30+ People Share Their Entertaining Stories About Working With Celebrities

Redditors shared their experiences working for and with the rich and famous

Kylin

• Published in Film & TV
• December 20, 2021

There are countless jobs that seem interesting and cool to do. Depending on who you are, there will be different types of jobs that would be more appealing than others.

Some folks interested in ocean life and the vast unknowns of the deep would likely find Marine Biology a pretty sweet gig. Others, like myself, are so deeply terrified of open water that anything having to do with a boat would be a nightmare of a job.

Others love the hustle and bustle of the entertainment industry. Putting themselves out there, getting names, and getting noticed.

Or maybe you don’t want to be in the spotlight, but next to it. An ideal job in such situations would be an assistant to celebrities.

You’d get to meet some of your own favorite stars, get into exclusive parties and places, see how the rich and famous live their lives. Maybe even receive some extra bonuses or rad gifts.

I mean, at least that’s what one would assume. But, there is a LOT that we don’t know about working for or with celebrities.

That’s where our favorite online forum, Reddit, comes in. One Reddit user decided to take it upon themselves to pose the question on the popular r/AskReddit community.

“Redditors who have worked with celebrities, what are they really like?” This prompt inspired many interesting and entertaining stories about all sorts of celebrities.

Commenters shared their own personal encounters and even some juicy details about how these superstars live. And what they are like to those who don’t share the same notoriety.

We’ve collected 30+ stories from this thread. Keep reading to see what others may have experienced, maybe your favorite celeb shows up!

The Question that inspired the fun

Danny DeVito

"I waited on Danny DeVito, he got incredibly drunk on limoncello but was the nicest man and signed my check pad. Ditto Chase and Jen Utley."

u/tagjim

Barbra Streisand

"I was accidentally cc'd in an email chain with Barbara Streisand. Her grammar seemed fine to me"

u/RudeTurnip

Nicolas Cage

"I was a stand-in for a Nicolas Cage film. He mostly kept to himself and would walk around with a cigar being all Nic Cage-like. During one fight scene there was a small amount of fire involved and something went wrong. He got super angry and started yelling at everyone. It was awesome."

Reddit

Lindsay Lohan

"Worked in private clubs/nightlife in NYC for three years. Met quite a few celebrities, but the two takeaways I remember most easily;

Lindsay Lohan listens to the worst fucking music. Seriously, deplorable. She also won't let anyone else DJ. But goddamn she danced for about 11 hours straight.

Stevie J from Love and Hip-Hop and his girlfriend/fiancee? are really cool. Actually very nice, very funny, and very in love. They genuinely find the fake fights and tension on their show humorous"

u/fuckyeahitsthursday

Jennifer Lopez

"I worked at Sirius Radio, the most notable encounters I had.

Dee Snider : Hard worker, hustler

P. Diddy : Demanding asshole prone to temper tantrums

Sam Jackson : Personable & funny

J-Lo : Always angry and in a hurry

Diamond Dallas Page : Funny guy, always on

Mick Foley : Friendly wise ass

Wes Craven : Nice to everyone, even interns"

Reddit

Eminem

"I landscaped Eminem's house, one of, if not the coolest guy I've ever met. He would come out probably every hour or so and ask how we were doing, offered to get us bottles of water or sodas. Talked to him about Detroit Tigers baseball for a little bit. Really down to earth humble guy."

u/fastball032

Drew Barrymore

"I've done a lot of work on houses for celebrities and most of the time you won't ever see them and will only deal with an assistant. That being said, Jane lynch is a lovely lady and Drew Barrymore has the most normal feeling house of a celebrity I've ever seen. So many shoes though. Also Michael Jacksons house is creepy."

u/veritascabal

Kellie Martin

"Worked with Kellie Martin and Samm Levine years ago on a short film. Kellie is one of the sweetest people I've ever met, which totally took me a back for someone who grew up on TV. (Google Life Goes On, kids.)

