- Michael Keaton. Two early evenings in a row in early April while driving back from daycare, my wife saw Michael Keaton filming something in East Hollywood on Fountain in an art gallery near the Church of Scientology. By the time I was able to be part of the evening ride, he and the film crew were gone.
- Alia Shawkat. My wife and I saw Alia at the Atwater Village Farmers’ Market, which was fortuitous because we did not plan to go. She was ordering at an Italian food stand next to the cheese one we were at and was talking to a friend she met through a mutual friend at Sundance. She is more freckled than in 2017 as well as rounder: she’s pregnant! Since this is the second time we’ve seen her in Atwater Village, we think she lives there.
- David Choe. Another repeat and another sighting from the Atwater Village Farmers’ Market. Even better, I saw him before my wife! I told myself it wasn’t him because I am bad with faces, but my wife saw him later outside a store in the neighborhood. He has a baby a little older than mine.
- Josh Altman. One advantage of decades of taking the bus through West Hollywood and Beverly Hills is that I notice at least 2 Rolls Royces and 3 Italian sports cars per day. As a fan of Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles, I also know that Josh Altman loves the RR, which means I am constantly on the lookout for my second favorite Josh on the show. Finally the persistence paid off! We were at La Cienega and Sunset, me in the back left corner of the 2 and him in the driver’s seat of his navy blue with tan interior RR Dawn. I did not notice until his light was changing, which means I did not have time to take a photo. Now I just need to see Tracy Tutor and the trifecta will be complete.
- Nathan Fielder. Nathan is the creator of the cult classic comedy docuseries Nathan for You. Nathan pretends to be a small business consultant and suggests crazy marketing schemes for his clients. He is perhaps most famous for Dumb Starbucks, though other classics include a too good to be true gas coupon and, my favorite, a $.99 flatscreen television that requires crawling past an alligator, all so Best Buy customers can use the client’s coupons to force Best Buy to take a loss on tv sales. The series grew on me even more after I moved to LA and realized that many of the businesses are in my part of Los Angeles; the Best Buy, for example, is local one, as is a local car wash. Seeing Nathan Fielder in intentionally large sweatpants with a father figure walking his dog in the park where I work has easily been the best sighting of the year. Of the niche celebrities I have seen, he is right up there with Jemaine Clement and Josh Flagg.
- Kristen Schaal. Kristen played Mel, the stalker fan from Flight of the Conchords, creepy intern Hazel Wassername on 30 Rock, and is the voice of Louise on Bob’s Burgers. She has a unique face and almost as unique voice, and, being a huge fan of FotC and 30 Rock, I recognized her right away. We saw her at the Silver Lake Jewish Community Center’s Channukah celebration.
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