Not that this is comparable to Madonna or even Matt Lauer, but there was a Minneapolis newspaper columnist for many years named Jim Klobuchar (his daughter Amy is one of our current senators, along with Al Franken). I know a guy who, as a journalism student, idolized Jim Klobuchar. So one day he saw him at some event they were both covering, and he went up and introduced himself. "Get the fuck out of here, kid," Jim Klobuchar said.
My son saw the comic character actor David Cross in the airport. He went up to him and said hi and asked if he could take his photo. David Cross was nice, I guess, but declined the photo. That's forgivable -- he's not a hugely famous celebrity, but most famous people probably do get sick of that.
So anyway, you never know. The few times I've glimpsed celebrities I've played it cool and said nothing.
OK, one more anecdote. Nobody here has probably heard of him (Barb would know him), but Dave Pirner is the lead singer of the Minneapolis-based band Soul Asylum, which was a nationally popular alt-rock band back in the '90s. Their biggest hit was "Runaway Train." He dated Wynona Ryder for a while.
I used to listen to Soul Asylum a lot in the car with the kids when they were in grade school, before they developed their own tastes. They really liked the band. So one day Jack, in 4th or 5th grade at the time, was in the liquor store with me and in walks Dave Pirner. I quietly pointed him out to Jack and Jack ran over as Dave Pirner was checking out and opened the door for him. "Thanks, man," Dave Pirner said.
It was a thrill for Jack, but what I thought at the time is that he should have told Dave Pirner he was a big Soul Asylum fan. Switcheroo -- that probably would have been kind of a thrill for Dave PIrner, then in his 40s and no longer making hit records, to have a 10-year-old fan.