19 people share stories of their best and worst celebrity encounters.

There's a saying, 'never meet your heroes,' but I call bullsh*t. Because you might meet your heroes and they turn out to be really f*cking cool. Or maybe they turn out to be a total a**hole. But either way, you have a good story to tell.

In a popular Reddit thread, someone asked people to share stories of their best and worst celebrity encounters.

Here are 19 stories of celebrity encounters that went either very well, or very badly:

1.) From gleam:

Some location scouts decided to use my parents' house for a couple scenes in the Steve Martin/Laura Dern/Helena Bonham Carter movie 'Novocaine'. My dad was and is a pretty good banjo player, and he asked Steve to sign two of his banjos.

He did, but then they jammed for about 20 minutes in our living room, Helena Bonham Carter sitting on the floor fawning over Steve Martin and half the crew standing around watching as well. It was super cool.

2.) From pietro187:

Paris Hilton. Met her at the premier of The L Word. She could not have been nicer. Introduced herself, asked about what my friends and I all did, seemed genuinely interested, chatted for a bit. She had water in between her drinks so as not to get drunk.

The only part about her that sucked were all the leeches that came with her trying to glom on to her fame. When she wasn't being constantly interrupted by people demanding photos and autographs, I found her very down to earth and clever. The whole shit she does to be famous seems to just be an act. I never thought of her as an idiot again.

3.) From Verklemptomaniac:

My sister was waiting tables in NYC, and ended up serving Patrick Stewart. She didn't want to bother him, so she just did her job, but at the end of the night she told him how much she had enjoyed seeing him in a production of Hamlet that year (2008), and that she hoped he was planning to do more theater in the US.

My sister was prepared to leave it at that, but apparently, he was so thrilled at someone who wanted to talk about his theater work (as opposed to Star Trek), that he ended up talking to my sister for a while about his experiences on stage. Just a really nice guy who loves acting.

4.) From LincolnMoneyshot:

Alec Baldwin attempted to rescue me and my friends about 15 years ago.

I grew up near Wilmington, NC, and my friends and I were out fishing in a small boat. Our lines get tangled up in the motor, we can't steer the boat, and it ends up washed up on the beach on an island.

Waves are constantly crashing over it, filling it with water way faster than we can bail. We send one friend to the intercostal waterway side of the island to get help. He comes back with some random guy, and Alec Baldwin.

Alec stayed there and helped us for a good 15 minutes, when he easily could have just left these 4 dumb kids who weren't in any real danger. Super nice guy. Eventually even with their help we couldn't free the boat, so they took my friend onto their boat (with Kim Basinger and her friend) to their house, where my friend called for help. Eventually some Coast Guard guys came with a bilge pump to free us. Thanks Alec!

5.) From redspur26:

Bruce Willis

I was out playing golf with a buddy one day when I heard another golfer call up from behind asking he could join us. We said sure and as he got closer we realized it was Bruce Willis. We played 9 holes with him (he's a pretty good golfer) then he bought each of us a beer afterwards. Awesome guy

6.) From [deleted]:

I was bouncing at a crappy bar in Boston around the corner from a venue with a beach boys concert. After the concert, lots of fans come in, i am not really paying attention and one of them has no ID. I tell him he can't come in, not looking at the the shorter guy he is with who says 'he is with me, I got my ID' and gives me his California license. It says John Stamos.

I look up and sure enough it's John Stamos with a little smirk, short unshaven still really good looking with a hat on. I let them in and they drink at the back of the bar totally incognito. On the way out he thanks me for letting his friend in. I find out later he was playing with the beach boys and the guy with no ID was in the band. He was a nice, unassuming guy.

7.) From shmoey:

A friend of mine was visiting California when he ran into Dave Chappell at a hotel. My friend and a few others realized who he was and went to approach him for a picture. Dave was near the elevators and shoved a Twix in his mouth so he couldn't talk like in the commercials then hopped on and shut the doors. F**king Hilarious

8.) From [deleted]:

Best: Eating breakfast next to Johnny Cash at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis/hitting him with a straw wrapper. I was 7 at the time so I didn't think it was awesome then, but hearing the story now? Uber cool.

I was doing that thing where you blow the wrapper off your straw and shoot it at someone. I was aiming for my parents, but the damn wrapper just went wherever it wanted and flew right in front of Johnny Cash and landed on his plate. My parents made me apologize and apparently he tossed a napkin at me in retaliation. If only I had been old enough to appreciate how amazing that was.

9.) From [deleted]:

I saw Jack White, Meg White, and Renee Zellweger leaving an adult bookstore in Toronto. My friend proclaimed, 'Hey, you're Jack White!'

He smiled, and they got in their hired car and left.

10.) From Sidow:

The funniest celebrity story I ever heard was about Jim Carrey. I had a friend who worked behind the scenes at Universal Studios Hollywood and loved to share this story whenever he had the chance.

One day while filming How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Jim Carrey was apparently bored out of his mind and wanted to cause a little mischief. While the tram tour guide was showing the infamous 'Psycho House' to a group of park visitors, Jim Carrey decided to dress up as a psycho killer with a fake knife he was able to retrieve from a costume director.

Just as the tour guide started to drive the tram away from the house, Jim Carrey jumped out from behind the Psycho House and started running after the tram at full speed while slashing in the air and screaming at the top of his lungs.

Apparently, Jim Carrey's acting ability was pretty spot on, as he was able to scare the crap out of a few of the guests. After a few minutes he removed the mask and shared a laugh with everyone on board the tram. He even signed autographs and took pictures with everyone that was involved in his own form of self entertainment.

