A Chance Photo Op with Matthew Broderick Reveals He is Not Alone That Day |

If you happened to be at the same location as a celebrity, it would be natural to seize the opportunity to have a photo taken with them.

A Photo with One Celebrity or Two?

A Photo With One Celebrity Or Two?

Way back in 2009, a father and his daughter got the chance to request a photo opportunity with actor Matthew Broderick. About 10 years later, the father’s friend posted the story to social media and immediately, followers noticed another famous face caught in the picture.

A Huge Fan

During a father-daughter trip, the little girl started feeling sick. Her Dad stopped to buy some medicine at a pharmacy that unfortunately, seemed very busy. There was a long waiting line. But during the wait, he was distracted by a chance meeting.

Hoping Not To Be Noticed

Alex was feeling frustrated at how slowly the line was moving, so when the person in front of him turned around to commiserate, he was happy to do so. The two men started chatting easily, and the conversation flowed naturally. However, while talking to this man, Alex could not help feeling that he recognized him from somewhere.

The Penny Drops

The two men finished chatting and said their goodbyes as they were finally served. Alex still kept thinking that he knew this man from somewhere, almost as if the man was someone famous that he could not place in his memory. As his curiosity grew, he decided to wait for the other man to emerge from the pharmacy so he could introduce himself formally and find out the man’s name. He was about to be very surprised!

He Was a Celebrity!

He Was A Celebrity!

Alex’s suspicion was correct. The man was none other than Matthew Broderick, and Alex realized he was remembering Matthew from the 80’s iconic ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’, a favorite movie of his back then. Matthew was not with Sarah Jessica Parker that day and seemed in no hurry as he chatted with Alex and his daughter. Alex then asked Matthew for something.

A Decade Later

A Twitter user named @HonoredSpirit posted the background story of this day, online, ten years later. His tweets were about Matthew Broderick’s daily life, specifically. Obviously, the star was the key player in this encounter with Alex at the pharmacy, but as it turned out, the main story was not so much about Matthew, as it was about another well-known face.

Alex Recounted That Day For Years Afterwards

The man at the center of the ‘Matthew Broderick Story’, was Alex Cabana, a 42-year-old father from Queens. All his friends and acquaintances refer to him as the Dad who got Matthew Broderick to pose for a photo op with his daughter, Nicole. But what his friends and family like best about the story, is the fact that Alex had no clue at the time, of just who else was hovering in the background of the photo.

It Took A Decade To Go Viral

It seems incredible that it took 10 years for the photo to reach social media finally. The poster, @HonoredSpirit, had no idea that his posts would be retweeted 20 000 times or that the media like Time and New York Magazine would latch onto the story and publish articles about it. As many netizens are only now finding out about that fateful day, there is one young lady who remembers it like it was yesterday.

An Unforgettable 15 Minutes

Nicole was only 7 when her Dad asked Matthew if he would pose for the photo with her. She remembers her Dad being really excited and starstruck. When the picture went viral, Nicole was a young adult and was thrilled to be part of the uproar. Her face was not shown, as she was a child back then, but it felt like this was her 15 minutes of fame, and she accepted full bragging rights!

Smile!

Ten years previously, Alex realized that the chance meeting was a special moment that had to be recorded for posterity. He asked Matthew if he could take a photo of him with Nicole, which Matthew readily agreed to. After all, it was Matthew who had once said: “ Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Who Else Had Been Captured in the Photo?

Who Else Had Been Captured In The Photo?

As Alex was about to take the photo, he noticed a weird-looking man, hovering close to them. In fact, he was in the way and would ruin the picture if he did not move. He asked Matthew if he knew who this man was, as he seemed to be waiting for Matthew. The actor then confirmed he knew the man and that they were out together that day.

Friends

Matthew explained the man was a friend of his. The two of them were in Montauk on a trip, which is why Alex had met him that day. He usually would not have frequented this pharmacy. With this explained, Alex asked the strange man to move so that he could snap his photo, but it seemed the man was unwilling to do so.

