Happy Birthday!

It’s been a pretty slow day for hatin’, so I’ve decided to take a little time to recognize some of the notable celebrites who are celebrating their escape from the uterus today.  In today’s lineup, we have a Saturday Night Live cast member from the 90′s who most people have probably forgotten, the co-creator of one of TV’s most unapologetic (and funniest) shows, and an actor/director/writer who is “so money, and he doesn’t even know it.”

Most people will remember 39 year-old Chris Kattan as the less successful half of the Butabi Brothers – who were more commonly known as “The Roxbury Guys“, or as “Will Ferrell and that other guy”.  Early in his career, Kattan spent most of the time performing with various improv/comedy groups around L.A., like The Groundlings.  Kattan’s growing reputation as a comedic talent would eventually earn him a spot on the SNL cast in 1996.  In the beginning, he didn’t have much of a role or impact on the show; like many others before him, most of his early sketches involved playing background characters with little acclaim.  But before he left SNL in 2003 - and essentially committed career suicide - Kattan had become synonymous with several popular, recurring characters.  Some might remember him as the international sex symbol Mango, while others will recall his inane ramblings as a Southern lawyer named Suel Forrester.  When I think of Chris Kattan, however, there is only one sketch that stands out above the rest:

Trey Parker, who is best known for being the co-creator/producer of the animated show South Park, hits the big 4-0 today.  Both Parker and long-time friend Matt Stone basically began their careers together in 1992; while attending Colorado’s film school, they first collaborated on a holiday short film titled Jesus vs. Frosty.  The sucess of this, and two other short films (Jesus vs. Santa and Cannibal! The Musical), helped lead to their creation of the demented little mountain community that we now know and love.  Parker also received inspiration for the series from his own life, even modeling one of the characters after himself – Stan Marsh.  Both he and Stone provide most of the male voices on South Park, but it is Parker who’s responsible for bringing one of the most evil kids in TV history to life – and no, I am not talking about Ricky Schroder:

Before he began directing big-budget blockbusters such as Iron Man, 43 year-old Jon Favreau started out like most other aspiring actors.  His first film role came in 1993 after he landed a minor part in the inspirational football film Rudy.  Following this role, he appeared briefly in films like PCU (an underrated comedy starring Jeremy Piven), and TV shows like Seinfeld - he played Eric the Clown in an episode titled ”The Fire”.  Jon’s big break would come in 1996 with the release of Swingers, a movie he wrote and starred in; this low budget comedy film would receive both critical and commercial success, and enable Favreau to make a name for himself – it also propelled the career of his good friend Vince Vaughn, & was the first major film for Peter Gibbons.  Swingers has since reached the status of cult classic, and is probably included in many people’s “favorite comedy movie” list; but despite all the laughs, it also contains one of the most painful movie scenes that I can remember.  If you’re not a big fan of train wrecks, then you may want to avert your eyes & ears: