Who is the most famous/noteworthy person you've seen speak in person?

So...recently some of my friends were talking about famous people they've met. Me, I've never really met anyone famous. However, due to some events...I HAVE been in attendance for some fairly impressive speeches by noted people. So, that was my way of not feeling like a doofus for never having met anyone really famous.

In the summer of 2001, a good friend of mine graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis and invited me to attend. I was surprised to find out that the key note speaker would be President G.W. Bush. Politics aside....how many people get to say they saw the president speak in person?

My other notable experience was being sworn into the NYPD by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Now, I didn't stay in the NYPD for very long....but again.....how many people can say that Michael Bloomberg was their boss?

So tell me....which people of note have you had the good fortune to see speak in person?

When I lived in NYC, I went to a reading that Neil Gaiman did from his book Fragile Things. John Oliver from the Daily Show was the moderator.

If I could have stayed til 4am, I would have briefly met Neil, but since I got there at 6pm, I wasn't down for staying that long.


Edit: Not counting rockstars I've seen in concert who can sometimes be a little preachy...

I attended Bill Clinton's first State of the Union speech. It was pretty inspiring. I saw him, Gore, and both of California's senators speak three years later at an event promoting information technology access in schools.

I've spoken with Tommy Lee Jones, Mark Crawford (Many times), David Duchovney, Robin Williams, and Cate Blanchette. I've seen lots of famous people as well just around Vancouver's downtown.

I've seen Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Jerry Brown and Pete Wilson (while he was the governor of California.)

I had terrible seats for Obama, so I didn't enjoy that speech as much as I did President Clinton. I also shook his hand afterward. He spoke at the fairgrounds in my hometown on Labor Day 1994.

I've met two of my favorite directors, David Cronenberg and Wim Wenders. Cronenberg was appeared after a sneak preview of "Spider" several years ago here in Denver and I got to participate in the Q&A after the film. Wenders came to my school a few years ago as a sidestop on a promotional tour for his film "Don't Come Knocking." Both very tall, very intelligent guys. It was really awesome.

I spent an intimate evening with Edward James Olmos up at Sac State a few years ago... he was as warm, personal, and inspiring as one might expect.

i peed next to clint eastwood while skiing in sun valley once.

If you are serious, than you win.
"Sorry, Tuco..."

i swear to god. upper lodge. bald mountain. december of 1990, if i remember correctly.

I am so jealous haha he is one of my idol. Sergio Leone's movies FTW

I worked with Eric McCormack from Wil and Grace... we got stoned and watched the first ep. of Twin Peaks

David Suzuki gave me an award and shook my hand when I was in grade 6. (For those of you who are not Canadian and don't know Suzuki, he is a environmental activist.)

When I lived in West Hollywood I used to ride my motorcycle with a tinted visor. One day I was stuck in traffic and saw Fabio in his car across the median. I honked, and when he looked over I flipped him the bird. He laughed and flipped me off right back. I thought he was pretty cool for that.

Then I started to do it to famous people whenever I had the chance:

Ed McMahon - he was not amused.
Kirsty Alley - also not amused.
Joe Rogan - surprisingly not amused.
Chris Rock - amused.


There were a few others, just can't remember them now.

I would really like to meet him, sounds like a very interesting guy.

I gave Al Haig the finger and he gave right back.

Maus creator Art Spiegelman came to SUNY Oswego to give a lecture about the history of comics and I was able to go to that since I was TA-ing the comics course. We'd done a Maus project when I took the class as a student the previous semester. I was able to meet Art the next morning he shook my hand and said, "Oh yeah, you're the guy who thinks my work stinks!"

You'd have to read the comic I made to get that, but still, pretty cool.

I've met a lot of famous people over the years. My dad was a journalist back in the 80s so he made a lot of contacts.

I used to work in the antiques and design trade in London, and we had our fair share of the rich and famous coming through the doors. I think my fave celebs were Billy Connolly, David and Patsy Puttnam, and Queen Noor of Jordan. I got to hang the curtains in the Pet Shop Boys offices, and we designed Freddie Mercury's bed - it was ebony and gilt, a big gold eagle with its wings out over the bed head. Very fitting.

Now I work in IT, I meet no-one famous

I got to watch Azar Nafisi speak about life in Iran a few years ago. She signed my book. And I caught George Carlin's act in Las Vegas about 6 years ago. I would have seen Neil Gaiman at Comicon 2 years ago, but I was pushed out of the room by introversion and a girl with fake wings.

while they dont even compare to most of the above people, they definitly had a huge impact on popular culture, but ive seen kevin smith speak a few times, and i saw joss whedon speak last night

thats pretty sweet

I've always thought my wife's claim to celeb fame is the coolest, though. She was held, as a baby, by the first man in space. Yuri Gagarin visited Manchester, mainly to thank the workers at the Marconi factory for the work they'd done for the Soviet space programme. Apparently, when he went to the Town Hall the crowds were unbelievable. But he plucked my wife from her mum's arms and was photographed holding her by the local paper.

I tell everyone, and she gets so embarrassed.

Let's see...
Pope PJII
Madeline Albright x2
Hillary Clinton
Michelle Obama
Magic Johnson
Malcolm Gladwell
Chuck Palahniuk

richie havens
arlo guthrie
cypress hill
george clinton
marilyn manson

definitely the most cool was BB king. i pissed next to him at a rest stop.

i have to admit, i looked. i mean, how often do you get to say you saw a famous persons cock in person?