In the same way that us normals use high school reunions to catch up with old friends we've lost touch with, you can also use the announcement of the Dancing with the Stars cast to catch up with celebrities you might have lost track of. So what has Chris Kattan been up to lately? He'll be dancing with Witney Carson come the Season 24 premiere on Mar. 20, but what has the comedian been spending his time on since he left Saturday Night Live in 2003?
Well, I have good news, and I have bad news. The bad news is that Kattan has had a lot of false starts since departing SNL and some challenges in his personal life, which is a real bummer. But the good news is that he's getting a second chance of sorts with Dancing with the Stars. If he comes in with the right mindset, this could be a career reset for Kattan, launching him back into the public eye and priming him for bigger and better projects.
After his eight-year stint on SNL, Kattan was set to move into theater, playing Xanthias in the 2004 Lincoln Center production of Stephen Sondheim's The Frogs, but he was replaced by another performer shortly before opening night. The reasons given for Kattan's dismissal in the LA Times were that his onstage "articulation" wasn't clear, and that he "didn't speak the language of the theater." And one of his next projects suffered similar obstacles: Kattan was lined up to host Gameshow In My Head, even going as far as filming the pilot, before being replaced by Joe Rogan when the show went to series in 2009.
On the plus side, Kattan has had pretty consistent TV and movie roles since 2005, racking up at least one credit a year since his SNL days. Some of his more notable projects have included a couple episodes as Jed Moseley on How I Met Your Mother, a recurring role as Bob on The Middle, with 56 episodes between 2009 and 2014, and voicing Kakie in Hotel Transylvania 2. In addition, he has four projects currently in various stages of completion, set to come out in 2017, so it seems that he keeps his schedule pretty full.
But even as he's seen some success in his career, Kattan has encountered legal troubles in his personal life. In 2014, he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and Ambien, for which he was ultimately sentenced to three years probation and ordered to attend alcohol counseling and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. A year later, in 2015, Kattan was barred from boarding a flight due to "jittery behavior", according to TMZ, and had to be removed from the Phoenix airport by police. No legal action was pursued.
His stint on Dancing With The Stars seems like a clear sign that Kattan is taking his health and safety seriously, and it could even be a step toward a career revival. We'll just have to see when the season premieres on March 20.
