A couple of weeks ago I was casting a new commercial that I’m shooting next week. It’d been a long day, and I was taking notes on the actors I’d seen. I felt a presence in my room, and looked up. Standing there was Walter Koenig, Checkhov from the original Star Trek series back in the 1960s.

Wow.

I mean, I don’t care much about people you’d read about in fashion magazines or the tabloids. I really don’t. But this was Chekhov from Star Trek! Anyway, he was very nice and asked me if the room next door had begun seeing people yet. They hadn’t. So we hung out a bit. I told him about my own Star Trek spoof that got all those views online last year, and I told him how I liked his work in the “Star Trek New Voyages” web series a lot. Then more actors showed up for me, and I got back to work. About 15 minutes into casting, I asked the actor I was reading to give me a moment.

I couldn’t help it. I had to get an autograph. This was Chekhov, man! Walter was very gracious.

I guess casting doesn’t have to suck.