Get Out of the Shot Please

Get Out Of The Shot Please

Matthew’s friend moved only slightly to the side and was still visible in the photo. Alex felt a bit angry and disappointed as he wanted the shot to be only of Matthew and his daughter, Nicole. He didn’t feel he was being unreasonable. Ten Years later, @HonoredSpirit shared that moment on twitter and netizens understood why the strange man was reluctant to move too far away.

Who Could The Strange Man Be?

As the Twitterverse read the post, they were not sure why @HonoredSpirit had posted it other than to share a photo of Matthew. It seemed that Matthew’s friend was the reason the post was created, but why? He looked like just another guy, wearing jeans, sneakers, and sunglasses. Turns out, this was no ordinary guy…

A Treasured Photo

Alex had resigned himself to cropping the second man out of his precious photo but was still very eager to show his wife and father, waiting in the car. After thanking Matthew and wishing him well, he and Nicole returned to their family. When his wife took a look at the photo, she was astonished!

Have You Any Idea Who This Is?

Alex thought his wife’s shocked reaction was due to seeing Matthew Broderick, but he was utterly wrong! She asked him if he knew what he had just done? She knew who the second man was and could not believe her husband had just told him to move out of the way of his photo op! Dumbfounded, Alex took a better look at his photo and immediately felt mortified.

Unbelievably Embarrassing

As he looked closely at the photo and the man he had just been so annoyed with, Alex slowly realized that this was a face he had seen regularly. In fact, at one stage, every night on TV. This was someone he should have recognized at once…

The Beloved Jerry Seinfeld!

Not only had Alex failed to recognize Jerry Seinfeld, but he had fawned over Matthew Broderick and ignored the great comedian who was much more famous than Broderick. Jerry may have been wearing shades and a cap, but still, Alex was horrified that he had not paid more attention to the man’s face. This leads us back to the social media posts that went viral ten years later.

“The Original Photobomb”

Many twitter users recalled an episode of Seinfeld called ‘The Slicer’, in which the character, Costanza unwittingly photobombs his boss’ family photo and tries to airbrush himself out of it. Years before photoshop, this is considered by many to be the original photobomb. As Alex’s photo went viral, the hysterically funny irony was not lost on the very amused Twitterverse.

Long-time Buddies

Long Time Buddies

Matthew and Jerry have been good friends for many years. They see each other often, which is why Alex ran into them in the pharmacy in Montauk. They have been seen together at Mets games and in public many times. They have also worked together a few times. For example, in the animated film, Bee, they play a pair of bees.

Another Collaboration

In Seinfeld’s show: ‘Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee’, Broderick appeared in an episode where Seinfeld states that everyone is working on producing longer and more complicated episodes of shows, forcing viewers to try to remember “who is a vampire who is a wizard and who is a zombie”. He says he wants his show to reflect how valuable he considers his audience’s time. The show can be seen on Netflix.

The Irony…

Alex is happy that after the social media blitz, his story has everyone laughing at his faux pas. Ironically, this situation would not be out of place in an episode of Seinfeld. Apart from the fact that it actually happened in real life. The story unwinds in a remarkably hilarious way!

Good Natured Pay Back

In true Seinfeld fashion, Jerry photoshopped himself into the cover of the Beatles ‘Abbey Road’ album cover. He then posted it online with the caption: ‘I’m also in the Abbey Road Photo if you look closely’. The photo and caption were posted in response to Alex’s viral picture.

In The Right Place At The Right Time

If Alex and his family had not gone on a vacation trip to Montauk in 2009, none of this would have happened. Alex wanted to get away from it all for the weekend and spend some time with his nearest and dearest. On the way to the small town on the South Shore of Long Island, Nicole’s niggling earache got worse, prompting Alex to stop in at the pharmacy where his epic meeting with Matthew and Jerry took place.