Tom Hanks Shoulders All Responsibility For Chris Kattan’s Mr. Peeper Character On ‘SNL’
While it’s not uncommon for viewers to passionately dislike certain recurring Saturday Night Live characters, we’re a little surprised to hear that the guy who created the show was forced to put up with one of them.
Apparently SNL head honcho Lorne Michaels didn’t exactly love Mr. Peepers, Chris Kattan’s horny monkey-man character.
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As Kattan once explained, the character actually pre-dated SNL and was “based on bad improvisation” during his time with the Groundlings. “I just ran out and jumped on this guy, Roy Jenkins, and (hung) upside down on him,” Kattan explained. “And that’s how it was born.”
But once Kattan worked for Lorne Michaels, the producer wasn’t convinced that Mr. Peepers was a great idea for a sketch. During a recent interview with LateNighter’s podcast Inside Late Night with Mark Malkoff, the host asked Kattan about Michaels’ aversion to the “hack” sketch and animal sketches in general.
“I heard he didn’t like the piece,” Kattan admitted. “But you know, it wasn’t really an animal, he’s more of the missing link. I mean, he ate apples and he hung on people. It was kind of different than just being an animal.”
In terms of the piece’s success, he pointed out that “you can’t argue with a crowd and it became a hit and I did it many times.”
So how did the sketch make it to the air in the first place, given that Lorne Michaels wasn’t a big fan? Surprisingly, the A Night at the Roxbury star credits two-time Oscar winner and American treasure Tom Hanks with pushing for Mr. Peepers’ inclusion on the show. Hanks was the host back in 1996 when the character debuted in a Tonight Show sketch.
“When Tom Hanks hosted, you know, he’s the reason why it got on air,” Kattan revealed. “What Tom Hanks wants, Tom Hanks gets.”
While Mr. Peepers returned several more times, Michaels clearly didn’t fully embrace him, literally or figuratively. Kattan once told The Hollywood Reporter that when Charlize Theron hosted the show in 2000, she really wanted to “go crazy” with the sketch. But Michaels told the performers “just tone it down a bit.”
Michaels isn’t the only big name who didn’t love Mr. Peepers. Kattan also noted that Katie Holmes soured on the character after he cut himself and nearly bled on the Dawson’s Creek star while dry humping her on live TV.
Yeah, that’ll do it.