CELEB SIGHTINGS 71
In-between all my intense sports-watching of the past few months, I managed to get out only a few times, but surprisingly, spied a celeb just about every time I did. Here are the highlights of this summer:
Christopher McDonald and his wife at the Hamlet opening.
6/4/25 Happy Gilmore and Hacks actor, Christopher McDonald, at the opening night of the very odd Hamlet at the Mark Taper Forum. Chris and I got on the elevator together after the show, (along with both of our guests and three other audience members, including at least one who was a pal of the director,) and as we descended, I could not hold myself back from observing out loud, “Well, that’s two hours none of us are getting back.” I’m thrilled to say that Chris, and all of them, actually, knowingly laughed really hard. It appeared that everyone was thrilled for someone else to say what they were all thinking. (You can still read my honest review right here: itsnotaboutme.tv/news/theatre-hamlet.)
Jay Leno. Photo by Todd Felderstein, courtesy of the LAJFF, as is the one at the top of this article.
6/26/25 This was a fun one. At the Opening Night Gala for the LA Jewish Film Festival, I was sitting on a little bench in a sort-of hidden area of the lobby of the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, when who should enter through the side door but the honoree of the event, Jay Leno! I had seen him a few other times before, (including at Costco at the height of the pandemic, when he and his wife were the only two people not wearing masks!,) but he looked extra-tall (and thin) this night. He was wearing a leather jacket and jeans and carrying a helmet, so I’m assuming he rode a motorcycle over. (And that he does not know how to dress for a Gala!!!) He looked right at me and said a quick, “Hello,” which made me feel like I was the official welcoming committee!
So why was his Italian self speaking at a Jewish event, you ask? Because he had a couple of lines in the movie that opened the festival, Midas Man, in the role of…Ed Sullivan! (Yes, his mis-casting is as awful as you would imagine.) But he spoke before the screening, and it’s a good thing he did because he let us know that the producers could not get rights to any appropriate songs, which explained the odd music choices in the film. If not for Jay’s heads-up, my friend and I agreed that we would have been scratching our heads over the song in a movie about…the Beatles’ manager!
Vincent Rodriguez, Jr. at the & Juliet opening.
8/15/25 I spied two stars of bygone and very popular television series, at the Ahmanson theatre for the opening night of the incredible Broadway musical, & Juliet. Both Ahmanson perennials, Rhoda’s Ray Buktenica and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Vincent Rodriguez, Jr., were standing in groups so close to each other in the side lobby at intermission that I thought they knew each other. It was great to see them both be so upbeat about the show, as everyone was on Opening Night! And I’m assuming, every night! (Here’s the link to my glowing review of the happy musical: itsnotaboutme.tv/news/theatre-juliet.)
8/16/25 Singer Englebert Humperdinck in…my neighborhood grocery store! He was confusedly using an ATM, but smiled when my friend, who was shocked to see him so close-up and personal, said, “It’s you!” And, fyi—he still has dark hair!
Ann-Margret, Pat Boone, and Nancy Kwan. Photo by RozWolfPR.
8/30/25 Very famous old school show biz icons Ann-Margret, Pat Boone, and Nancy Kwan in Beverly Hills showing up to the Writers Guild Theater to participate in the Cinecon Classic Film Festival. I showed Mr. X the pix of Ann-Margret, who still looks gorgeous, and he could not believe her age! She looks decades younger, no lie. Even though I’ve never met the legendary actress, I feel very close to her because during my time in the Laugh Factory Players improv troupe, whenever I’d be asked to sing as someone famous, I did Bye Bye Birdie as Ann’s character, Kim MacAfee, in the beginning of that classic film. So I’ve always privately thanked her for that because channeling her performance made my non-singing self sound good enough for the assignment.
9/12/25 Prolific stage and screen actor Obba Babatundé at the Wow Gifting Suite in the Universal Hilton. (Mr. X had just seen him on The Manchurian Candidate, so we looked him up, and that man has one of the hugest credits lists that we have ever seen!) My friend and I rode down in the elevator with Obba after the event, and he was such a gentleman! Good to see that these days.
Uzo Aduba. Photo courtesy of The Travel Lounge.
9/12/25 Emmy nominee this year, Uzo Aduba, at The Travel Lounge in the Juniper Garden of the 1 Hotel in West Hollywood. She arrived just as my friend and I were leaving, so I was happy for Uzo knowing that she was about to have the fun that we just did!
9/13/25 Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’s Carson Kressley coming out of my favorite facialist’s place, Marc Edward Skincare, in West Hollywood. I’m assuming that he was getting all glowy for the next day’s Emmys.
