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For 18 years, Chris Kattan conceals a secret that he is finally ready to share: the actor thinks he broke his neck when he made a skit on "Saturday Night Live" in 2001, an accident that, according to him, had almost paralyzed him, drove drug addiction struggles and diverts his career.
In his new memoir, "Do not hurt me: Saturday Night Live stories and scars", provided exclusively to Variety Prior to his May 7 release, Kattan reveals details of his injury, which he said would have occurred during the episode of the series, May 12, 2001. In a sketch, he writes that he is fell into a rickety chair – he landed hard on the stage, painfully beating his head.
Kattan first reported his news of an old injury by appearing in "Dancing with the Stars" in 2017, to explain why he was so steep in moving on stage. But he never claimed that it had happened on "SNL" – until now.
In the book, Kattan complains of still suffering the effects of this moment, which can be found as a clip on the NBC website.
"Even today, I still can not open my hand wide enough to use my fingers normally on the keyboard," he writes. "The impact of my injury and subsequent surgeries on my career has been immense, but most importantly, the spin-offs have been devastating for some of the closest relationships in my life."
In an interview this week at Variety Kattan told SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels and producer Ken Aymong the accident. Aymong, said the comedian, promised to "take care of him," and that Michaels passed on a doctor's recommendation. Kattan also told Variety that NBC had taken care of two of the five surgeries it had suffered over the years.
Michaels declined an interview request for this story. A spokesman for NBC said the network had no record of this claim and declined to comment further.
Variety spoke to several insiders, including staff members mentioned by Kattan in his book, who worked closely with Kattan as part of the "SNL" production team and who would also have been on the set and informed any subsequent claim. But none of them could remember Kattan's injury, even after conducting his own internal investigations to see if others remembered that.
Kattan was not able to provide documentation that NBC was aware of the injury, and Variety also attempted to contact the Kattan surgeon, who did not respond to several requests in a timely manner. Insiders said they would have known if Kattan broke his neck on the show – it was a serious enough incident that would have involved the network's legal team and human resources, especially because it had happened in front of the camera. But they were not – letting insiders wonder if Kattan remembered correctly.
But Kattan describes at length what he believes to have happened the night he broke his neck. He wrote this in the parody sketch of "MSNBC Investigates," about a group of kids playing the role of "Golden Girls," whom Kattan was supposed to collapse on his chair to do. to laugh. The comedian said that he had questioned the safety of the move and had asked the accessories department for another seat – but that never happened.
He stated that he had bumped his head violently that night and wrote that he had begun to feel pain in the weeks and months that followed – but he did assumed that it would disappear. Almost a year later, Kattan learned that his chiropractor had finally convinced him to have it checked. But beyond that, he wrote that he had never really used NBC, "SNL" or Michaels. Years later, when he asked lawyers to finally look into workers' compensation, he was told it was too late.
"NBC had stopped paying for my medical expenses after the second operation," he wrote. "The 'SNL' family, to which I belonged, had stopped caring for me and very quickly I could not pay for everything myself. But I never really fought for myself or anything. I never thought about the potential legal consequences of what had happened on the set and what was happening now. I had been brought up to be responsible for myself. I was not about to sue anyone. I never wanted to be that person: to spend my life weakened and fight a network. I wanted to hide everything, claiming that everything was fine and in good enough shape to go out in public and be social. "
"The 'SNL' family, to which I belonged, had stopped taking care of me and very quickly I could not pay for everything myself."
Chris Kattan
Now, Kattan tells Variety that he would have liked to have spoken – and could have today. "If I had known how all this would end, I would have done better to say something about it, rather than remain silent because I thought it would hinder the work," he said. . "It's a different day and age when people are hurt, harassed or whatever, it's a good time to talk about it. It was not that long ago, but it was more of a faux pas than saying anything, especially if it was your showbiz family. "
Kattan left "SNL" in 2003 after seven years of existence, but said he felt marginalized by the show since then. The actor was not invited to perform during the special "SNL", 40th anniversary gala, for example.
"I think everyone has their own complicated relationship with the series," he told Variety. "But every time I go back to visit, everyone opens their arms and is so kind. It's an energy different from what it was when you're in the cast. It's healthier. For whatever reason, when you leave and come back to visit your guest, Lorne and everyone else, you miss a bargain. And you miss the show. This is one of the healthiest relationships you should have with the show, once your trial is over. "
While "Baby Don's Not Hurt Me" is published, Kattan now hopes to let know that he's back in a commission after a dark period that coincided with a succession of five painful surgeries, a failed marriage, the death of his father, drugs. and addiction to painkillers, and missed career opportunities. And he is ready to talk about it.
"I tried to tell the truth," he said. "It feels good to say everything at last. I do not think it really hurts anyone, it's just something I had to say. "
Beyond his stories of "SNL" and his encounters with celebrities such as Tom Cruise, "Baby Don & # 39; t'wurt me" tells of Kattan's unusual childhood, mostly spent in the lonely childhood of Mount . Baldy with his mother and stepfather. On weekends he was visiting his father, Kip King, actor and founding member of Groundlings' improvisational theater. It was King who inspired Kattan's career.
In recent years, Kattan has recorded roles in "The Middle," "How I met your mother" and "Sharknado 5," in addition to vocal work on animated series such as "Bunnicula" and the movie "Hotel Transylvania 2." also continues to face limitations due to his neck injury.
"As a physical comedian, I was always worried about waking up one day with a completely different body," he wrote. "This fear has become my reality. After forty-five seconds on the "SNL" scene in May 2001, my body would never be the same again. "
Watch the full interview:
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