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Almost Famous
Star-struck brothers have a knack for basking in celebs' glow
By Mark Coomes
mcoomes@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
The Boston brothers, Darren and Corey, should have been astronomers or astrologists or something.
They have an uncanny knack for making the stars align.
Wherever the Bostons go, celebrities seem to follow. Or intersect. Or stall out in their vintage Ford Fairlane.
Corey Boston was strolling through Los Angeles one night when he saw a big-chinned fellow's '67 Fairlane sputter to a dead stop. He walked over to lend a hand.
The driver was Jay Leno. The opportunity was a gold mine. Time to renew the Boston brothers' star-studded sibling rivalry.
"I had him call Darren and wake him up," Corey Boston said. "That was a good one."
By luck and design, the Louisville natives have stitched together more stars over the past 10 years than Betsy Ross ever did. They have the photographs to prove it too.
For the most part.
"I haven't always had a camera with me," said Darren Boston, 34, an Indianapolis-based corporate sales rep for the Ashley Furniture HomeStore chain. "I hate when that happens."
Darren's list of accidental -- and accidentally-on-purpose -- meetings includes Will Smith, Chris Tucker, Wynonna Judd, Dennis Miller, Dan Quayle, Charlton Heston, Ice-T, Billy Graham and Dr. Ruth.
Corey's string: Bill Cosby, Adam Sandler, Pauly Shore, George Carlin, Daisy Fuentes, Christina Ricci, Jenny McCarthy, Jason Alexander, Ron Jeremy and Dr. Phil.
Together or separately they have run into O.J. Simpson, Loni Anderson, Jennifer Tilly and Bono, lead singer of U2.
"It's kind of weird, but Corey and I just always seem to be in the right place at the right time for meeting famous people," Darren Boston said. "It came to be a competition."
Darren started it.
Seven years Corey's senior, he moved to Los Angeles in 1995 and immediately started regaling little brother with all his close encounters of the pretty people kind.
Corey flew west for a visit in 1996. The brothers headed one night to the tony suburb of Brentwood, home of an infamous football star, eight months removed from his acquittal on double-murder charges.
"There he was, O.J. Simpson, just chipping golf balls in his front yard," Darren Boston said.
"He was very friendly," said Corey Boston, a 27-year-old hospital administrator in Springfield, Mo. "He didn't come after us with a knife or anything."
The Bostons are a pair of wiseacres whose droll humor opens some doors and closes a few others.
At a 1996 Adam Sandler concert in Cincinnati, Corey struck up a conversation with a guy who turned out to be one of Sandler's best friends, Frank Coraci, director of "The Wedding Singer."
Coraci found Corey amusing and invited him to the backstage afterparty, where he hung out with Sandler for a few hours.
"Nice guy," Corey said. "He took my phone number and said he'd put me on the guest list for one of his concerts in L.A."
Corey moved to Tinseltown in 2002 and one evening was introduced to Martin Short.
"I told him I was anxiously awaiting 'Captain Ron 2,' " Corey said, referring to a forgettable flick the comedian made in 1992. "He didn't seem to appreciate it very much."
The brothers get as good as they give.
The night Corey helped Leno rescue his stalled Fairlane, he got Leno to call his brother in Louisville.
"I thought, 'What the hell? I'll have a little fun with him,' " Darren recalled. "So I said, 'Jay, I figured with as much money as you've got, you'd have a car that runs.'
"He didn't miss a beat. He came right back with, 'Yeah, I guess since you're from Kentucky, your spare car is parked in your front yard.' "
The two chatted for a while, and Leno learned that Darren was in bed with his wife, Jennifer.
"I guess that would be your sister in Kentucky," Leno cracked.
The comedian invited Corey to "The Tonight Show" set the following evening, where he got to sit in the main guest's chair and do a faux interview with the host. (He's got photos to prove it, but they are too well-worn to be reproduced here.)
Leno has had four other run-ins with the Boston brothers.
At a 1996 taping of "The Tonight Show," Leno asked the audience a rhetorical question. Corey, sitting in the third row, shouted "Yes!" so loudly that it startled Leno to the point that he lost his place on the cue cards, Darren said.
"He fumbled through his next few lines and shot me and my brother the dirtiest look you can imagine," Darren said.
