I've had the pleasure of meeting Rob last year. I totally agree with you. I was thrilled at how nice, open and genuine he was. I got to talk to him for a good few minutes as the line was very slow that day. It's nice to run into people that behave like people - even if they are at the pinnacle of their craft.

Well, part of it is just con professionalism. After all, you're their customers, and treating your customers badly is always bad practice - something quite a few celebrities forget (or are high enough on the A-list they can be surly and still have people lined up around the block).

But yes, some of them are actually human beings, and I've met a few. Always a treat to meet them. I remember meeting Glenn Shadix (otherwise known as Otho from Beetlejuice) at a Marcon one year. Very nice fellow; we talked a bit about this very topic, and he agreed it was nice when folks at the "back of the table" treated their fans like human beings, too.

Still have his signed Mayor (from Nightmare before Christmas) plate - one of my only autographs.

I've hung out with Rob. Rob is one of the nicest, most sincere, funniest, and most fun loving people on the freaking planet....and omg you met Glenn <3 <3 <3 RIP ;_; i'm so glad he got to meet someone who seems as decent as you do.

Well, I try REALLY hard not to fall into the Cult of the Celebrity. That has advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage is that you can associate with them as just people that happen to be very well known. I'll ask them, quite frequently, about stuff they're interested in that they are NOT famous for, and just listen to them talk about themselves. The doubletakes are priceless - "You mean, you DON'T want me to talk about [insert character here]?!" - and some of the stories are fascinating.

The disadvantage is I don't stroke people's egos, and I don't bow down to them simply because they are famous. That's rubbed a few quite the wrong way, as they're used to being genuflected to by adoring fans. I don't treat them as deities or larger then life - I just treat 'em as people, and a minority doesn't like that at all.

But occasionally, I'll squee and fanboy someone I really like, like anyone else. I'm not above it all, after all.

The 'celebs' I tend to like most are the really laid back appreciative ones.

Back in 1994 Weird Al played a concert at the Rocky Point palladium. Rocky Point was Rhode Islands very own amusement park, and it had been there for over 100 years only by the time the 90's hit it was in rough shape. A series of seedy business people had neglected it. When my friend Joe and I went to see him we couldn't help being bummed out before the show because we knew that as awesome as it was seeing Al we were losing the place where we'd spent a lot of time growing up.

We saw Al waiting in line outside the Corkscrew coaster, and yelled 'AL!'. He turned to us, and yelled 'STRANGER!'. We both said hi and I remember us doing a bit of gushing mostly me. Al was so gracious. He bowed to us and told us that it always meant a lot to him. We chatted with him a bit-I think we talked with his gf/soon to be fiance-and had a great convo. After mentioning the park was going to be closing for good, and how bummed we were it was like a transformation came over him.

He rushed past everyone and commandeered the Corkscrew in the name of fun. He told the people working the ride to keep going. I think we went around three or four times, and all the while he was snapping off the funniest comments ever. By the time we got off we were more out of breath from his maniacal performance than from the ride itself. Later on we got to stand up front for what was and still is one of the greatest concerts I've ever been to.

So I know Weird Al is cool. :) It's one of the main reasons why he's one of the few folks I call my hero.

I think that story is more epic than any I have!

Weird Al is a classic Ascended Fanboy. He remembers, even after all these years, what it was like on the other side, and he's awesome.

I've heard stories, soon after he got eye surgery and lost his trademark mustache, of him stooging his own concerts, appearing somewhere in the audience yelling stuff like "Where's Weird Al?!" and "C'mon, you lamer, get up on stage and get to work!" People would stare at the apparent heckler, until they realized that the "hooligan" was in fact Weird Al himself.

There's a perhaps apocryphal quote attributed to him, soon after Michael Jackson died: "I never imagined a world where I'd still be relevant and Michael Jackson wouldn't be." It's known that Weird Al was one of MJ's very, very few genuine friends - he brought some happiness to that very lonely man's life, and was very, very sad when his friend died.

He's one of the few celebs I'd move Heaven and Earth to meet, because with him, what you see is what you get. He's the genuine article, and heaven only knows he's a national treasure, and an underappreciated one.

Yup.

Lucky

That must have been fun.

Rob is a class act. <3

I really miss all the FUGGING AMAZING CARTOONS OF THE 80s and 90s!

*grin* Glad you had fun. I've heard Rob is awesome... and of course he's done the voices behind some of my favorite characters, or close associates of those characters. Hope to meet him myself someday.

Yep, that sounds like Rob, based on what I've witnessed from his podcast. Truly a fun guy who really enjoys his fans.