My ex-BIL is in the entertainment industry. For some reason I no longer recall, Loretta Swit was at his wedding to my SIL. We have a large family photo with LS in the mix holding my then one month old son.
I have about the lowest facial recognition there is, but I would recognize Rebel Wilson I think. I loved the movies Bridesmaids and Pitch Perfect! But are you sure she was there to do SNL? They have a cast member that plays her and does a really good job, and she was in one of the skits last night (Crucible cast party).
I had to look up Rebel Wilson 
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of her.
I am a shame to my generation. I’ll go hide in a corner now…
I love this SNL skit - doesn’t have Rebel Wilson, but has Aidy Bryant who plays her.
Richard Gere.
*ooh, Richard Gere. He’s no Kurt Russell but he wasn’t that bad to look at in his prime. I think I first noticed him in Looking for Mr. Goodbar.
Saw video of Paul McCartney and Neil Young playing together last night. Let’s just say Paul’s held up better.
@teriwtt Ok, maybe it was the fake Rebel Wilson on SNL. See I can’t even recognize a fake celebrity! I assumed since I saw her at lunch and she (or the fake RW) was on SNL, that it was really her. Once my daughter texted her presence to me, I did look at her and acknowledge her from her Bridesmaids role.
(There were times when I caught an excerpt of Fey playing Palin and didn’t know which it was.)
We live in New England, in a rural area of tiny towns where it seems a growing number of celebs own homes or vacation. I see Chris Noth often at the coffee shop, and Yo Yo Ma and James Taylor at the grocery store and post office. Neil Patrick Harris and his family have been around this year too. They are all very personable and friendly to the locals, they just fit right into our small town vibe.
My daughter works at a specialty food shop during the summer, and she came home one day and said “Mom! I met Meryl Streep, and she called me “Sweetie”. Really, I asked, in what context? " She said, 'Sweetie, would you make me a turkey sandwich on a baguette?” LOL
Well, I found her so friendly and down to earth. I wish her nothing but happiness.
Re Stevie Wonder. Several years ago husband and I were at music convention NAMM. I saw Stevie Wonder waking through exhibits, his hand was on another man’s shoulder. A bit later Stevie Wonder walked in the Yamaha room we were in. husband and lots others said look look Stevie Wonder is here. I said to husband yes I saw him earlier. When h asked why I didn’t mention earlier sighting I replied well I’m always telling you I see someone we know and wrong lots of the time. Oh well it was Stevie, he sat down and played the small group a song on one of the pianos. I’m still often wrong at identifying people we know,
Fun thread! I once ran into an old friend from HS when he was a closer for the Seattle Mariners. I had seen him on TV with the Reds in the World Series several years before (even though I’m not a baseball fan I’ll occasionally watch the WS). My wife and I were in the stands and I saw him warming up on the field so we went down and got his attention. Of course he didn’t recognize me … in HS people thought I looked like one of the actors in The Lost Boys and by then, after 15 or so years in the software engineering world, I looked more like I could have starred in Revenge of the Nerds 
Anyway, I related a particularly memorable incident in HS where we were both sent to the office and that got the conversation rolling.
Do you mean Loretta Swit? If so, I thought she was charming and, of course, I have a soft spot for anyone who says my kids are adorable!
There is a fairly famous character actor who lives in my town. Every time we see him, my H says, isn’t that the guy from X movie and of course, it’s not… Once, H wanted to go up to him but I put my foot down and said absolutely not, the man is buying cold cuts, leave him alone.
Oh, there’s a reason Aidy Bryant is cast due to her imitation and resemblance to Rebel Wilson. I think she’s also played Adele on SNL. Of course, we’re talking about a show that was genius in picking Alec Baldwin to play a certain politician right now. I certainly would have never thought of Alec Baldwin!
And Rebel Wilson was in NYC this weekend, so I’m sure it was her you saw at lunch.
Many years ago I went on vacation with my family and we spent some time at the pool with a family with 3 little girls. One of the other family’s girls played with my youngest and I chatted with the mom. The older daughter listened to a lot of country music and asked me if I was a country fan. “Not really” I replied.
After the family left I was telling someone a cute story about how my daughter, unable to pronounce her new friend’s name (Gracie), was calling her what sounded like “Crazy.” The woman looked at me and said, “You know who’s child that was, right?” I said, “Sure, that nice couple, Faith and Tim.”
Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. It was probably fortunate I didn’t know who they were or I would likely have gotten all weird and star-struck and ruined any chance for nice normal play the girls would have had.
So at this gathering of old grad friends (this past weekend,) one of my closest friends back then, a guy, neither recognized me nor remembered all the things we had done together. And not only had we hung out a lot together, I was often the only gal in the group.
Thing is, with people we knew, sometimes we might remember lots of “snapshots.” Either we just do or they had some meaning to us. But over time, maybe not to the other person. And when the other is famous, has lived a life full of people, work, his own script, why should “we” be so memorable that there’s instant recognition?
“We” should not be so recognizable, but “they” should not be so rude. I’m sure there is a cordial way to let someone know you’re not sure who they are without being dismissive.
STORY ONE: When I was 7 or 8 I spent the night at a friend’s house and his mother had us come watch Jerry Lee Lewis on television. She described him as the “greatest piano player in the world,” which was all I knew of him. A few months or a year later my father took me to a Honda motorcycle dealer to buy me a Honda 50 minibike, and who happened to be there but Jerry Lee Lewis, who was buying a Honda 50 for his niece (these are no longer made, BTW).
As they were waiting for their orders to be processed, Jerry Lee stuck out his hand to my father and said, “I’m Jerry Lee Lewis.” My father, having no idea who he was, introduced himself right back. I tugged at my dad’s sleeve in an effort to inform him that he was conversing with the greatest piano player in the world, but was swatted away. I was not allowed to interrupt adults. I finally went about my business, and 30 or 45 minutes later we all got in the car and headed home. My dad turned to my mother and said, “That guy acted like I was supposed to know him,” at which point I burst out, “Daddy, you were just talking to the greatest piano player in the world!”
STORY TWO: We attended a boy’s camp in Black Mountain, North Carolina, for several summers. One afternoon my brother, who was 9 or 10, decided to go fishing by himself on the far side of a large lake. After a while he was joined by an older man, and they spent a couple of hours fishing, with my brother helping him bait his hook and put his fish on a stringer and so forth. That evening at dinner several counselors greeted him with, "I heard you went fishing with Billy Graham. Of course, my brother’s first response was, “Billy Who?”