It's funny how one little thing can change your life forever and that is exactly what happened when Sterling and Earl went to see one of their favorite comedians, Sinbad. We were definitely into autographs at the time but were only collecting by the mail, because obviously we didn't live a celebrity hotspot like California.
Sure celebrities would come through town every now and then, but how exactly do you go about getting the chance to meet them? It seemed impossible to meet celebrities unless they were scheduled to sign, so we were pretty much reserved to that fact. Sterling, Earl and Earl's Mom were going to the show and only intended to leave with smiles on our faces from Sinbad's comedy. Little did we know that we were about to awaken a beast that would forever change our lives.
We took our seats and prepared ourselves for one hell of a show and that's exactly what we got. Sinbad came out and really had the crowd rolling on the floor with laughter. The routine started to lose its momentum towards the end, but overall the show was fantastic. Sinbad took questions after the show and images of his HBO special started flashing through our minds. In case you haven't seen it, a girl asks Sinbad for an autograph during this segment and he grants her request. Someone must've seen the same special because they got up and asked for an autograph as well. Sinbad said he would try to take care of that after the show and couldn't do it at that time.
This was promising news and we were glad that we brought some index cards and cameras just in case something like this happened. When Sinbad left the stage fans started to gather around the barriers waiting for him to come out and sign. Security finally put an end to our hopes by driving home the message that Sinbad had a plane to catch and was already gone. This was really discouraging and it truly seemed that it was impossible to meet a celebrity like Sinbad. Security was kicking everyone out, so we figured the night was over.
When we exited the building, Earl decided that we should try even harder to meet Sinbad. Earl convinced his Mom and Sterling to wait around a little longer and hopefully we'd see a limousine or something. After spending a good amount of time in the cold, Earl decided to try and head back into the venue and check things out. Sterling and his Mom waited outside, as Earl made his way inside the venue very cautiously. Security was miraculously gone, so I decided to take a better look behind the stage.
I was shocked to look down and see a mob of fans gathered behind the stage, hopefully they were waiting for Sinbad! I blended in with the crowd and noticed that we were gathered around a limousine, score! The fans there had backstage "meet and greet" passes on, so I had just crashed the meet and greet! I wanted to tell Sterling and My Mom (especially since she had my camera) but feared that I would be spotted and kicked out. Luckily my Mom and Sterling wanted to know where I was and soon spotted me amongst the mob. Both of us were hoping that this would be our first success meeting a celebrity, fingers crossed.
The tension was building in the room and we were still unsure if Sinbad was going to be signing for fans or meeting at all for that matter. Finally Sinbad appeared from the dressing room door and immediately started signing autographs and taking pictures with the crowd. Sinbad was very nice and signed and posed for pictures with every fan that was waiting for him. It was finally our turn to meet this comedic talent and we will never forget it.
This was the first time we interacted with a celebrity that we admired and we were sure star struck. He was a great guy and signed both of our index cards and also allowed us to get a picture with him. For being so new to this hobby of collecting in person, we were sure thankful to meet such a kind-hearted celebrity as Sinbad. The elation and excitement of this encounter only made us hungry for more happy successes, it had begun.
