Christopher Lee Kattan ( ; born October 19, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. After performing with numerous comedy troupes, including The Groundlings in Los Angeles, he broke through as a regular cast member on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (1996–2003).
Following his breakout, Kattan had starring roles in the films A Night at the Roxbury (1998), House on Haunted Hill (1999), Monkeybone (2001), Corky Romano (2001), and Undercover Brother (2002). He experienced a career resurgence with a main role as Bob Weaver on the first five seasons of the ABC sitcom The Middle (2009–2014). In the 2010s, Kattan voiced the title character on the Cartoon Network and Boomerang animated series Bunnicula (2016–2018) and had a supporting voice role in the animated comedy film Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015).
Early life Kattan was born in Culver City, California. His father, Kip King ( Jerome Kattan; 1937–2010), was born to Jewish parents from Iraq and Poland and worked as an actor and voice artist. His mother, Hajnalka Biro (b. 1944), was once photographed for Playboy and worked as a model in London. She is a native of Budapest, Hungary, and is a Buddhist. His stepfather was a Buddhist therapist and monk. His half-brother, Andrew Joslyn, is a professional musician and composer.
Kattan was raised on a Zen retreat on Mount San Antonio, outside Los Angeles. He and his mother moved to Bainbridge Island, Washington, where he attended Bainbridge High School, graduating in 1989.
Career
Early career 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.
1996–2003: Saturday Night Live
Kattan 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, 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.
SNL celebrity impersonations Kattan's celebrity impersonations included Clay Aiken, Christiane Amanpour, Antonio Banderas, Andy Dick, Larry Fine, Bill Gates, Ben Affleck, David Gest, Elián González, Anne Heche, Julio Iglesias Jr., Steve Irwin, Chris Kirkpatrick, Ricky Martin, Al Pacino, Kid Rock, David Lee Roth, Paul Shaffer, David Spade, Kerri Strug (also appeared in Weekend Update with Strug as her fictional brother, Kippy), Geraldo Rivera, Robert Downey Jr., Queen Elizabeth II, and Anthony Fauci.
During his time on SNL, Kattan starred in the films A Night at the Roxbury, House on Haunted Hill (1999), Monkeybone (2001), Corky Romano (2001), and Undercover Brother (2002).
2004–present: Post-SNL work
In 2004 Kattan appeared on Broadway as Xanthias in Stephen Sondheim's The Frogs. He was later replaced in the role by Roger Bart.
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.* From 2009 to 2014, Kattan appeared in a supporting role in the sitcom The Middle as 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 2015, he voiced Kakie, a cake monster, in the film Hotel Transylvania 2. From 2016 to 2018, Kattan voiced the title character in the animated series Bunnicula. 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.
In 2023, Kattan did voice work in the film Leo as Alligator #1.
Personal life Kattan married model Sunshine Deia Tutt on June 28, 2008, in Oakhurst, California, after proposing to her on Christmas Eve 2006. The couple separated 44 days later on August 10, 2008, and divorced in February 2009.
On March 25, 2023, Kattan proposed to his girlfriend, Maria Libri, a writer and former on-air personality, in front of the stage at a Wilco concert held at the Riviera Theatre, while the Chicago band played "I'm the Man Who Loves You." The band members knew about the proposal. Kattan and Libri had met 18 months before the proposal when Kattan was performing a stand-up comedy show at Boondocks Pub in Springfield. They have since collaborated on writing projects, including a romantic comedy, and have also appeared together on the YouTube channel, Hey Kattan!
Neck injury Kattan broke his neck while filming an SNL sketch on May 12, 2001 parodying The Golden Girls, during which he threw himself backwards on a chair. He kept this injury a secret from Lorne Michaels and the public for years, although apparently NBC paid for two of the five surgeries he underwent afterwards. He has had impaired mobility ever since.The pain medication he began taking following his fourth surgery led to a 2014 DUI arrest.
He kept this injury a secret until the release of his 2019 memoir. Kattan competed in Dancing with the Stars in 2017, where judges criticized him for his stiff upper body movement, not knowing about this injury.
Memoir In 2019, Kattan published a memoir, titled Baby Don't Hurt Me: Stories and Scars from Saturday Night Live, which included the accident on SNL.
