Little known fact, Emmy-award winning actor Gary Sinise is a giver. Other than Bono and maybe Angelina Jolie, there’s not another celebrity out there who does nearly as much charity work as Sinise. Not only is he wildly philanthropic, he puts his money where his heart is. I got to hang out while Sinise and his band – the aptly named Lt. Dan Band – rocked Kansas City. He started the band as a way to entertain the troops overseas. They do an eclectic mix of covers – everything from Jimi Hendrix to Kelly Clarkson. When not starring on “CSI:NY”, Sinise can often be found doing USO shows to support the troops. He does between 50-100 shows a year. He’s become the Bob Hope of our generation.

This is the second time I’ve met Sinise. The first time was back in 2002 when he was pimping out some horrid sci-fi movie, “Imposter”. Poor guy wanted to talk about anything BUT his movie. So we struck up a conversation about charity work. Of course, Sinise is best known for his portrayal of Lt. Dan in “Forrest Gump” – which plays endlessly ad nausea on cable TV. I mentioned to him that I’ve been to every Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant in the continental United States. I couldn’t tell if Sinise was impressed or appalled. Although he did mention his favorite Bubba Gump was in Hawaii – the only restaurant I’ve failed to visit. Go figure.

Mo Rocca is a funny Mo … uh, Fo. He’s sarcastic and snarky, but always with a twinkle in his eye. You can tell he takes great delight in asking off-the-wall, quirky questions. And he’s a phenomenal storyteller … often crafting intricate, humorous confections sprinkled with bon mots. I ran in to him recently at the 2010 Erma Bombeck Writer Conference. Mo was definitely in his element at the conference surrounded by other humorists and satirists. None of them tried to trump his ace. I think the authors realized they had met their match.

Every time Mo would walk around, he was just another face in the crowd. Either the menopausal set doesn’t know who he is … or they don’t care. I was a “Rocca Stalker”. I introduced myself at lunch and batted my eyelashes in a veiled attempt to get on his good side. I’m a firm believer that you can stand by funny people and glean insight in to their brilliance. I call it gaining moxie by proxy.