Should I approach Famous People for an Autograph?

Fox Hound

So today I saw 3 "famous people"...well more like one famous person and two kinda Famous people....Anyway walking up Grafton Street I saw Pat Short, The granddad from Miss's Browns Boys....And then Billy Connolly, all in the space of about Five mins...to be honest  the other two I wouldn't have approached Unless I was a hardcore fan...But I am regretting not going up to Billy Connolly as he is an actual living legend...is anybody out there like me and just doesn't have the bottle to approach them?
I always feel like id really be bothering them...anyway just looking for some other peoples experience with this/funny stories

I'd leave them to live their lives in peace and go about their business without being disturbed. How much is a scrawled signature on the back of an old envelope going to mean to you anyway? They're human beings too, let them get on with their 'off-duty' lives like the rest of us.

Winterlong

Selfies are the new autograph.
I would not be going up to a famous person looking for a pic or an autograph unless they are at some publicity event...bit cringeworthy no?

The Backwards Man

I don't believe it.

campo

If they looked busy I would leave them but if they looked like they were OK about being approached then I would go over and say hello Mr. Connolly I am a big fan would you mind take a photo with me, worse he can say is F off and sure then I would have a story about when Billy Connolly told me to F off

Maximus Alexander

What is the autograph for? I never understood that.

campo

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

What is the autograph for? I never understood that.

Some folks collect them, even have autograph books and in years to come who knows might even be worth something.

What I do hate is the people who ask say a footballer for his autograph on their kit and go straight home and put it up on ebay.

If I was a celeb I would pose for a photo but no chance of a autograph

seachto7

Nowadays, it'll be most likely a pic. I was going to ask Zinedan Kilbane for a pic last night in a burrito place, but though I'd leave him be...

campo

seachto7 wrote: »

Nowadays, it'll be most likely a pic. I was going to ask Zinedan Kilbane for a pic last night in a burrito place, but though I'd leave him be...

He comes across a lad that be well up for it

ArmaniJeanss

You : go up to them and say "How about an autograph?".
Minor Celebrity (secretly delighted to be recognised) : "Go on then".
You : Hand them beer mat or paper with your name written on it already and say "There you go".

Much guffawing.

campo

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

You : go up to them and say "How about an autograph?".
Minor Celebrity (secretly delighted to be recognised) : "Go on then".
You : Hand them beer mat or paper with your name written on it already and say "There you go".

Much guffawing.

Pat Short would have loved that

biko

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law

AnneFrank

it's pathetic asking for these things, get a life

Gone Drinking

AnneFrank wrote: »

it's pathetic asking for these things, get a life

Don't be jealous because you weren't around to enjoy your fame

kunst nugget

Fox Hound wrote: »

But I am regretting not going up to Billy Connolly as he is an actual living legend

Out of respect for the fact that he has Parkinson's I'd be reluctant to go up to Billy Connelly and ask for an autograph.

AnneFrank

kunst nugget wrote: »

Out of respect for the fact that he has Parkinson's I'd be reluctant to go up to Billy Connelly and ask for an autograph.

he might do a pretty good truffle shuffle though if you asked nicely

Taltos

Remember hearing years ago that so many "celebrities" liked Ireland because they could just go about their business without having to worry about all the hassle fame brings them elsewhere.

Fox Hound

kunst nugget wrote: »

Fox Hound wrote: »

But I am regretting not going up to Billy Connolly as he is an actual living legend

Out of respect for the fact that he has Parkinson's I'd be reluctant to go up to Billy Connelly and ask for an autograph.

That was probably the main reason I didn't do anything, he did look pretty frail and I didn't want to hassle him.

Fox Hound

kunst nugget wrote: »

Fox Hound wrote: »

But I am regretting not going up to Billy Connolly as he is an actual living legend

Out of respect for the fact that he has Parkinson's I'd be reluctant to go up to Billy Connelly and ask for an autograph.

That was probably the main reason I didn't do anything, he did look pretty frail and I didn't want to hassle him.

Fox Hound

AnneFrank wrote: »

it's pathetic asking for these things, get a life

I didn't ask him though,
Read Much?

whoopsadoodles

I don't really get autographs. Or celebrities, for that matter.

Except Holly Willoughby of course, I love her and want to have her babies.

andekwarhola

Got stuff signed once or twice (by footballers) for my kids. Made their day.

Ditto have a few from my own childhood and teens.

Adults asking for themselves is a bit strange for me but each to their own.

Being really famous must be a pain in the arse tbh. They wouldn't be human if they didn't crack occasionally at the nuisance to which they're subjected

andekwarhola

AnneFrank wrote: »

it's pathetic asking for these things, get a life

Pipe down. The gestapo will hear your whinging under the stairs.

Fox Hound

I also met Tommy Tiernan on a different occasion and he was being stopped on the street getting in pictures with people,
Maybe it is just an Irish thing in me that I don't want to bother them,....Just wanted to see if others would do the same!

Agricola

I literally ran into Karl Spain on a bridge in Limerick a couple of years ago and asked him for a quick pic. He was really cool about it.... even when i turned the phone to landscape because he was too wide to get into the shot.