Samm Levine would play poker with the crew in between takes. Really nice guy. It always makes me happy when he pops up on something because I know what a fun hang he is."

u/ClubZen

Darius Rucker

"i caddied for darius rucker a couple times. huge douchebag, was horribly rude to everyone. this is at a top 100 course in the world."

u/fishneedsporpoise

Woody Allen

"Owner/operator of nightclub restaurant in a major city. There are so many, this may be redundant as its imo but...

Some of the actors from Sopranos - They were *off the page mob cliche

Many Basketball players - Specifically Paul Pierce , very low key and humble.

Howard Stern crew - Ronnie is a fucking lunatic, Howard is extremely generous very shy and his wife is beautiful in every way possible

Woody Allen (loves Jazz and basketball) though i've only met him 3 times he's the kind of guy who remembers your name etc. He doesn't smile much but its deceptive as he seems really happy in general.

Raymond Scott Benzino is fucking asshole and belongs in jail

Sean Combs loves English people , crystal and thug passions ...its a long story

Bobby Brown likes to dress down and dance all night by himself...he loves heineken and was very nice to staff and never asked for vip etc etc The loss of Whitney clearly devastated him.

tl;dr the sopranos are the sopranos IRL

Edit : Off vs Of aka I'm an illiterate douche"

Reddit

Michael McDonald

"Server in a fairly classy place. Have met a few notable people.

Michael McDonald (actor) extremely down to earth and nice as can be, offered me tickets to his comedy act.

Don Cheadle was kind of a prick, he didn't show much respect my way (why would he). Also very short and had halitosis. His wife was young and incredibly sweet as was the rest of his family.

The portion of the Boston Red Sox I took care of (coaches, players, and trainers) were extremely kind, laid back, and pretty funny. The coach gave my manager free tickets to the game since he's a huge fan.

George Takei has a fabulous entourage and is a great guy."

u/watchisonwra

P!nk

"I used to work in a super fancy very expensive high end restaurant when I lived in LA (Beverly Hills, go figure). Anyway, I met P!nk once, she was so nice! She tipped $100 and didn't mind when people asked for a picture or something, her daughter was with her too and the kid was so polite for such a young age. Jessica Simpson can go suck a dick, although I'm sure she's lost count on how many times she's done that. She was insanely self entitled, called each of the servers her 'slave' and various other names, just an all around bitch. Other celebrities came in and they were all polite but it's been a couple years"

u/Loves_me_tacos125

India Arie

"I had a chance to sit in on a recording session with India Arie. 4 time Grammy winner, so much beauty and talent, and she is as down to earth, kind, and gracious as any person I've ever met.

An angel on Earth."

u/The_Red_Paw

Joe Pesci

"My mom used to work for someone in Edgewater NJ and would often go outside for a cigarette break. She said everyday or so she would say hi to a guy with a hat and a nice big dog. This went on for 3 months or so and one day the guy comes up to her on say goodbye because he was leaving. He goes "Miss, do you know I'm Joe Pesci?". She had no idea and said he was super nice and polite and we all think they were such good friends because she didn't recognize him."

u/Invisophil

Kevin Jonas

"I haven't worked with him and I guess he's not that famous anymore, but Kevin Jonas used to come into a small shop where I worked part-time. He was always really nice and would always take pictures with fangirls and shit. And he complimented my shoes once lol."

u/awildmoogle

Katy Perry

"had the chance to be a part of the visual/dance ensemble in the 2015 Super Bowl half time show. Katy Perry was a total bitch. still love her though."

u/jShag2014

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne

"My dad runs a company that does security and production for concerts. If there's been a band or a famous person that needs a stage in our town, he's met them. Zoe Deschanel doesn't. allow stage hands to make eye contact with her. Reba McIntyre travels around backstage in one of those typical looking stages cases, so she doesn't get stopped by fans. That kinda bluegrassy band that plays Timshel but who's name escapes me are apparently some of the biggest douchebags he's met. On the other hand, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne chose to ate dinner with all the stage hands, apparently they're super nice. Def Leppard was bored one day and invited a bunch of the guys to play softball with em. The list goes on.