After another taping, Darren called his mother, Cynthia, back in Fern Creek and told her to pay special attention as the show went to its first commercial.
"All of the sudden she shouted into the phone," Darren said. "I'd purposely gotten a seat right next to Leno's announcer, and there I was, leaning into the shot and grinning like an idiot."
Most of the Bostons' celebrity encounters are attributable to blind luck.
In 2001, Corey was strolling down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. As he passed the White House gates, he nearly collided with Ben Affleck, who was leaving a screening of "Pearl Harbor" for President Bush.
Two years ago in London, Darren and Jennifer were walking into a David Mamet play when one of the production's stars, Minnie Driver, pulled up in a limousine.
Jennifer Boston asked for a photo. Driver -- who "looked a wreck," Darren said -- brusquely begged off.
"Thanks for your time," Darren said sarcastically. "She turned around and just started screaming at me. … I was embarrassed for her."
Driver disappeared into the theater. A few minutes later, a security guard flagged down the Bostons and told them to wait. Driver reemerged.
"She said, 'I'm so sorry. I've had a horrible day, and I shouldn't have taken it out on you,' " Darren said. " 'As soon as the play is over, I'll bring you backstage so you can meet everybody.' "
Thus did Darren add Matthew Perry and Hank Azaria to his list of famous howdy-dos.
"I know it sounds crazy," Darren said, "but somehow Corey and I are always bumping into people like that."
Corey, a U2 fanatic who has seen the Irish rockers in concert 30 times, chanced into meeting Bono on the night of the 2002 Grammy awards.
"I'm just standing there with some friends on Sunset Boulevard when he came strolling out of some hotel," Corey said. "He chatted with us for five or 10 minutes, just as genuine and down-to-earth as he could be.
"That's the one person I've met where it truly felt surreal."
Since moving to Springfield, Mo., Corey seldom gets the chance to bask in the light of luminaries anymore. But now that he has pressed the flesh with Bono, he doesn't much care.
"Probably the only person left who I really, really want to meet is Richard Dean Anderson. I'm a huge 'MacGyver' fan."
Corey laughed. But the joker wasn't kidding this time.
"I have the first two seasons on DVD."
Almost Famous
Star-struck brothers have a knack for basking in celebs' glow
By Mark Coomes
mcoomes@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
The Boston brothers, Darren and Corey, should have been astronomers or astrologists or something.
They have an uncanny knack for making the stars align.
Wherever the Bostons go, celebrities seem to follow. Or intersect. Or stall out in their vintage Ford Fairlane.
Corey Boston was strolling through Los Angeles one night when he saw a big-chinned fellow's '67 Fairlane sputter to a dead stop. He walked over to lend a hand.
The driver was Jay Leno. The opportunity was a gold mine. Time to renew the Boston brothers' star-studded sibling rivalry.
"I had him call Darren and wake him up," Corey Boston said. "That was a good one."
By luck and design, the Louisville natives have stitched together more stars over the past 10 years than Betsy Ross ever did. They have the photographs to prove it too.
For the most part.
"I haven't always had a camera with me," said Darren Boston, 34, an Indianapolis-based corporate sales rep for the Ashley Furniture HomeStore chain. "I hate when that happens."
Darren's list of accidental -- and accidentally-on-purpose -- meetings includes Will Smith, Chris Tucker, Wynonna Judd, Dennis Miller, Dan Quayle, Charlton Heston, Ice-T, Billy Graham and Dr. Ruth.
Corey's string: Bill Cosby, Adam Sandler, Pauly Shore, George Carlin, Daisy Fuentes, Christina Ricci, Jenny McCarthy, Jason Alexander, Ron Jeremy and Dr. Phil.
Together or separately they have run into O.J. Simpson, Loni Anderson, Jennifer Tilly and Bono, lead singer of U2.
"It's kind of weird, but Corey and I just always seem to be in the right place at the right time for meeting famous people," Darren Boston said. "It came to be a competition."
Darren started it.
Seven years Corey's senior, he moved to Los Angeles in 1995 and immediately started regaling little brother with all his close encounters of the pretty people kind.
Corey flew west for a visit in 1996. The brothers headed one night to the tony suburb of Brentwood, home of an infamous football star, eight months removed from his acquittal on double-murder charges.
"There he was, O.J. Simpson, just chipping golf balls in his front yard," Darren Boston said.
