My wife is going to a con this weekend and is going to get a meet&greet with Mark Hamill. I have to be at work but I'm freaking out for her. Anyone have any great meet&greet stories?

I have two…

Many years ago I was inside a Roots clothing store in downtown Vancouver and Kevin Nealon (of SNL) walks in. He seems to go generally unnoticed. At one point we randomly make eye contact, so I give a knowing look, and I say, “Oh hey, Adam Sandler, right?” He chuckles and I ask for a pic which he graciously agrees to. Only years later did I realize calling Kevin Nealon Adam Sandler was a running gag and I low key felt bad.

Fast forward a couple years and we were at a comedy club, again Vancouver (Urban Well in Kits if anyone here is familiar). We were having an OK time and then the host comes up on stage and says, “For our closing act, we have someone you all might know…” and Robin-freaking-Williams jumps on the stage. He wasn’t part of the bill, he just happened to be in the area and apparently it was a thing he did every now and then.

The next 15 minutes were the most hilarious, electrically charged and overloaded ad libbed comedy routines. I’ll never forget it. Like the scene in Aladdin where he first meets genie and it’s just classic Robin Williams going all over the place and wild.

The show ends with thunderous applause. We walk to the Starbucks a block over. We’re sitting down and guess who walks in… Robin Williams. I’m facing the door so I give him a nod and he nods back. He has a tired, almost grim look to his face so we all just let him be and we don’t approach him.

5 minutes later he walks out with a tall drink in hand. I still clearly remember he was wearing a white spring jacket, white pants and bright blue shirt.

He walks out the door and pauses. Flips up his collar, tucks his chin, and walks into the chilly night air, going for walk with what you could visibly sense was a wistful, if not heavy, heart.

I legitimately did not know anything about Robin Williams personal life or his troubles, but after he passed away it made total sense… RIP.

I was once a lighting department manager for a event lighting company in San Francisco. A friend was in charge of an interview taking place with the actor Anthony Daniels who played CP-30 in Star Wars. My friend needed a couple of of lights and a dimmer so he stopped by to pick them up on the way to the interview. It turned out he was also in charge of driving him in from the airport to the convention center so when he arrived to pick up the lights he had Anthony Daniels with him. He was super nice and charming and we went on a walk around the warehouse. He said it reminded him of being on set for movies and he casually said, "Once, when I was on the Millennium Falcon, with all of it's switches and lights blinking...then you lean a bit back, and it's all plywood and colored gels taped to it. Movie magic, I always loved it".

Just being in a casual conversation with someone who truthfully says with all seriousness that they were on the Millennium Falcon will always be a highlight.

When I was 9 my dad took me to have one of my Series of Unfortunate Events books signed by Daniel Handler, in character as Lemony Snicket.

He wore yellow and black striped socks that were very tall and silly looking. When my sister and I (who looked alike) walked up, he said "Ah, you must be triplets - I'm so sorry for your loss."

I met the guys from the pirate metal band Alestorm at a festival. They were all hammered and I told them that my sister was celebrating their birthday. They all started singing Happy Birthday To You for her and then one of the band members shoved a bunch of potato chips into my mouth. It was hilarious!

My most famous celebrity encounter was with Rick Mercer. (Who I realize is probably mostly unknown outside of Canada) He was filming some stuff for his show at my school. He was extremely nice as you'd expect. 10/10 would meet again.

I went to a few Star Trek conventions back in the 1990s. I met various actors at different conventions, including: Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, John deLancie, Patrick Stewart.

They were all just quick interactions, while the actor was signing my item. Nothing significant.

The best one was Brent Spiner. I'd brought a poster with the title "The Family Data", that had text about the various Data-related characters, plus some screenshots of scenes from 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'. He pointed to one photo, with Data and Lore facing each other, with Lore having his back to the camera and Data being face-on. Spiner pointed to that photo of Lore and joked "That wasn't me." (obviously: it was a double) He pointed at another photo of Dr Noonian Soong (another character played by Spiner) interacting with Data, and said "Nor was that." I jokingly replied "Next you'll be telling me that none of them were you!" He laughed a bit and said "No, they weren't!"

And, that was it. My time was up. I had to move on.

I am amused to realize my first thought when I saw Mark Hamill was "oh, the Joker! Nice!" rather than Luke Skywalker. I guess I just really like his Joker.