EDIT: Mumford and Sons is the name of the "kinda bluegrassy" band."

u/localbees

Charles Barkley

"Charles Barkley is a salt of the earth human being with a sweet family. I was the host at an Italian restaurant when he, his wife, and 2 children came in. He made a point to shake my hand (im the lowest on the totem poll as the host) and tell me he really appreciated me sitting him in the back away from people. He waited for the kitchen crew to get basketballs from their cars to sign. The loud mouth on the court and TV is a persona that his job requires/required. Dude is very kind."

u/WidespreadManic

Matt Damon

"Matt Damon stands out among the lot. He is the most down to earth actor I have ever been on set with. We chatted like old college buddies on the middle of a glacier each morning. If you are reading this Matt, you and the family welcome to come back anytime for a visit."

u/Montauk_in_February

John Leguizamo

"John Leguizamo is just a really nice guy.

I worked at a post production facility that was doing a sound mix for him last year and he was just all around really nice."

u/UnknownUser404

Jeff Goldblum

"So I've done a fair bit of work as an extra, occasionally getting to be on set with a few famous people. We're not allowed to just go up and chat to the talent, but from the interactions I've had:

Jeff Goldblum, cool as fuck in person.

Kevin Kline, kind of a dick.

Morena Baccarin, seemed nice enough."

Reddit

Britney Spears

"My old guild leader was a music producer. At the time he hadn't done anything big and assured us we didn't know his work. After I pressed him a bit for info he told us he had just done a Britney Spears (post K-Fed) song and didn't want to say anything because he didn't want the guild to make fun of him. The album hadn't been released yet but he was really hoping it would make the album. I could tell he was pretty excited about it.

He had only talked to Britney on the phone, which he said was amazing because she didn't even really need to contact him. She thanked him for his work and was very appreciative. Not sure if his song ever made it on the album as I had stopped playing shortly after. I hope it did."

Reddit

Zach Galifianakis

"I did security detail for Zach Galifinakis and he is an anti social burnout that spends all day playing video games in his trailer while he smokes weed. Every day for a two weeks he just came out to eat and didn't speak much to anyone."

Reddit

Richard Karn

"I was in a commercial with Richard Carne (Al from Home Improvement). Super super nice guy. We got to meet a mountain lion in that shoot."

u/hehyih

Robin Williams

"I was an extra on the set of a very bad movie, "A Merry Friggin' Christmas." That said, Robin Williams was incredibly nice and rather subdued. Spent a lot of the downtime playing with a couple of the smaller kid actors, kinda like Cool Uncle Robin. Wendi McClendon-Covey was also very down to earth and nice. And Joel McHale is tall. I guess he's nice. Didn't get a chance to chat with him."

u/graptemys

Nickelback

"As an audio engineer I have worked with countless names including Justin Timberlake, Bieber, Metallica, Slayer, Diplo, Frank Ocean, Ariana Grande, Imagine Dragons, Steven Stills, Skrillex, Linkin Park and so so many more. The one story I always like to bring up is working with Nickelback. I was told they would be with me for a week and my first reaction was "great, just what I needed on my resume /s." I won't leave you all in suspense. They were by far my favorite band to ever work with. Usually in every band, there is one guy who is a total dick hole. First, the drummer shows up. He starts setting up his kit and is just the nicest dude. He asks me all sorts of questions about my life and shows a genuine interest in who I am as a person. One by one, the rest of the band rolls in each one as nice or nicer than the last. I used to play in a shitty metal band and every one of the guys is into metal and we have a great convo about music in general. Finally the whole band is there but Chad, so I think, well he's the one then. He's the dick. Chad finally comes strolling in and he's the nicest one of them all. They're all Canadian and the Stanley Cup finals are on. They just wanna drink beer and hang out and make music. At one point, Chad even does an impression of Patton Oswalt doing an impression of him, which by the way, was spot on. They laugh at people making fun of them because well, they are making music for a living and having a great life. They like music, chicks and money and making Nickelback songs is how they live. They like what they do and have no shame. All around they were one of my favorite experiences in the music industry. 10/10 would work with again."