11.) From [deleted]:

I had presale tickets to a Nine Inch Nails show in Atlanta a few summers ago. The system was set so that you could only pick up your tickets at will call if you bought presale. Whoever wound up running the will call booth was dumber than an emu and a couple dozen of us wound up missing half of the NIN set.

To make amends Reznor/his PR people gave us free pit tickets to the show in Charlotte, a free chartered bus for travel, free admission to sound check, and the opportunity to meet the band before the show. When I finally met Trent, he apologized one more time.

12.) From generaltsao:

I walked past Conan O'Brien on a street corner in Greenwich Village, NYC. I am a HUGE fan, so I double backed to say hello. Conan was with his wife (this was approx 2 weeks before the NBC fiasco went public, so he was probably stressing about that) and I was with two stoned friends.

So I'd forgive Coco for being dismissive... but he was not. He was as friendly, approachable, and genuine as he appears on the show, if not more. He gave us several minutes of attention, he spoke to us, looked at our eyes, listened, joked, he was the f**king man.

13.) From [deleted]:

I don't have a worst, only a best. A couple years ago my brother and I got on the set of EASTBOUND AND DOWN in Wilmington, NC to watch them finish up shooting. We got to see Danny McBride and Ben Best on the jetski and then hung around a school while he and David Gordon Green (director of PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, YOUR HIGHNESS, and GEORGE WASHINGTON) did some pick up shots.

At the end of the shoot we went to say goodbye to them and says thanks for letting us hang out. Danny was shocked that we were saying goodbye and said, 'Aren't y'all coming to the wrap party?' We told him that we hadn't been invited. 'Well you are now, here's a flyer...this will get you in.'

Cut to me at a high end club, some place I never thought I would be in my life and having beers with Danny, talking about comedy and film. It was so awesome, he's such a nice dude.

14.) From cladstone:

Chris Farley on his last movie before he died. I met him on set, my father was playing a small role in the film. He was so nice, loud and bubbly as always seen on tv. He signed autographs for everyone including me. Jamie lee Curtis was also there and she was just as nice.

I don't know why she was there though she wasn't in the movie. I use to be an extra actress as a kid and I met a lot of actors. I would also have to say Danny DeVito is super nice because he let me fall asleep in his chair on set for Jack the Bear. I was dressed up as Raggity Anne for the Halloween scene.

15.) From nolefan0220:

My wife worked for Bill Clinton in his Harlem office. Bill has the top floors but the bottom ones are are for distributing social security and unemployment checks. People have to wait in line in the lobby to then go up and get their checks. One day Brad Pitt and Angelina were supposed to be coming in for a meeting.

They were about 20 min late when someone decided to check on them. Turns out they were waiting in the line (even though they didn't have to) because they 'didn't want to be rude and cut in front of all the other people.' How can 2 people be that attractive and that nice! It is not fair.

16.) From [deleted]:

When I was about 9 years old I went with my dad to a charity golf event hosted by Tiger Woods, my dad knew a lot of people and I was able to get almost ever famous person's autograph. We saw Tiger Woods walking near us and I yelled for him asking him for his autograph ME: 'Tiger Tiger! Can I get your autograph?!?!?!?' TIGER: walks over looks me dead in the eyes 'No' then walks off

17.) From shaggymr10:

In 2004, I was in Boston for the Democratic National Convention for school. Somehow, some of my classmates and I got into the MTV party that was being hosted at which President Clinton was supposed to make an appearance. He didn't show....BUT...

There were different celebrities taking turns on stage just giving pep talks about voting and such. Natalie Portman gets on stage, and is hammered. Full on 'How are you guys, woooooooo!' She then shouts, 'I wanna dance with all of you.' She exits the stage and gets rushed. Her mini militia of security guards were not having it. They marched past the bar looking like a football offensive line.

As soon as they passed, I slipped behind them and walked right up to Natalie (I was already pretty wasted). 'So how about that dance.' One of her guards is already grabbing me and pulling me away, and she grabs me and tells him, 'No its ok, I wanna dance.' Best. Dance. Ever.

18.) From la_derpina:

A couple of years ago, my sister and I were hanging out at the hotel pool in Sevilla. We both spot Bruce Springsteen lounging poolside. We don't really know what to do, so we just keep playing around, doing stupid things like handstands in the water. A few minutes later, he gets in the pool, applauds our handstands, and asks if we're dancers. We giggle and he keeps chatting with us, mostly about his kids (who are around our same ages).

He asks where I'm going to college in the fall (UChicago) and he asks what date I start. Turns out he's playing a show in Chicago the DAY BEFORE my orientation week. He gives us his assistant's e-mail address and offers up front-row tickets to his show for our entire family.

Thrilled, we continue to talk (maybe 20 minutes or so), get a quick picture with him, and he's off. Our parents FREAKED when we told them about our day at the pool. And, needless to say, we went to the concert -- which was awesome. Love that man.

19.) From ---shaboom---:

I had just walked into the Whole Foods in Austin when I heard a commotion near the entrance behind me. I turned around and saw a tall blond shirtless man. He was jacked and handsome. Also, he was being asked to leave because he wasn't wearing any shoes and it was store policy. I knew who it was underneath that scraggly beard.

Matthew McConaughey. The patron saint of Texas.

I went out to my truck and picked up a pair of sandals I had left there from a trip to the beach. That was the day I solved his munchies crisis. And lost my favorite pair of sandals.