers.

Just happened to read a Guardian piece (keep your friends close, but your enemies closer) on the 87th b'day of the great B.B. King. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/oct/06/bb-king-music-blues-guitar

I had to stop a minute and let this line sink in when I came to it: "Some of his (King's) 15 children (all by different mothers) and innumerable grandchildren are in the audience...". 15 children. Each by a different mother. I note he's been married twice, the last ending in 1966, so at least two of his children are legitimate (unless he took legal action to legitimize some). As for the others, who knows?

Ye gods and little fishes. 15 half-siblings with a recording artist father who has doubtless made millions over the years (although probably spent a bunch as well). Just imagine the hell storm that will follow BB's death. It almost makes me wish I was the lawyer representing his estate, because there should be years of constant litigation before that ball of worms is untangled. Unless of course BB leaves no estate and huge debts.

Not very admirable, but certainly in the tradition of the delta bluesman going back to Robert Johnson and the hellhound on his trail. I just know that if BB leaves more than a modest estate it ought to be a battle for the ages.

[Sardondi]

Screamin' Jay Hawkins is known to have fathered up to 75 children from different mothers.

Damn! He must've put a spell on those panties...

[BigDave]

Screamin' Jay Hawkins is known to have fathered up to 75 children from different mothers.

Listen to Screaming Jay's song "Constipation Blues" on Youtube,it's funny as hell