So, not my story, but a story my mom shared: she and my dad met ZZ Top on vacation. While riding the hotel elevator she commented on hearing about them staying there to my dad, and the other guy in there laughed. She later found out he was a band member, and just hadn't recognized him because he was the only member without a crazy long beard. So I'm sure he got a kick out of that.

Then later while she and dad were at dinner, a waiter asked if they'd mind sharing a table since the place was full. They agreed, which is how they ended up having a surprise dinner with ZZ Top and one of their girlfriends! She said it was a pretty chill evening overall, they spent most of it just chatting and I think they played a bit of pool. Just a fun memory for everyone involved.

At Star Wars Celebration IV ages ago, I got to meet Ray Park and Peter Mayhew. It was supposed to just be for signatures, but it was an early access day at the time. Ray was a super kind guy who sat and talked with me for far longer than I expected, and is a great memory I hold to this day. For Peter, he was kind enough to take a picture with me even though I don't believe they were strictly supposed to (he was the one to ask if I wanted one), that photo is also another great memory for me.

I was working a booth at my city's comic expo 6 or so years ago and on my break decided to go check out the booths for some local animal shelters so I could go pet some dogs. While I'm there this little French Bulldog walked up to me from outside of the booth's space, followed closely behind by Carrie Fisher. So I give him a little attention until he wants to go sniff someone else, stand up and say:
Elo: "What's this little sweetheart's name?"
Carrie: "His name is Gary."
Elo: "Gary Fisher, I love that!"

She laughed a little bit and went on her way keeping an eye on Gary, and that was our whole interaction.

I've always felt odd about seeking out the chance to meet a celebrity in any circumstance, for a long list of reasons I won't get into, so having a chance to have a relatively normal banter purely by happenstance is just about the only way I'd want it to go (shy of them deciding they were done with their fortune and deciding to bequeath me their wealth, obviously)

EDIT: Thought of a similar second example. I was at The Game Awards (in I think 2019). Vin Diesel presented some award or another and during his speech he fumbled a tiny bit and then gave a quick and very sweet story about how his daughter told him something about not giving up. Anyway, after the show as everyone was leaving the room, I was looking for a friend in the crowd when someone bumped into me. As I turned around, I was right beside Mr Diesel himself, and had made eye contact with him. I said "Hey, that story you shared about your daughter was so cute, thanks for sharing", and he said "Thank you, my kids are the light of my life," took a beat to keep eye contact, and then kept pushing through the crowd with his group.

I guess this counts as a meet and greet, but really just fortunate timing on my part. I was in Vegas to attend DEFCON and after the talks for the day I went to one of the casinos to wonder around and they had a neat little $BEER sponsored human foosball area. I think it was 5v5 or maybe 7v7 where you'd be strapped to a bar along with some other folks and play soccer with a beach ball.

While I was gathering my breath once the game was over, I saw there was a poster that Landon Donovan was going to be doing signings. He is/was a big name in MLS, the top soccer league in the States and played for the national team; one of the most recognizable names of (now) former players. As luck would have it, he was going to be doing signings due to his partnership with $BEER company in the next hour or so from when I saw the poster. Even more lucky for me, I wore one of my USA jerseys on the flight over so I had something for him to sign. One of the cooler things was I had specially ordered this jersey so that it came with some national supporters group patches on the sleeves.

I was able to grab my jersey from my room, head down to the signing area and stand in very short line. (It was kinda surreal, as one of the biggest names in US soccer, a line to have a quick conversation and get an autograph with Landon at any soccer game would have taken ages. In not widely publicized signing in Vegas, he was just a barely noticeable person at a table). Once it was my turn he kindly signed my jersey, made a quick conversation and once he saw the patch he instantly recognized it and really took time to talk to me about it. I also able to get a picture with him which was equally as awesome as getting a jersey signed. It was a really awesome little side quest for one of the things I love, while being there for a huge IT security conference; two things that I really enjoy that are completely different.

I collect handshakes rather than autographs; some notables: Alice Cooper, Matt Frewer, the Mythbusters, James Burke, Oliver Jones, a few classic SF actors, a whole bunch of politicians.

