The joke that got away

Last summer while visting my sister in New Orleans (right before Katrina kicked her out of town) we decided to spend a rediculous amount of money on dinner one night. So we (Bo, Amy, Abby, my sister Heather, and I) asked the bartender at the gay bar we were at (they had a white russian ice cream machine, I shit you not) which place was one of the nicest in New Orleans. So he of course recommended the one his boyfriend works at, called and got us a table, and after sprucing up a little, we were off.

Now I am not sure if he hooked us up with this celebrity sighting or if it was just a freak coincidence, but 10 minutes into the meal I notice that the guy sitting at the table behind my sister looks a lot like Ferris Bueller. In fact, he looks exactly like...holy shit, that's Matthew Broderick! About this same time, Abby notices over my sisters other shoulder that Sarah Jessica Parker (or is it Broderick?) is sitting about 5 feet from her. We proceeded to tell Amy and Bo as discreetly as possible, which was funny because I swear we told Bo, and about 20 minutes later, he says "Oh shit, that's Ferris Bueller." Either he wasn't listening, or he's just really slow. We also then realize that we both only noticed the star that we liked watching and didn't even realize who they were sitting with. Kinda funny, but we went back to eating and drinking and enjoying ourselves, the whole time kinda wondering how many other people in the restaurant knew they were there, but were being cool and not bothering them.

Now the best part about this, is that somehow Heather had no idea the Brodericks were behind her. I had my sister ask the couple behind her if they would take our group's photo. And I think she got to about "Excuse me, would you mind ta...OH MY GOD!" Then proceeded to apologize and turn around to us bursting out in laughter. They thought it was pretty funny also once we explained, and we ended up talking for awhile with the usual "love your movies, love your show, you are great, and funny, and smart, etc." Then we joined them for a drink after dinner, they took us to see the cool penthouse villa they were renting, went to brunch the next morning, and I am planning on co-starring in a buddy movie with Matthew later this year, which should be out in 2007...

Or at least that is what would have happened, if only I had a fucking camera. (I'm still pissed that Bo didn't bring it and probably will be forever.) I came up with the perfect joke, and couldn't try and pull it off because for the first time on the trip Bo didn't have a camera around his neck like a fucking asian tourist. The Broderick's were sitting right next to us, and because we didn't have a camera, all that ended up happening was me smiling and nodding at Matthew as were leaving and they were coming back in after a smoke break. And you know how people always tell you that actors are smaller in person? Holy shit, he has to be like 5'5", tops.

I did get to tell everyone after we left about the great idea I had, and we still had the big laugh at Heather's expense since she never did realize they were there until they went outside to smoke and we told her, but I will always wonder if my life would have been different if I could have pulled off "the joke that got away."