Celebrity Acquaintance

 

This certainly became the case across various platforms which at times push me to watch millennials and very young influencers with no talent, desperately trying to become famous for the sake of becoming rich and famous. A trend that is getting progressively worse.

Some years ago through a friend who manages celebs, I went to watch a famous Comedian perform. (No. I will not identify him). Opportunity happened and I carpe diem; I was invited to hang out with his "Entourage" and watch his radio show.

He was highly accomplished; movies, scripts, Broadway shows, tours, Emmies and so on. After the show, I stood next to him waiting for his limo that his manager was driving.

"Did you ever think you'd be standing next to [insert celeb name] and invited to listen to my radio show?" he asked. "I'm in the medical field, I have seen what happens to all of us in the end. Very few people impress me." I replied.

Then I looked at him: "Did YOU ever think you would meet and stand next to someone like Meeee?", I quipped and smiled at him. 

This would be the time to uninvite me and I would simply take a cab home after laughing for two hours at his cerebral and political humor. I wanted to ensure that he would not expect to be worshipped.

It surprised him and he laughed. We all drove to the venue where he did his radio show, which initially had some technical difficulties because someone had gotten the time zone wrong. He was off air while he thought he was on air and just as he yelled: " IMBECILES!!! How hard can this be?" he was on air. We provided the laughing track.

Afterwards, I was invited any time he performed in town and participated in his routine. After the show he invited a group of young professionals to high end restaurants so that he could unwind. No drugs and a minimum of alcohol. We conversed for hours. Then we would take long walks because he enjoyed architecture and sightseeing at 2am.

The dinners kept him connected to the "real world," and all of us had the same thing in common; funny, intellectual, intelligent mostly younger professionals and able to hold conversations that ranged from architecture to pharma. We provided him with material and acted as his audience. On one occasion he liked one of my jokes, wrote it down on a napkin, and asked if he could use it.

I always looked forward to this and the random seeming groups he selected from all types of backgrounds. We entertained each other, laughed a lot, he would invite us and connect beyond touring cities and lavish hotels.

I view this experience differently now, but it also confirms what I already knew. There is no overnight success. During those walks he sometimes shared a little about his failures. He worked incredibly hard, encountered frustration and controversy. When I watch some of the young wannabes and their entitlement, who watch social media and think that wealth should simply drop into their laps because that is what inspires them, I know it's an illusion. That attitude among some has always existed. (They usually turned into losers). But when I occasionally overhear todays youth, they are not passionately talking about their craft, their passion, their business idea or planned path. All they talk about is wealth, because that is what social media is teaching them.

Life is short, opportunities are rare and random, I seized them when they felt right. Living a great life is like that.