"He was very friendly," said Corey Boston, a 27-year-old hospital administrator in Springfield, Mo. "He didn't come after us with a knife or anything."
The Bostons are a pair of wiseacres whose droll humor opens some doors and closes a few others.
At a 1996 Adam Sandler concert in Cincinnati, Corey struck up a conversation with a guy who turned out to be one of Sandler's best friends, Frank Coraci, director of "The Wedding Singer."
Coraci found Corey amusing and invited him to the backstage afterparty, where he hung out with Sandler for a few hours.
"Nice guy," Corey said. "He took my phone number and said he'd put me on the guest list for one of his concerts in L.A."
Corey moved to Tinseltown in 2002 and one evening was introduced to Martin Short.
"I told him I was anxiously awaiting 'Captain Ron 2,' " Corey said, referring to a forgettable flick the comedian made in 1992. "He didn't seem to appreciate it very much."
The brothers get as good as they give.
The night Corey helped Leno rescue his stalled Fairlane, he got Leno to call his brother in Louisville.
"I thought, 'What the hell? I'll have a little fun with him,' " Darren recalled. "So I said, 'Jay, I figured with as much money as you've got, you'd have a car that runs.'
"He didn't miss a beat. He came right back with, 'Yeah, I guess since you're from Kentucky, your spare car is parked in your front yard.' "
The two chatted for a while, and Leno learned that Darren was in bed with his wife, Jennifer.
"I guess that would be your sister in Kentucky," Leno cracked.
The comedian invited Corey to "The Tonight Show" set the following evening, where he got to sit in the main guest's chair and do a faux interview with the host. (He's got photos to prove it, but they are too well-worn to be reproduced here.)
Leno has had four other run-ins with the Boston brothers.
At a 1996 taping of "The Tonight Show," Leno asked the audience a rhetorical question. Corey, sitting in the third row, shouted "Yes!" so loudly that it startled Leno to the point that he lost his place on the cue cards, Darren said.
"He fumbled through his next few lines and shot me and my brother the dirtiest look you can imagine," Darren said.
After another taping, Darren called his mother, Cynthia, back in Fern Creek and told her to pay special attention as the show went to its first commercial.
"All of the sudden she shouted into the phone," Darren said. "I'd purposely gotten a seat right next to Leno's announcer, and there I was, leaning into the shot and grinning like an idiot."
Most of the Bostons' celebrity encounters are attributable to blind luck.
In 2001, Corey was strolling down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. As he passed the White House gates, he nearly collided with Ben Affleck, who was leaving a screening of "Pearl Harbor" for President Bush.
Two years ago in London, Darren and Jennifer were walking into a David Mamet play when one of the production's stars, Minnie Driver, pulled up in a limousine.
Jennifer Boston asked for a photo. Driver -- who "looked a wreck," Darren said -- brusquely begged off.
"Thanks for your time," Darren said sarcastically. "She turned around and just started screaming at me. … I was embarrassed for her."
Driver disappeared into the theater. A few minutes later, a security guard flagged down the Bostons and told them to wait. Driver reemerged.
"She said, 'I'm so sorry. I've had a horrible day, and I shouldn't have taken it out on you,' " Darren said. " 'As soon as the play is over, I'll bring you backstage so you can meet everybody.' "
Thus did Darren add Matthew Perry and Hank Azaria to his list of famous howdy-dos.
"I know it sounds crazy," Darren said, "but somehow Corey and I are always bumping into people like that."
Corey, a U2 fanatic who has seen the Irish rockers in concert 30 times, chanced into meeting Bono on the night of the 2002 Grammy awards.
"I'm just standing there with some friends on Sunset Boulevard when he came strolling out of some hotel," Corey said. "He chatted with us for five or 10 minutes, just as genuine and down-to-earth as he could be.
"That's the one person I've met where it truly felt surreal."
Since moving to Springfield, Mo., Corey seldom gets the chance to bask in the light of luminaries anymore. But now that he has pressed the flesh with Bono, he doesn't much care.
"Probably the only person left who I really, really want to meet is Richard Dean Anderson. I'm a huge 'MacGyver' fan."
Corey laughed. But the joker wasn't kidding this time.
"I have the first two seasons on DVD."
. Bono looked good in those pictures though,hehe.