It's good to be unobtrusive when recognising such folks in public. A simple "Hey! I love your work!", offer a hand, and move on. If they engage in conversation afterwards, it's their choice. (James Burke was the best of those I chatted with. He's witty AF.)

I haven't been able to meet many movie stars or anybody that's mega famous, but I do have a story that still warms my heart.

I'm a huge racing fan, so I attend a few races a year (Indycar, IMSA, etc.). I'm also a woman who is an amateur racer, so I naturally look up to women in racing. Tatiana Calderon was in Indycar for part of the season last year and, while she didn't really make that many waves in terms of performance, I have looked up to her for years.

I had bought a Calderon jersey at the merch station that weekend (probably one of ten people, lol, I never saw another one) and brought it with me to driver meet and greet sessions to have her sign it. I got to meet a lot of my favorite drivers, but I'll never forget the look on Tatiana's face when I took out her jersey for her to sign, she seemed as overjoyed as I was! I got to gush to her about how she is an inspiration to me and she got to have at least one fan that was specifically there to see her that day (though I'm sure there were at least a few others).

That was the icing on the cake, but I got to meet a lot of other drivers, too, like Pato Oward, Helio Castroneves, Colton Herta, Will Power, Marcus Ericsson, Alex Palou, and probably a lot of others I missed. I even got Dalton Kellet to draw a goose on my hat (he posted on twitter that week that he was feeding some geese) and Connor Daly, a mullet haver, to draw a mullet on said duck.

If any of y'all are racing fans, Indycar knows how to do it for in-person events. The paddock is open, prices are relatively cheap, and you get to meet a ton of drivers, owners, staff, etc.

Edit: oh my gosh, I almost forgot the other story I had. I'm also a wrestling fan and by chance, a performing group I was in (non-wrestling) was hired by a local wrestler to beef up his entrance for a show that both had some local talent and some famous stars. So I got to hang out back stage at this event and meet some absolute legends like Booker T, Sting, Colt Cabana, I ate breakfast with Sonny Onoo and Ultimo Dragon, and I got to see how the pros plan out their matches, which was fucking sweet (two local dudes that were having a title match planned the full 15 minute match in about a minute, and both exactly knew what was going to happen, it was crazy!).

Probably my favorite encounter was when I went to see Bill Moyers speak in the late 90s (I forget what he was touring for). Afterwards I stood in line to talk to him - I didn't have anything important to say, just wanted to tell him how great his A World of Ideas series was and how much it meant to me when I watched it as a college student, and to thank him for all of his great work. I turned out to be the last person in line, and when I got to him he said he had to go and invited me to walk with him out to the parking lot. I did, and we talked about AWoI and what it was that I liked about it. He was as gracious and warm as he presents himself in his various programs, and I felt truly honored that he had spent those brief moments with me.

I met Robert Englund at a horror con. Waited in line for a pic. When I got up there, he grabbed me from behind, raised the glove and let out that loud Freddy Krueger laugh. I almost fainted. In the picture, my eyes are closed and I look like a drunken fool.

It wasn't me but a friend who met Ernie Hudson at a local con. We'll call him D. D tells me he's going and is planning on meeting Ernie. I told him to let Ernie know No Escape is my favorite movie of his. D met him and let him know. He said Ernie lit up and said no one ever brings that movie up. And apparently he was doing a panel or similar and brought it up again that someone said it's their fav film of his and was quite pleased. So I vicariously made Ernie Hudson's day lol.

Disclaimer: I'm a HUGE Trek fan.

In 2012, I was speaking at a programming conference in Kansas City the same weekend as their Comic Con. I walk into the hotel and, at the bar, with a few pals, is Wil Fucking Wheaton. He's clearly just unwinding from a day, enjoying what seem like genuine friends.

Now, I'll admit: I was one of those jerks who was all about "Shut up, Wesley" back in the day. I've since reformed.

I walk up to the guy and, for the first time in my life, I'm totally starstruck. I stammer out the inevitable question.

"Excuse me, Mr Wheaton, but, um, could I get a photo?"

It didn't even occur to me that he gets PAID for this at the con and here I'm asking for free, like a jerk.

Resigned, he sighs.

"Yeah, sure."

At once, he's all smiles. Playing the part. Wil.

The man is a mensch. The memory still warms my heart. And I still feel a pang of guilt.