Kinja reply list

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TheSometimesWhyMark Shrayber
2/24/15 12:06am
I have a theory about people who become wildly successful/famous on the level that Steve has achieved: their relationship with their past, pre-fame and success, is an either or proposition. Either they embrace it. Or they shed it like a snake sheds its skin, leaving it in the middle of the road, to dry up and blow away.

Ten years ago, I was selling high-end luxury cars. In walks Steve, not quite yet the Steve Carell of today, but still recognizable as "that funny actor from "The 40-Year Old Virgin." Having been from Chicago, and coming up through the improv-comedy ranks that were such a staple of Chicago in the 80s and 90s, Steve and I knew each other, though it had been years since we had last seen each other. And obviously our paths had been wildly different.

When I approached him he was polite in a slightly stiff way, but then recognized me and instantly relaxed. I guessed that that was the result of being in that in-between phase of your ascent as an actor when you don't know if someone is necessarily going to recognize you or not so you have to play the middle. In either case, we chatted, and he asked me what I was doing there, which made us both laugh.

I demo'd him on a car, and during our drive we chatted about things in the most relaxed fashion. He was funny, affable, and just a mensch. At some point when we got down to discussing his prospective purchase, a transaction that was ultimately going to be handled by his manager and mine, he went to great lengths to male sure I was going to be paid for my efforts, a gesture that fell way beyond the necessary, somewhere above the heroic.

A few years later I was working in an oceanside Malibu eatery, the kind of place where people go to see the water, eat and not be disturbed, especially if you're a celebrity. By this point, Steve has become STEVE CARELL. There with his lovely wife Nancy, they glided in, taking a table that overlooked the water, one that happened to be in my station. When I approached them with menus, he looked up at me with that kind of neutral face I suppose you have to have when you're used to being recognized, but upon seeing it was me, that face vanished in favor of incredulity.

I calmly told him that I had been stalking him ever since the new car incident; we had a laugh, he introduced me to Nancy, giving me a generous backstory. I served them their lunch, chatting amicably throughout. When it was over, Steve tipped me extremely generously, but the nicest thing was that he said he couldn't wait to see where I would turn up in his life next.

Bottom line? The man falls into the former category I set forth in this piece.

He knows where he's been; he's embraced it and embroidered it into who he is today. In my humble estimation, it is a huge contributory factor not only in his success as an actor, but, more importantly, as a human being.
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  MamaMiaItsaMeaTheSometimesWhy
  2/24/15 12:18am
  I would like to subscribe to your newsletter and, quite possibly, your life.
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  RebeccaTheSometimesWhy
  2/24/15 12:29am
  Beautifully written!
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fighting polish is David Schwimmer as Rob Kardashian SrMark Shrayber
2/23/15 11:32pm
Bad things about Steve Carrell: He is not, currently, my best friend.
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  PumpkinPancakefighting polish is David Schwimmer as Rob Kardashian Sr
  2/23/15 11:41pm
  He's never said anything nice to me!
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  GELLA - LLAPfighting polish is David Schwimmer as Rob Kardashian Sr
  2/23/15 11:46pm
  this note almost made me cry......
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Sigh321Mark Shrayber
2/23/15 11:43pm
"I wanted to marry you or have you adopt me"

Sorry Emma, only Woody Allen is in to that sort of thing.
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  SamBargeSigh321
  2/24/15 7:50am
  That is some inspired internet commentary, right there. Congratulations Sir/Madam. You win the internet today.
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GemmabetaMark Shrayber
2/23/15 11:48pm
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  coco_rinGemmabeta
  2/24/15 12:01am
  Best movie scene ever in ALL time ever. The first time I saw the movie I think I said "what what what WHAT WHAT AHHHH" and I was at the theater too, but nobody cared because everyone was thinking the same thing.
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  foxGreyjoy and the salty cynicGemmabeta
  2/24/15 12:09am
  Love this movie! It's the first real romcom my husband and I actually enjoyed watching together.
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madeanaccountjustforsuikodenMark Shrayber
2/23/15 11:42pm
Bad thing: He killed a guy with a trident.
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  kitten menorah shopmadeanaccountjustforsuikoden
  2/23/15 11:51pm
  you can't blame him for that; things just escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast.
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  Jandom Jassowarymadeanaccountjustforsuikoden
  2/24/15 12:02am
  I saw that. He killed a guy.
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CanUseWikisMark Shrayber
2/24/15 12:27am
" ... so when Carell (who was up for best actor for his role as Michael Scarn in Threat level Midnight) ..."

Carell was up for "Foxcatcher," not "Threat Level Midnight."
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  Marx and SparksCanUseWikis
  2/24/15 12:42am
  Do yourself a favour: watch this immediately. Try not to die laughing.
  
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  Marx and SparksCanUseWikis
  2/24/15 12:43am
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coco_rinMark Shrayber
2/23/15 11:59pm
Hmmmm. The only thing I know about Steve Carrell is that he went into the Border's that my sister worked in and she went up to him, leaned in and whispered "You're amazing." He leaned in as well and whispered, "Thank you."

I think I failed in the task of the bad thing telling.
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  a.lemoncoco_rin
  2/24/15 2:46am
  That reminds me of this girl who was working at the grocery store, and some actor came in and she told him "thank you for existing!" and apparently he hugged her and said: "no, thank YOU for existing."
  
  Which is the sweetest thing I ever heard and I immediately want to know who it was so I can support their work.
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FuriousGorgeMark Shrayber
2/24/15 12:00am
Let's just hope he never makes an ineloquent off the cuff remark in the context of his support for equality or we'll have no choice but to discount everything good he's ever said or done.
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  see you in rach-hell only comments on tswift nowFuriousGorge
  2/24/15 1:21am
  I nearly spit out my water all over my laptop laughing.
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kemperboydMark Shrayber
2/24/15 8:50am
Can we talk about her use of quotation marks around the names of films? This bothers me greatly, the use of capitalisation denotes it is a name.; did her expensive private education not cover how to write?
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  Adebisi's hatkemperboyd
  2/24/15 10:45am
  That's just the British school system, who would have known that there is a variation in the rules of grammar taught depending on the country you went to school in? BTW it's "colour" not "color"
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  kemperboydAdebisi's hat
  2/24/15 10:50am
  Yeah fella, I'm British and I was taught how to correctly use quotation marks at my comprehensive school. I know how to spell colour and neighbour and maths so calm down.
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adultosaur married anna on the astral planeMark Shrayber
2/24/15 8:22am
saint writes saint a note about saintly thing second saint did, both saints awesome, saints.
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  kemperboydadultosaur married anna on the astral plane
  2/24/15 8:49am
  Saint's saintly note negated by pointless use of quotation marks.
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  adultosaur married anna on the astral planekemperboyd
  2/24/15 10:07am
  u hush ur whore mouth
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