So I saw a listing for a fancy event which contained a number of cool, decent names, none too big to cause a stir if you will. I knew nothing of this spot, but there seemed to be a large entrances. I spotted a grapher who is pretty friendly and we decided to stand on the corner! Eventually we realized this was dumb, and just picked the side that made the most sense traffic flow-wise. I let my friends know who were driving around aimlessly, and they met up. Quickly we all were shocked because quite a few graphers and photo folks were on hand. 
The first major arrivals were Ted Danson and his wife Mary Steenburgen, both of whom I have always loved. Ted was my first major celebrity encounter for our podcast, and have met him a few other times and he’s always very nice. Mary I’ve never met, but she’s sweet as well. Ted was a little hesitant about stopping because he didn’t want to leave his wife hanging. Mary stopped as well, so he did too. My friends got Ted for the first time, while I barely got Mary. A certain person had to take like 6 photos with her and it took forever. WTF! Unfortunately she went inside and Ted wouldn’t stop to sign my Cheers photo.
Mary Steenburgen
Also arriving was Kathryn Erbe, formerly of Law & Order Criminal Intent. Love her too, and she was very very friendly to us. I saw her last year with her children once so I didn’t ask her then. Unfortunately the paps on hand blasted Olivia Wilde, Jason Sudeikis and Will Forte with flash bulbs so they ran inside. We also missed Emily Mortimer who walked in from the street.
Kathryn
About this time, my friends left, as did some others. I’d gotten word that Harrison Ford was in town, and attending a large gala. He actually had signed for a mob of people leaving for the event! So here was my quandary. I had nothing with me to get signed, and home were a few 8x10’s signed by other actors I’d want him on, in addition to a poster. Now in hindsight, I probably could have taken the subway back to Penn Station, taken NJ Transit back to Secaucaus, got in my car, drove the 15 minutes or so home, gotten the stuff, and drove back into the city. At that time, parking would be easier than when I left straight from work. Was it doable? Yes, did I think he would rack coming back, no. Was I wrong, sadly yes. Even more people got graphs I think later on. Stupidly I decided to hang around at the same spot, where the celebs didn’t exit until well after Ford had returned.
While we were standing around, John Gallagher Jr. (Newsroom, 10 Cloverfield Lane) showed up like 90 minutes late, but he was super cool. Stood and talked with us for a little while.
After a long while, the event seemed to end and everyone freaked out about celebs using the other door to leave. I remained calm, and didn’t move. Sure enough Ted Danson walked out. He said he would be right back but needed to find a cab. We advised it was easily around the block, and he said okay then I have to get my wife. He said they were late ,we’ll just do a group photo. That was pretty comical, because within 10 seconds he and Mary were doing combos for whoever remained! I have a perfect shot with Ted from the first encounter so I only added his graph to the Cheers 11x14.
Cheers 11x14 now signed by Ted
Meeting Ted back in 2008
Soon after the Olivia/Jason/Will trio exited, on their way in turned out to karaoke. I brought along an 8x10 of my photo op with Ms. Wilde from last year. Held it up, and she went right for it, joking “look at us so young and happy.” She then proceeded to everyone else, while I jumped in for an update from Jason, who had shaved and shockingly had no glasses. Ha ha ha. Didn’t bother with Forte, and got another photo with Olivia that was a bit blurry. Unfortunately no sign of Emily leaving plus it was late and I went home.
Olivia update and signed 8x10
Sudeikis
The following evening I decided to try for the cast of 10 Cloverfield Lane, but entrances were a disaster and even JJ Abrams blanked thanks to the publicists. Lanza decided to show as well. We figured this would be a nightmare, so we moved along to a spot Sally Field and Michael Showalter were due at. Thankfully the others didn’t follow us, and when we arrived Showalter was outside texting. He did photos, and then promptly ran and hid! Pointless since 1,000 people could walk by and not recognize him. Took some time but Sally’s car pulled up and she popped out. Lanza asked and she happily posed for us and went inside. A great score, loved her in the Smokey movies, Mrs. Doubtfire, Forest Gump, and much more.
Showalter
Sally Field with a pretty hilarious poopie bomb!
Following this, Lanza offered a taxi downtown a bit, and we met up with WoodMO there. They both scored Forest Whitaker, and we split up. WOODMO went one way, Lanza and I another. We journeyed to the spot we hit awhile back, where Ed Harris famously chewed us out for asking for photos. Lanza needed one person in particular. We arrived, and I slinked off to grab some programs. I began having the names I had photos with already sign it. I had Amy Madigan sign, but she then took off running. Ed Harris emerged, and stopped to talk to someone. This kid asked for a selfie and you could tell Ed saying no, but he begrudgingly did it anyway. I’d heard a few friends had seen him break down a bit lately. I positioned myself to be the last person he saw before heading out, and I asked him to sign the program. He did, as I proclaimed my fandom, particularly The Abyss and The Right Stuff, which was no lie. At that moment Lanza appeared and had him sign as well, then asked for a picture. Ed at first said no politely but Lanza quickly convinced him, and he posed. When I went he asked if we were buds and I said yes, and he said, okay that’s cool. Great job by the 2015 team of the year, without need of a foreigner’s accent!
Right at this moment I discovered Willem Defoe walk by us! After Lanza ran back towards the crowd to get his want, I followed Ed out, chatting about the Yankees. It was a friendly conversation, and I came to realize he’s a down to earth, nice guy. I ran out the door, and quickly asked Defoe for the photo, and he said sure. That was an awesome random, because I didn’t get him when he was in Brooklyn a few years ago for awhile.
Dafoe
I went back inside and got a proper photo with Nat Wolff, and then we waited a bit for Bill Irwin to be free, and got one with him. He was hilarious in My Blue Heaven and really a nice nice guy. Had a nice chat with him.
Nat
Irwin
After this Lanza went home, and I met up with Woody again. This time it was my call, and we stopped at a spot for actor Daniel Davis, the butler on The Nanny, but for me Dr. Moriarty on Star Trek The Next Generation. We were concerned he would use another door, but luckily he exited pretty quickly for us. He marked out over the TNG photos, and happily posed. We then left not really caring a lot for the others there.
Now we had a choice, either stop by a spot where the actors seem to be sneaking out all the time, or try another well known spot that gets randoms all the time. We went for plan A since that was what Dana wanted, and he was nice enough to wait at my spot. We arrived, and saw no major actors exit, and then told by staff they left already. We decided to snoop a little more and then found them. Saoirse Ronan was really put off, and after signing for a grapher and Dana getting a selfie, totally ignored me. We did get actor Ben Wishaw, my big want there, who played Q in the newest Bond films. Sophie Okonedo exited as well, but she was literally in pajamas, and we opted against photos. I also got a photo with Jason Butler Harner, who appeared on Homeland and many other shows.
Wishaw
Harner
Plan B was probably possible but it was really late and we went home. Turns out Harrison Ford was there! Very doubtful he would have stopped though in hindsight I probably should have brought my stuff and waited for him with the crowd. I was told by a grapher though that after the first night you really had to anticipate his arrival and race to him first, because he only did a few and went in. He stopped signing I think on the 3rd night after an infamously annoying photo stalker posed as a guest where he was staying. I heard he took the photo, then cursed her out. Bravo, damn idiot. He did some selfies walking around on the 4th day, but only with completely random people. However it appeared graphers got him to stop at some point near the end of the week for perfect photos.....
Statistics: Posted by Greg2600 — Today, 8:07 pm