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My Phone Encounter With Chris Kattan
By Sherry Lipp 8/22/05 - Member
I can't believe it has been a week since I had the pleasure of talking to Chris Kattan on the phone! The experience was so exciting for me I can hardly believe it happened. Though I had been nervous about talking to him; constantly wondering what I would say, worried that I wouldn't be able to come up with enough to talk about, I quickly found my worries unfounded as soon as the conversation began. I had been a fan of Chris's for a long time, but as soon as I found out that I had won the contest, it hit me that I didn't know what to say at all. This would be more than just a brief "hello", like if I was just meeting him by chance somewhere. This would be an actual conversation. I thought of all the times I had thought to myself: I wish I just had the chance to talk with him. to see what he's really like.
I feel so fortunate that I got this opportunity to talk to him, and to get to know him a little bit. I am so grateful to Chris for allowing the experience to happen.
This being my second year in the Kattaners Club, I clearly remembered reading about last year's phone call to Kalyn. Last year it was a celebration of ChrisKattan.net's 5th anniversary, so I wasn't sure if it would be the same for the 6th anniversary. Then on the actual anniversary date of July 16th came the announcement "Kattaner's Club is doing it again."
I had been saving some points I had won in one of the random monthly drawings, earlier in the year, and two tickets from my membership to put in extra entries for the contest. After frantically searching my apartment for my membership number, I assembled all my info and entered the contest on July 31st, the very last possible day to enter.
One week later.I was wondering if there was any info on when the contest winner would be announced so I decided quickly check online shortly after getting to work Monday August 8th. Scrolling down through my email I noticed one dated Sunday August 7th "YOU WON THE PHONE-CALL FROM CHRIS!" For a split second I was thinking, they announced it yesterday and I didn't even know, that's what I get for not checking my email. Then I realized this was not the email I use to read posts to the group, this email was for ME! I won the phone call?!?!
I was so not expecting to win, I didn't know what to do right then. I was at work, so I didn't have any time to spend looking at my email. I quickly forwarded it to my husband then finished the report I was supposed to be getting for my boss. My workday continued normally, but all day I just kept wondering what I would say when the phone call happened.
I could tell him that I had been to a SNL taping two years ago. Suspecting it might be his last season I had made it my goal to see the show before he left. About three weeks later, he did announce he wouldn't be returning after that season. As exciting an experience as being an SNL audience member was, I couldn't have imagined then that I would actually have the chance to talk to Chris Kattan personally!
What else would I talk about? I really wanted to have a regular conversation with him, not conduct an interview, so I convinced myself not to worry about planning it so much.
After a few emails back and forth with Risa, she told me Chris wanted to do the phone call on Monday the 15th at 7:30 PM. It was Friday so I had the whole weekend to let everything sink in.
Monday was a normal workday for me and I was feeling pretty good about everything. I got home around 5:45 PM, made dinner, and relaxed. At about 7:15 PM, the nervousness hit me again.
7:30 PM - "Any minute now" my husband, Chaz, says. I'm starting to feel even more nervous. Just don't let him think I'm boring, I think to myself.
7:35 PM - The phone rings - "There he is." Chaz says.
I jump up to answer the phone - "Hello?"
There is a few seconds of total silence on the other end. For I second I panic thinking the phone may have disconnected. Then.
- "Sherry? Hi, this is Chris Kattan."
- "Hi Chris, how are you?" I say.
He says he is fine and asks how I am. He also asks if I can hear him ok, because he is trying out a new headset. I didn't need to wonder much about what to say, because he got the ball rolling with a bunch of questions about myself. He asked my age (it was one of the first times I didn't mind saying I was 31), where I work, what does my husband do, etc. After that I told him that I have been a fan for a long time, and had attended an SNL taping. He thought it was pretty cool that I had been there, and asked about my experience. I told him it was freezing in New York, though it was April and how my husband and I went to Rockefeller center at 3 AM to wait for stand-by tickets. He said he remembered how cold it could get there sometimes.
The SNL taping I went to was when Bernie Mac hosted, and Chris remembered that he wasn't in that episode much. I brought up a sketch where he played one of the Three Stooges, which he remembered Bernie Mac being a little extra exuberant when he pushed Chris over a table.
By that point I was feeling totally relaxed. He was so easy to talk to I didn't feel awkward or nervous at all.
The conversation flowed so easily I didn't even go to my list of questions I had prepared. The town I live in, Bothell, WA, is not far from where he used to live, so we talked about some of our experiences here in Washington, and some of the mutual places we had traveled. I asked some questions about SNL, like what it was like working with certain people and how he came up with sketch ideas -
He said he usually tried to get ideas from real life experiences.
One of his favorite things while working on SNL was getting to see some of his favorite bands up close. As the conversation turned toward music, we discovered we like a lot of the same bands and musicians. We talked a lot about our favorite bands, such as The Kinks, and favorite albums. I love talking about music, so I was really enjoying the conversation. He also seemed to enjoy talking about the music he liked.
After about 45 minutes he said he had to get going and asked if I had any more questions. Everything had been so conversational, I didn't want to fire off a whole bunch of random questions. I had a few in my reserve arsenal, which I asked - such as what working with James Brown on "Undercover Brother" was like. Chris said James Brown was a hero of his, referring to him as "The God of Soul." I said, "Godfather, you mean?" Chris laughed, and said "Yeah, yeah - Godfather of Soul. I wonder who the 'God' of soul is? Maybe it's Michael Jackson," he joked, then added quickly, "No, no, just kidding." Chris noted that Mr. Brown always seemed to be accompanied by an entourage of lawyers wherever he went. My husband is a James Brown fanatic, so he got a kick out of this anecdote.
Shortly thereafter, things seemed to come to a natural end. I didn't want to take up a lot more of his time, so I told him I really enjoyed the conversation and thanked him for taking the time to do it.
Hanging up the phone, I could hardly believe it all had just happened. It had gone beyond what I had ever expected. I felt like I really had gotten to know him a little bit, and what I also thought was great was that he wanted to get to know me too. Throughout the conversation he seemed as excited and engaged as I was. The entire experience was unbelievable and one that I will never forget.
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