Oldbury comic reveals awkward Chris Rock encounter in Birmingham hotel

They say never meet your heroes, and they might just be right.

A month-and-a half on from the Will Smith slapping incident during the 2022 Oscars, legendary stand-up comedian Chris Rock took to the stage at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on Friday (13 May), and one lucky fan got to meet the Grammy and Emmy Award winning actor in person.

Darren Harriott, a British stand-up comedian from Oldbury, revealed on Twitter that he bumped into Rock at a Birmingham hotel, although the meeting didn’t go quite how Darren probably envisioned it would.

In what sounds like a slightly awkward encounter, Darren, who is set to feature in Britain’s Top Takeaways on BBC Two tonight (16 May), tweeted: “Just met Chris Rock in a Birmingham hotel we both went into the lift at the same time going up, I looked at him and said ‘I don’t wanna disturb you but I’m a big fan…. and I’m also a comedian’ and he barley looked at me and said ‘congratulations’”.

Fans share experiences of meeting heroes

Responding to Darren’s tweet, some friends and fans also shared their underwhelming experiences of meeting celebrities.

Fellow comedian Dara O Briain, wrote: “Oh mate. I feel your pain. Had that happen with him, Sarah Silverman and Aziz Ansari at various times. Might be an American comic thing.”

One person responded to Darren saying: “As a teenager I saw Lionel Blair in the street in Brighton. I approached to tell him I was a fan, saying, “Excuse me. I’m sorry for disturbing you, but…” He replied, “You ARE disturbing me!”

Another said: “I’ve bumped into Joaquin Phoenix and Jim Carrey and not said anything for fear of this happening!! Never meet your heroes!! If any consolation was at the show and it was a bit flat. I liked the warm up guy. Maybe Chris was having an off day!”

But they’re not all bad! one person wrote:”I met Keanu Reeves in a hotel lobby in London. I was too nervous to ask for a photo (cringe) but husband had no such worries. KR was lovely and no bother to pose for a photo.”

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