Celebrities meeting other celebrities for the first time is an interesting dynamic, especially if they are fans of each other. It’s kind of endearing, one famous person getting starstruck by another, like Matthew Vaughn with Mark Hamill. Well, apparently it’s a bit of a different story with Seth Rogen. Apparently, the This Is the End star and producer wasn't star-struck when he first met Sylvester Stallone; that's because he was too busy about being weirded out by the legendary action hero’s strange name, and it’s a pretty classic story.
Seth Rogen recently appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to talk about his many business ventures and his current Hulu series Pam & Tommy, but he also left us with a pretty funny story about when he first met Sylvester Stallone. According to Rogen, the only thing he could focus on when shaking the hand of the Rambo star was how weird his given name was. Here’s the story as he tells it:
It’s a weird name, right? Well yeah, and it’s true. [Sylvester Stallone]’s a name I grew up with and it’s been in my life as long as I can remember. I met Sylvester Stallone once at the opening of the Planet Hollywood Casino in Las Vegas, because where else would you meet Sylvester Stallone? That’s like when they let him out… And I remember meeting him and he shook my hand and in the deepest, rumbliest voice I’ve heard he said, ‘I’m Sylvester.’ And at that moment I remember thinking, ‘I’ve never met another human with the name Sylvester.’ And I don’t even think I’ve heard of another human with the name Sylvester. There’s one Sylvester, Stallone and a cat! There’s two Sylvesters.
It has to be a pretty big moment when you’re met with someone who was pretty much a household name when you were growing up. Seth Rogen definitely gives credit where credit is due and recognizes that Sylvester Stallone is an absolute icon. Focusing on the fact that the Rocky star has a funny name could have been just a panic response of meeting someone so legendary. Of course, he could have just been high. Yeah, that’s probably it - the man does own his own weed company, after all.
Seth Rogen does have a solid point, though. In the same interview, he reflected on the weirdness of a name like Sylvester, but said that when combined with his last name, it sounds perfectly normal. This is what he said, exactly:
But no, it was really weird. With the Stallone. Sylvester Stallone, not a weird name. Sylvester just dangling out there in the wind, shocking to have a man come up to you and say, ‘I’m Sylvester.’ It’s like what, whoa, how many syllables is that? It’s a wild name.
While Seth Rogen is a painfully ordinary name, the man behind the name is nothing but impressive. On the surface, he is the epitome of chill. While such a relaxed attitude may be associated with someone whose career is less than stellar, Rogen has seriously proved that stereotype wrong.
Seth Rogen is the mind behind a number of fan-favorite comedies, even if he himself doesn’t star in them. He is acting producer on the new Hulu biopic Pam & Tommy, in which he plays a mullet-clad sex tape thief. He also has had quite a wild time producing Amazon’s The Boys and its many spinoffs.
If you want to hear (or read) more funny stories and weird thoughts about famous people from Seth Rogen's brain, his book Yearbook is chock full of them. If you’re more of a comedy watcher, though, you can check him out in Pam & Tommy, provided you have a Hulu subscription. The series is ongoing, with the first five episodes currently available, and new episodes dropping on the streaming platform every Wednesday.
