I've never put a lot into being a celebrity, that just flies over my head because that's not really who I am. But as you can imagine, you get exposed to a lot of different things because of what you do and I lived a pretty excessive lifestyle.
At first it was exhilarating but when I realized it wasn't going away, it became scary and claustrophobic. Fame is a weird thing.
I can headline a festival and then literally, 10 minutes later, be walking around, and nobody notices.
Once or twice in the height of 'Happy Days' excitement, which had more to do with Henry Winkler as The Fonz than ever had to do with me, we were kind of like a boy band for a year or so, and we would go out on personal appearances and feel the limousine rocking, and the grabbing at your clothes and people trying to steal your cap.
Once this old lady saw me in airport and just kept smiling at me, and after much hesitation, she came and asked me, 'Are you Ram? Can I touch your hair? Is it real?' and I happily obliged.
It's always a shock to me when I get recognized.
It's hard to bury your head in Los Angeles. People come up to you and say, 'Hey, I saw your picture on a bus.' It's tricky: You're excited by the possibilities, but you don't want to get too crazy.
You can't really fault people who are experiencing fame. They're just making their way through, and everybody around them is reflecting this fame right back at them. It's strange.
I remember when I was very little my idol was Britney Spears. I had just come to California and that's just who I wanted to meet. So I was in a store and she walked in and my jaw just fell to the floor. I started like sweating. I could not believe that I was meeting her. She told me that I was very cute. And I lost it — I was so excited.
I'm lucky that I can walk down the street, and maybe one person will recognise me from 'The Simpsons,' and another person will recognise me from 'Spinal Tap,' and it's always surprising.
I get recognised sometimes, and that's really cool. I've tried certain disguises, but that doesn't work.
The thing about being famous is, it's weird. The only people who get how weird it is are other famous people.
I've been all around the world, and there will be a thousand kids crying out your name, and it's such a weird, visceral experience. It's like, it's disorienting.
It is a bit surreal when I'm out and people are having a look or staring or wanting selfies.
Only we were in The Cranberries. Only we know what it was like being in that crazy whirlwind of fame. We have children and spouses and lives, but there is only one Cranberries.
I've been through this fame thing before, when the band was big in '80, '81.
I've been to the Met Ball and the Tonys, but Cannes is particularly huge. Every time at these big events, it's just - whoa. Because at the end of the day, I'm a guy from Devonshire who grew up on a farm who loves his dog.
I still do the same things, but it's nice. If people recognize you, generally everyone's very respectful, very lovely, but I wonder what it's like for real celebrities.
Every day someone notices me and waves to me, or stops and speaks to me, or asks me for an autograph, or photographs me.
It's the weirdest thing. When you go into acting, you expect to be a huge star and to be recognized... It did happen, but not in the way you expect it to... In L.A., I'm just another character actor.
Man, I used to go around and think, 'Oh my God, what must it be like to be going down the street, and someone asks you, 'What's your name?' and the reply would be, 'John Coltrane.' I couldn't imagine what that would be like.
Now I know what it's like to be a rock star. No, I didn't sleep with 5 groupies at once. But I was interviewed about 45 times in 5 days in 3 cities.
They say everybody gets 15 minutes. I hope I'm just inside the first minute and the next 14 go really slow.
I've been amazed that it's so popular with people. But it's been fantastic. People are very excited when I walk into a place and they recognize me from the series.
People recognize me all the time now, and there's lots of autograph hunting and smiling. But then I get to play gigs, which are amazing. It's a good job.