u/strapped_for_cash

Aaron Paul

"Aaron Paul comes into the restaurant I work at whenever he's in town. I work in the kitchen so I don't interact with him directly, but the servers tell me that he's very humble and low-key, doesn't attract attention when he comes in, sits with a small entourage and is genuinely pleasant to be around. He tips well and tries to take a picture with every fan who asks. He looked to the kitchen and kinda thank you-waved to us last time he was in. I was kind of awestruck at how handsome he is. I know he's a hollywood actor, but I didn't expect him to look like he just rolled off a shoot where he didn't get beaten up/put into slavery."

u/spaceman_slim

George Carlin

"Not me, but my dad, works backstage at a major theater in New Jersey. They are not allowed to ask for or receive autographs from guest performers. Every time George Carlin appeared there he would "accidentally" leave signed copies of his books behind for the crew."

u/GodofWitsandWine

Donald Faison

"Did a movie with Donald Faison a few years ago. He acted like a jackass but he was in the middle of a lawsuit at the time."

Reddit

Neil Gaiman

"I used to read scripts for the Austin Film Festival, which would earn me a pass for the writing panels and film screenings for the festival itself. I didn't work with the guests directly but they were pretty approachable, especially after panels and screening Q&A's.

Ernie Hudson, Harry Anderson (of Night Court fame) and Neil Gaiman stand out particularly as being very gracious and friendly. I chatted with Hudson after a screening of a small indie movie he was in and he couldn't have been friendlier. He signed my Ghostbusters II DVD.

Neil Gaiman stayed to sign autographs after a late screening of the film Princess Mononoke, which he wrote the English-language script for. He was also very gracious to every single fan. Got him to sign one of my Sandman trade paperbacks"

u/AustinCynic

Nicki Minaj

"A friend of mine worked at a hotel for awhile as a summer job. Nicki Minaj was touring at the time and she stayed at the hotel. The manager(s) had to brief the entire staff to treat her in different ways according to the colour of wig she was wearing. (I guess her wigs act as a mood ring or something). My friend didn't end up interacting with her."

u/zeebow77

Shakira

"Not my own experience but my accidental bodyguard's:

Shakira is beyond self-absorbed. She got driven around a golf cart and made him run alongside it the entire time

The Coldplay guys are fantastic and down to earth

Justin Bieber was... well, exactly how you'd expect him to be. Bodyguard eventually got so fed up with him that he ended up screwing around with him a couple times to get payback"

u/gcbriel

Lily Tomlin

"I was a chauffeur for Lilly Tomlin a couple of times. She was on the phone 99% of the time she was in the car and was definitely all business. She was not stuck up at all and was nice when she got in/out of the car.

I got to spend the day at Jay Leno's Garage during one of his video shoots. Very down to earth nice guy."

u/ChuckinTucson

Werner Herzog

"Worked with Werner Herzog. He is a complicated man. If he were a normal human man, he would sound unbelievably arrogant when you're just talking to him, but when you keep in mind who he is and what he's done, you realize he just has no reason other than to be completely honest about what he believes, which is weird compared to other people you talk to in Hollywood (and really people in general). It's also really weird, yet amazing, talking to someone who is an actual genius at their craft. I've never had anyone encourage me to read poetry more than that man."

Reddit

Peter Frampton

"I was backstage manager for Peter Frampton at one of his shows when he first moved to Nashville. He is shorter than you expect, but larger than life on stage. One of his guitars, a black triple-humbucker Gibson Les Paul, survived a plane crash and has the burns to prove it. Frampton is a humble, genuine and talented guy."

u/TheMaxican

And what about you?

Do you have any experiences to share? Have you ever met someone famous or worked for them?

Do you know someone who has? Get the gossip and let us know in the comments!

And share this article with your friends and family. Maybe you'll stir up some entertaining stories within your social group!

Kylin