It was at Dragon*Con 2009, a HUGE convention in Atlanta, GA. One of my all-time favorite filmmakers, Terry Gilliam, was there, promoting his (then new) movie The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.
Terry Gilliam had a panel on Friday afternoon, in a HUGE auditorium. Imagine a football field, with Terry Gilliam on stage in the end zone, and me standing behind a microphone on the opposing team's 30 yard line. After talking for an hour, he opened the floor to questions. I was the first person in line.
I told him how much I loved his first movie, The Fisher King and asked him if he had any interesting anecdotes about the making of the movie. No sooner had I finished speaking, when…
He looked confused, and my heart sank. Oh, crap, I’m one of THOSE guys – asking an obnoxious question the panelist doesn’t want to answer.
But that wasn’t it – “I’m sorry," he eventually replied, "I could barely hear you – the sound system is very bad. Can you come closer?”
“Sure,” I quickly said, and proceeded to walk all the way from the back of this VERY big room to the front of the stage, skipping like Pied Piper (as I was leading a couple of dozen questioners behind me). Terry then got up from behind the table he was sitting at on stage and he leaned down towards me, hand on my shoulder.
Before the thoughts OMGIMSTANDINGINFRONTOFTHOUSANDSOFPEOPLE WITHTERRYGILLIAMSTARINGATME had a chance to race through my mind my comedic instinct kicked in.
I started yelling, with him standing less than three feet away.
“I SAID I WAS A BIG FAN OF THE FISHER KING!”
He started giggling, and if you have ever seen lengthy interviews with Terry Gilliam, you know he’s a giggler. He repeated my question to the audience.
“HE’S A BIG FAN OF THE FISHER KING!” he screamed, cupping his hands to yell through them.
“IT’S A GREAT MOVIE!”
“IT’S A GREAT MOVIE!” Gilliam repeated, giggling some more.
“YOU SHOULD ALL SEE IT!” I said, turning to the audience. Again, Gilliam repeated me.
Before I spoke again, it dawned on me I was now doing an impromptu comedy bit. With Terry Gilliam. From Monty Python. In front of an auditorium of thousands of people.
O. M. G.
“DO YOU HAVE ANY INTERESTING ANECDOTES ABOUT THE MAKING OF THE MOVIE?” I finished asking/shouting.
“DO I HAVE ANY INTERESTING ANECDOTES! GOT IT.” And at that, he raced back to his seat and his mike and I sat down in the front row.
Because of that, ALL of the people asking questions were then able go to the front of the stage and ask their question to him in person, even after they fixed the mike and sound system. Many of them came over and thanked me for "breaking the ice" and letting them have their own special moments meeting Mr. Gilliam.
I saw Terry later that evening, and he said, smiling after he recognized me, “that was fun.”
No, it was more than that. It was awesome.