I've been in a position to meet a number of celebrities, mostly in the arena of the convention. This makes for an odd situation. You've been walking around all day, see that Person X from that TV show you like has no line by them and you go up to say hi to them and get an autograph. You feel that you know them a little from watching the show and reading their interviews and discussing them with your friends whereas they have no clue who you are. Are you creepy fan? Over enthusiastic fan? Good-natured fan? They've been meeting people all day. They might be tired. They might be hungry. They might have to go to the bathroom. The fan before you might have talked their ear off about details of the show they have no control over. Now you two will meet and your opinion of them may change based on a couple of moments of shared time. It's a weird situation.
Thankfully, most everyone I've had the pleasure of meeting has been nice in some way. Some were nicer moments than others. I try to have something planned to say to them, even if it's nothing to do with their career. At a Doctor Who convention some years ago, I got to meet Sylvester McCoy early on a Sunday morning. Understandably he looked tired and I led with a comment about the length of the weekend. We had a nice chat about the convention in general and when he'd be going home and things like that. I liked that moment. I like to think he did too. He seemed a bit more awake after it. He may just have been pleased that I didn't have a question about 'Ghost Light'. That I don't know.
I spent a good chunk of yesterday at the Chicago Comic-Con with my buddy George. There were a ton of what we can call 'media' guests; people that aren't necessarily from a comic book related product, but have some appeal to geeks. This year there were some movie actors, cartoon voice-over artists, ladies who had posed for Playboy and died early in some low budget horror film, Star Wars actors, and a number of wrestlers. There were lots of people I would have enjoyed meeting and greeting but the expectation if you approach someone like this is that you don't just some up, say hi and thank you and leave. You buy something from them. Maybe not buying something is acceptable, I don't know, I just feel like I'd be the guy that, as soon as I walked away, they'd turn to their buddy and go 'Did you see that? Didn't buy nothing'. As I have that stuck in my head and I was attending the Con on a budget, I'd have to pick my moment and my celebrity. When the line for him died down, I queued up for Rowdy Roddy Piper.
Piper is awesome. If Robin Williams wrestled, he'd want to be Piper. Piper's funny, a good worker, and has 'They Live' in his credits. His career has been up and down. From interviews, he strikes me as the kind of guy that loves his family and knows he's blessed with what he's gotten, not that he hasn't worked hard for it, but that it all came together for him.
For the record, Piper's been out of shape the last couple times he was on TV. He was sick, had been in a car wreck, generally had some problems. The Piper I saw at the Con was in shape, raring to go Piper. The man looked like...well, he looked like Roddy Piper, not some guy that ate Roddy Piper.
The line was only a couple people deep at the point I got in it. I handed my bag to George for safekeeping. He'd take a picture of me with Piper. I discussed a purchase of an 8 x 10 from his manager fellow and waited for a moment.
I had no clue what to say. At all. The only thing in my head at that moment was 'That's Roddy Piper!' The excitement wasn't dying down. There was a good chance that I'd look like an idiot in a moment. Wouldn't be the first time. Suddenly, the people cleared. I was three steps away from the Rowdy One and it was my turn to approach him.
Lots of celebrities sit in their little booth. Why wouldn't you? It's a long day. My feet and back were sore from all the standing and walking. Piper was out front, standing, smiling. "Look at this guy, all full of life," he noted, reacting to my excited grin. "How's it goin'?" Hands were shook. "Got an autograph comin'? Okay man, what's your name?"
I was instantly at ease. Excited, but at ease. He greeted me like my presence was a pleasure to him. It was like he was welcoming me to the family. Like we were new buddies.
He continued chatting to me as he signed the picture of him that I'd chosen, pausing occasionally to look up at me because he was talking to me. "How're things going?" I wasn't going to go into a long story with him about my situation but I told the truth from my perspective: okay. Piper's serious voice kicked in. "That's good. Times are tough for a lotta folks right now." Yeah, well, I try to focus on the positive, was my response. He paused, looked up at me with a big grin, and winked. I'd said the magic words. This was the right thing to say.
"You got family?" I was thrown off by this new question. It was related in a way but I hadn't expected it. I stumbled through a yeah, in a way that everyone has family, but not one of my own, no. Two of Piper's children were also guests at the show. Their booth was right next to his. "Ya want one'a my kids? The youngest is pretty good at mopping and cleaning floors." This drew an annoyed 'hey!' from the daughter in question. "Aw, no, they heard me again." Shtick! Love it!
Then it was picture taking time. George was ready. Piper put an arm around me, and I him. "Make a fist man, the girls love it." That's what he was doing with his left hand. I did the same with my right. Suddenly the formerly silent voice in my head kicked in. "That's not how you pose!" At the last moment, my hand reconfigured into the four upraised fingers of the Horsemen salute. If he noticed, he didn't mention it.
We shook hands. I got my autographed picture. I thanked him. I called him Mr. Piper and sir a lot. I walked away giddy.
He was extra super nice. He was probably doing the same routine for everyone but that's not a problem. For those couple minutes, he was paying attention to me, making me feel like my presence was wanted. It was awesome.
Thank you Roddy Piper!
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