Chris Kattan, comedian/SNL cast member

[morty]

Christopher Lee Kattan (age 51) is an American actor, comedian, and author. He is best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, for playing Doug Butabi in A Night at the Roxbury, and his roles as Bob on the first four seasons of The Middle and Bunnicula in Bunnicula.

 

Kattan was a member of several improvisational comedy (improv) and sketch comedy troupes, one of them being The Groundlings in Los Angeles. His father was an original member of the troupe. Kattan also did some minor roles on TV, including the second episode of the second season of NewsRadio, "No, This Is Not Based Entirely on Julie's Life", as a photo shop employee. He moved to New York City to work on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2003. His recurring characters included Mr. Peepers, Mango, Azrael Abyss, Kyle DeMarco from The DeMarco Brothers, Gay Hitler, Suel Forrester (known for the term "dagitybo") and, most notably, one half of the Butabi Brothers with fellow SNL (and Groundlings) cast member Will Ferrell, known for their trademark head-bobbing. Kattan and Ferrell continued the characters in the 1998 film A Night at the Roxbury. Kattan appeared in a Diet Pepsi Max commercial during Super Bowl XLII in 2008 that featured the song What Is Love and had many actors in the commercial performing the head bob from A Night at the Roxbury.

 

In August 2009, Kattan starred in the Independent Film Channel (IFC) miniseries Bollywood Hero, where he portrays himself and the difficulties he faces after a career as a comic actor, trying to attain leading man status. Starting in late 2009, Kattan appeared in a supporting role in The Middle. Kattan played Bob, a colleague of Frankie Heck's at Mr. Ehlert's car dealership. Kattan appeared in an episode of How I Met Your Mother as a star in "The Wedding Bride", a fictional movie within the show. He played himself portraying Jed Mosely, the film's villain, which the screenwriter bases on his girlfriend's ex-fiancé, series protagonist, Ted Mosby. He reappeared as the character in the fictional film's sequel, Wedding Bride 2.

 

On December 17, 2011, Kattan made a guest appearance on the Saturday Night Live Christmas show, hosted by Jimmy Fallon, and again briefly on the final episode of SNL's 37th season. In June 2014, Kattan reprised his role as former SNL character Mango in a preview of the music video for Sharaya J's "Shut It Down", featured in a fashion campaign by Alexander Wang.

 

In 2017, Kattan was a contestant on season 24 of Dancing with the Stars paired with professional dancer Witney Carson. He was the first celebrity dancer eliminated. Kattan reunited with fellow SNL alumni Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sanz, and Tracy Morgan during the December 18, 2018 cold open of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which also featured Ariana Grande, in a reprisal of their performance of "I Wish it Was Christmas Today". It was the first time since 2011 that Fallon, Sanz, Kattan, and Morgan were all present for a performance of the song.

 

In 2022, Kattan was announced as a HouseGuest competing on the third season of Celebrity Big Brother. Kattan competed in Dancing with the Stars in 2017, and was criticized for his stiff upper body movement by the Dancing judges. Afterward, Kattan revealed that he had broken his neck doing a stunt almost 20 years prior, and that the injury and subsequent surgeries were the reasons for his lack of mobility. Kattan also revealed that the pain medication he began taking following his fourth surgery led to his 2014 DUI arrest. Kattan revealed more details of the injury in his memoir claiming that it was the result of a SNL sketch that aired on May 12, 2001, in which he threw himself backwards on a chair while doing a Golden Girls parody, adding that NBC paid for two of five surgeries to repair the spinal injuries.