Who'd Want To Be A Celebrity?

[mortonbriar]

Not for me.
I remember Ricky Gervais saying in an interview that he does not have any problems with the media because he lives a boring life, stayed loyal to the same partner for 20 years etc... The celebrities that dominate the glossy magazines do often make decisions to do scandalous things, and scandal sells...

 

[pappymac]

I've met a few big time celebrities and more than a few local celebrities. I found that the ones who are good are the ones who have managed to remain humble and recognize that it's not them personally but their jobs that make them celebrities.
Then there is the other side of the coin. The celebrities who are so full of themselves they hire an assistant to take a dump for them. They think their opinions matter more than the common man and believe that they are more intelligent then us because they have more money which gives them more status. I pity them.

 

[lifesizehobbit]

While I am a corporate professional in real life, by night I perform stand-up comedy. I personally love the individual creativity, and there is nothing like the feeling you get from making people laugh. I have had the pleasure of working clubs, corporate events, fundraisers and churches (I work 100% clean). I have been recognized a couple of times locally and approached.
Having said all of that, I want all the fun of performing and none of the hype or attention.

 

[jerwynn]

Ohhhh, the hermit's life is the life for me... yaaaaaaaarrrrrrr.... um, I mean ahhhhhhhhh...
::

 

[cosmicfolklore]

In my own town I have a certain amount of well-knownness. I don't know any strangers around here. But, in my line of work, working with some of the wealthiest of folks, I would take the small-town celebrity-ness over the money any day. Which has worked out that way for me anyways, so... I have just never met someone with actual wealth, meaning rich enough to let their money work for them, that was anywhere close to happy. NEVER. You always think that if I can get this or that or afford this or buy that that life will be better. But, when you have the means none of that ever brings happiness or anything close to it. In fact, the poorest people that I know are far more happy than the happiest rich person that I know.
So, being known everywhere in town gives me a certain happiness, the town artist, jeweler, pipe guy. But, I am very thankful that I still have to work for my money. In what I have seen, I would never ever want to be rich. I am also thankful to not be destitute, but if I had to chose between the two, I'd take the gutter.

 

[pipestud]

I sure would not want to be a celebrity. I have tons of money and way too many cute girls chasing me all over now as it is.

 

[mso489]

Cosmic, I agree, local fame can be good, support you in your work. When I was in my last stint of school, people knew me from readings, and mentioned my work when I went in to buy carry-out beer. That's a very gentle kind of celebrity, probably the best.
I really appreciate the posts -- song lyrics, poem, and really interesting comments. I think pipe smokers must tend toward introversion, although I suspect some of the introverts can hold forth at length when prompted. I've always been amused at what can happen when you hand a shy person a microphone. Awkward pauses and stammering, but once they get rolling, it may be quite a spell.
Who else? This is a really interesting post to me.

 

[kane]

I’m Nobody! Who are you?

Are you – Nobody – too?

Then there’s a pair of us!

Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!
How dreary – to be – Somebody!

How public – like a Frog –

To tell one’s name – the livelong June –

To an admiring Bog!
Emily Dickinson, #260

 

[toobfreak]

FWIW, another "celebrity" has died. So his problems are over. Mike Connors, the guy who played 'Mannix' has passed away at the age of 91. But celebrity goes hand in hand with acting and entertainment, because it is the nature of the game if you become successful! Much less so for people in other areas--- sports maybe, much less so in science. You could invent anti-gravity and your name would never become known to most people.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Celebrity: A much over hyped "thing" of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Hell, Cato Kaelin and Bob Kardashian were "celebrities", and you can make a list a mile long that the media dub "celebrities".
If I could grab a fortune—a real fortune— in return for being instantly recognizable by the average American, I would. Then it'd be fun to avoid, evade, and confuse whomever came after me (reporters, fans, wannabes, ass kissers, seekers, etc.) But it ain't gonna happen, perhaps a blessing.

 

[kane]

You could invent anti-gravity and your name would never become known to most people.

Yes, and then there's Albert Einstein.

 

[mso489]

I do enjoy it when celebs manage to get into really old age. Irving Berlin, the song writer, lived into his hundreds, probably encouraged by his unending royalties from the tremendous number of one-time hits that became standards. Many songs are associated with him like "It's A Grand Old Flag" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy," but he didn't just do patriotic rousers. Sometimes it's startling to discover some songs you think are from the long-ago centuries are his. Burl Ives did an album of his songs, but it barely scratched the surface. That is an example of a person who served his celebrity well, and whose celebrity served him well. I think he lived "in" Manhattan (as they say) his whole life, or maybe Brooklyn. Celebrity was just sort of a side effect of his work. I'm sure many thought he was long gone when he was still not only alive but working, and selling the output. ...Love that Emily Dickinson poem; she would have hated any kind of fame, being a true hermit, but I think she would have completely approved her ongoing fame after she was gone.

 

[blueeyedogre]

You can be famous in a lot of different ways. The other day we were discussing an actress who specializes in doing the voices for famous Japanese anime.... she'd done hundreds of shows and movies and to an anime fan her voice is instantly recognizable but you could pass her on the street with no clue who she was. A famous painter could go unnoticed on the street. I think as a actor or actress in big movies in many ways you want the attention and you're paid handsomely for it. You could live a quiet life, not making the 20million a film, and never have your life interupted but no one would ever know the greatness that is Brad Pitt the plumber.

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

I wouldn't want to be a celebrity, but wouldn't have minded being Keith Richards instead of myself. It would have been pretty cool to be on Hollywood Squares too I guess?

 

[mso489]

Most wouldn't have survived being Keith Richards, but it's working just fine for him. It probably helps that he is a contrarian who must be himself no matter what.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Kieth Richards sold his soul many years ago, and believe it or not, in a strange Voodoo pact, he cannot die until someone kills Barry Manilow.

 

[iamn8]

I'm quite famous for being so anonymous. Everyone has no idea who I am which makes me quite popular for being unknown.

 

[lasttango]

It depends what I'd be famous for... I sometimes wish I had a career like Richie Blackmore, Henry Miller, Carl Sagan, Jean-Paul Sartre, Rob Halford, David Bowie, Zappa, Walt Clyde Frazier, Hugh Hefner, Carl Yastrzemski, Clint Eastwood or Pipestud.

 

[jpmcwjr]

All of those folks are tops in their class, but most are not close to celebrity. Now, Clyde in NYC, Yaz in Boston, and among Base and Basket ball fans, in their days were, but no longer are, celebs. Sagan, Sartre, Miller would be rockstars at a bookclub or signing, but otherwise not recognizable. (Maybe Sagan was, but due only to the TV appearances, not for his work) Mr. Fallon is a star at a pipe show, but somewhat anonymous elsewhere, except for the hot groupies that follow him everywhere.

 

[toobfreak]

Are you kidding? Carl Sagan is still very well known long after his death for both his pioneering work in planetary science, his books and especially his television series--- so much so that they just did a remark of the series a couple years ago with Carl's wife (who was involved in producing the original series), along with the new host who was mentored by Carl's as a youth and instrumental as an adult in getting Pluto reclassified as a Kuiper Belt Object, changing the entire way we understand how our solar system formed.