ToddyDoody

Famous people should scan a copy of their autograph to their website so Jo and Josephine fan can print off a copy.

Would provide a whole new meaning to the boast "I got his / her autograph"

suicide_circus

Autographs were from a time when movie stars and musicians were these mythical larger than life superhumans. Nowadays I'm updated every time a talentless wretch of a celebrity has a bowel movement.

The magic is gone.

WickIow Brave

Agricola wrote: »

I literally ran into Karl Spain on a bridge in Limerick a couple of years ago and asked him for a quick pic. He was really cool about it.... even when i turned the phone to landscape because he was too wide to get into the shot.

Howling

ger vallely

I totally bumped into Martin Sheen one afternoon, he was doing his grocery shopping in a local Galway supermarket. I regret, in a way, not approaching him. Never would have asked him for an autograph. Just to tell him that from my early teens he made an impression on my life and that I admired his work. But he was in an anorak, buying toilet paper( I looked in his trolly!) and other bits and pieces. It just seemed stupid to bother him. But I must have done some weird eye contact, although I bet he is way used to that.

muddypaws

I took some kids to a Spurs pre season friendly near London when David Ginola was playing for them. It was also around the time that he was advertising a shampoo, and we'd had some sachets of the stuff posted through our letterboxes. One of the kids brought one of the sachets along with him and approached Ginola after the match and asked him to sign it. The look on his face was priceless, but he laughed and happily signed it. The lad was over the moon.

topmanamillion

To be fair I think Billy Connolly is happy enough to be approached.
I remember watching a programme he was in (I think it might have been Who do you think you are?) and he went to Glasgow and he couldn't walk 2 feet without someone either shouting "How`re ye Big Yin" or coming up to him asking him for an autograph or selfie.
The cameraman asked did he mind all the attention and he just said its much better than getting abuse shouted at you from strangers, which he`s been on the end of too.

I think Billy Connolly is a living legend and a true gentleman. I don't think he would have any problem with a genuine fan approaching him and telling him they appreciate his work and he`s given them hours of enjoyment and if it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience, would he mind posing for a pic or scribbling on a piece of paper as they`d really cherish a memento from meeting him.

TLDR: Famous people are people too and if you treat them with respect and talk to them like people they are usually happy to oblige a small request.

Boaty

Daniel Day Lewis goes to a certain location during the summer, he's able to read a book outside while his kid engages in the activity. Plenty of people are around/passing but never bother him as its clear he and his wife don't want attention judging by the cars they drive.

Austria!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRizmLpawrw

aziz

Billy Connolly is one of the nicest and sound people I have met , I was with him in a hotel bar after a show many years ago and he was very normal just sitting there having a chat about the show and other things without having a drink, just a mineral water.
Others in the bar as it got later were shouting over to him in a nice way to tell some jokes so after a small while before he was heading back to his room he say goodbye to me and suddenly jumped up on a table and started to sing Danny boy.
After he finished he done a few quick signings and left.
Legend

JupiterKid

Aren't us Irish supposed to be pretty indifferent to celebrities, not falling about the place to get a pic with them or get their autograph?

I had heard years ago that's one of the reasons so many celebs like Ireland.

CoDy1

The line between actual celebrities and being known for being on some tv show is quiet blurred. I would approach some but others I would leave be. The former would probably expect it but the latter would probably crave it.

AnneFrank

the ireland of today is full of wannabe west brit celebrities,
just look at the holy show Cork made of itself when the queen came to town.

Wanderer78

I'd just politely say hello, if they engage, happy days, if not, respect their down time. They are after all, just human beings like ourselves. What a horrible lifestyle though, wouldn't like it at all.

El Tarangu

Agricola wrote: »

I literally ran into Karl Spain on a bridge in Limerick a couple of years ago and asked him for a quick pic. He was really cool about it.... even when i turned the phone to landscape because he was too wide to get into the shot.

I wouldn't have thought it possible for someone to be less funny than Karl Spain, but fair play to you, you somehow managed.

elefant

If I saw a comedian, band-member, actor etc. that I was a genuine fan of at an event I would go to shake their hand to show my appreciation for what they do.

I wouldn't bother them if they were just going about their daily business. And I certainly wouldn't presume to take up their time getting selfies or asking for autographs. I can only imagine how tiresome that gets after a couple of weeks, never mind a couple of decades!

whiskeyman

The best autograph request ever...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKfEtYYqSl4

diomed

I've congratulated famous jockeys, Michael Kinane and Johnny Murtagh, after they won the English Derby earlier that afternoon. Both times I had got on an Aer Lingus aircraft going back to Dublin. I just mumbled a few words. They were fine with it. I remember the flight crew later announced it and they got a big round of applause.

BlinkingLights

I was at a telly-related event and someone asked me for my autograph and a selfie.

I have no idea who they thought I was, but apparently they were very excited to see me.

It could also have been an elaborate identity theft scam.

I'm definitely not famous.

Cazale

I saw Billy Connolly on Saturday too in Brown Thomas. I like his stuff but I'm not a massive fan either so didn't approach him. Another fella did ask for a selfie though and he seemed cool about it.