Keanu Reeves Reveals the Only 2 Celebrity Autographs He’s Ever Asked For

Keanu Reeves has only ever asked two famous people for their autographs in his life, and it didn’t even go that smoothly for him. In a new interview with Stephen Colbert, Reeves said that he asked actor George Carlin for an autograph and singer Lou Reed from The Velvet Underground. While Reed was accomodating, he said that Carlin poked fun at him.

Reeves answered a series of rapid-fire questions on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last week, in a new segment called “The Colbert Questionert.” When asked if he had ever requested an autograph from another celebrity before, Reeves said that he had asked Reed for one, but only so that he could give it to a friend as a gift. He recalled that Reed simply scribbled his signature on a piece of paper with no additional fanfare, but Carlin was another story. According to Reeves, he asked the veteran comedian for an autograph while they were filming Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure together.

“I asked for another. George Carlin. Yeah, he gave me an autograph… It was really funny; he wrote, I think it was, ‘Dear Keanu, F- you!’” Reeves recalled with a smile. “I always thought he just wrote that for me, and then I met someone else who said that he wrote the same thing to them! Anyway, beautiful.”

Of course, Carlin was known for that kind of abrasive humor, and Reeves didn’t seem to begrudge him for it. In his days as a stand-up comedian, Carlin’s most famous joke was about the efficacy and application of various swear words. Carlin appeared in Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey as Rufus as well, and in the animated TV series. Sadly, he had passed away before the Bill & Ted sequel that premiered in 2020.

Reeves is a busy man these days, and he did not seem to visit The Late Show to promote one project in particular. His most recent movie is The Matrix Resurrections, which premiered last month in theaters and on HBO Max. Colbert asked him several questions about the movie and he shared some behind-the-scenes insight, but he has other projects coming up worth noting as well.

Reeves will be back in theaters in May to lend his voice to DC League of Super-Pets, where his role has not yet been made public. He has also filmed John Wick: Chapter 4, which just got moved back to a 2023 release date, while John Wick: Chapter 5 has gone into pre-production. Reeves did not share any major updates on these projects in his conversation with Colbert.