Filmography Film Year Film Role Notes 1993 The Making of '...And God Spoke' Moviegoer #1 1998 A Night at the Roxbury Doug Butabi 1999 House on Haunted Hill Watson Pritchett 2000 Any Given Wednesday Al Pacino Short film2001 Monkeybone Organ Donor Stu Corky Romano Corky Romano 2002 Undercover Brother Mr. Feather2005 Adam & Steve Michael Santa's Slay Jason Mason2007 Undead or Alive: A Zombedy Luke Rudd Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Walter Melon (voice) A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. Nancy Drew Burglar Christmas in Wonderland Leonard Cardoza 2008 Delgo Filo (voice)2009 Scouts Honor: Badge to the Bone Brandon Tanner Hall George Middlewood2010 Hollywood & Wine Jack Sanders Devolved Coach Papillion2011 Hard Breakers Hertz Waters A Holiday Heist Uncle Harry2012 Foodfight! Polar Penguin (voice) Crazy Enough Fred/Teddy Guns, Girls and Gambling Gay Elvis 2013 Slightly Single in L.A. Drew2015 Troop Hood Phil Neffler Short film Hotel Transylvania 2 Kakie (voice) The Ridiculous 6 John Wilkes Booth The Passenger Sebastian Short film ImagiGARY Officer Jones 2016 The Last Film Festival Harvey Weinstein2017 Desiderata Man Short film Walk of Fame Alejandro Breaking Legs Robby How to Get Girls Mr. Fox2018 Mr. Malevolent Mr. Preevy The Bobby Roberts Project Self Mockumentary 2019 The Soviet Sleep Experiment Subject 32020 Guest House Delivery Guy Ricky In Other Words Maximillion Woods2021 40-Love Bootman Famous Lawrence Nichols 2023 Leo Alligator #1 (voice)TBA
Television {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Film ! Role ! Notes |- | 1995 | NewsRadio | Employee #3 | Episode: "No, This Is Not Based Entirely on Julie's Life" |- | 1996 | Grace Under Fire | Carnival Barker | Episode: "Guess Who's Not Coming to Lunch?" |- | 1996–2003, 2006, 2011 | Saturday Night Live | Various roles | Series regular: 1996–2003; guest: 2006 & 2011148 episodes |- | 2005 | Enough About Me | Chris Adams | TV film |- | rowspan="2"|2006 | Totally Awesome | Gabriel | TV film |- | The Year Without a Santa Claus | Sparky | TV film |- | 2007 | Two Dreadful Children | Chet Dunbar (voice) | TV film |- | 2008 | Gym Teacher: The Movie | Sploopers Show Host/ESPN Announcer | TV film |- | 2009 | AllaKattan! | Self
| 2009–2014 | The Middle | Bob Weaver | Series regular, 56 episodes |- | 2010–2014 | How I Met Your Mother | Jed Mosley | 2 episodes |- | 2011 | Late Night with Jimmy Fallon | Casey Madisenn/Bill Fisk | Episode: "28 July 2011" |- | rowspan="2" |2014 | The (206) | Various roles | Episode: "Season 2, Episode 12" |- | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | Craig Newton | Episode: "Kevin Spacey/Lewis Black" |- | 2014–2015 | Jake and the Never Land Pirates | King Zongo (voice) | 3 episodes |- | 2015 | The Awesomes | Indiana Johnson (voice) | Episode: "Indiana Johnson and the Nazi Granddaughters" |- | 2016 | Jingle Ballin''' | DJ Booth
| 2016–2018 | Bunnicula| Bunnicula, Arthur Monroe (voice) | Main cast (104 episodes) |- | rowspan="2"|2017 | Real Rob| Mitch | Episode: "Acupuncture & Spring Rolls" |- | Sharknado 5: Global Swarming| Prime Minister | TV film |- | 2017–2018 | Voltron: Legendary Defender| Blaytz (voice) | 3 episodes |- | rowspan="2"|2018 | The Time Capsule| Rod | TV film |- | Lent!| Conrad | TV film |- |2021 |Beebo Saves Christmas|Sprinkles, Elfin-Mark-V (voice) |Television special |- | rowspan="2"|2022 | Celebrity Big Brother 3| Himself
| The Cuphead Show!| Werner Werman (voice) | Episode: "Rat's All, Folks"
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result 2000 Teen Choice Awards Choice TV Personality Saturday Night Live 2001 Teen Choice Awards Choice Comedian 2013 Bonehead Award Best Actor Just Crazy Enough 2016 Hoboken International Film Festival Award Best Supporting Actor Breaking Legs
Book Kattan, Chris (with Travis Thrasher) (2019). Baby, Don't Hurt Me: Stories and Scars from Saturday Night Live''. Dallas, TX: BenBella Books.
References
External links