Playboy’s Executive Editor, Stephen Randall, writes about Kato Kaelin in his new book, The Other Side of Mulholland. I thought, what is so special about Kato except that he became famous by being at the wrong place at the wrong time (the tragic OJ drama) - famous by accident, and a symbol of the struggling actor in L.A., the big break coming when one would least expect, not for ability or even connections but by some quirk of the sleezy media machine. Kato - an icon almost, for that mercurial status: celebrity. Or is his charisma displayed at the Trial really real? Intrigued by why Randall was impressed enough with Kato to write about him in his book, and wondering what ever did happen to him, I searched him out, and found him lying poolside at the Mansion. What I also found was a like-able, talented, hard-working, genuine charming guy with a dynamite project in the works. A Is that your own hair color, red? K No, my daughter wanted me to do it like this. A I understand that you have a project in development called Houseguest. Where did the idea come from? K Well, it was sort of a natural for me, because during that phase of my life I was known as America’s favorite houseguest, and I said, why don’t I just live with people, and knock on doors across America. And I told my buddy Dan, who’s a producer over at Sony. He said it’s a great idea. Let’s just shoot it ourselves, and we did. And everything was... it was better than we expected. A When did you start shooting? K We started shooting 2 weeks ago. A What is it about, how does it start? K It‘s about half an hour, thank you, goodnight. Ok, it’s about a, uh [laughing] I just get 2 camera guys, a producer and myself. We a throw a dart at a map of the United States, and wherever it lands, we decided that that’s where we’re going to go. And we missed Hawaii, so we went to Fresno. So we ended up going to Fresno, California and randomly just picked a neighborhood. And I just started knocking on doors, and you know, there was quite a few doors, and I would decide if I wanted to stay with them. Other-wise people would just slam the door on me. A Did people recognize you? K Yea, well it’s off and on I wore glasses and a baseball cap. We had a hidden camera in the van with tinted windows. A So people didn’t know they were being photographed? K No, but after we told them, they signed a release form. A Oh, ok. K We had all the realeases. A Ok, so then finally K So finally get a family, and they took me in. It was on Father’s Day, and they were having a big pool party with about 20 people, but 11 of them were their kids, so I ended up staying with that family. A What about the next family? K The next family was a business woman. A Single woman? K Single woman, house of single woman, and certain things things happened I can’t tell just yet. We have to wait for the premier, but funny stuff. It’s better than Big Brother and Survivor, that’s all I’ll say. Survivor in the Outback, I mean how hard can it be to actually survive in a steak house? That’s 2 jokes, the Outback, thank you. Come on you guys, get with this gang here! A So what about the third place you said? K I had another family that we - accepted us. I decided not to stay there after a while. A Did you stay there for an hour or so? K I stayed there for about 2 hours, and I told them we were gonna come right back, but we took off, they were a great family but we just, uh, there just wasn’t enough going on for me. You know, they had great looking daughters and uh, real hip parents, but we decided that, let’s move on, maybe something different we can get, and we went to a trailer park, we went all over. A Did you get kicked out by one of them? K I got kicked out by a few people. A After you stayed? K No no, I never got kicked out of a house that I stayed. I left a house, but there are people that, when I went to the door, just slammed the door, and some people were, the daughter’s probably home alone, and she got scared and slammed the door. So it was, I realized the Neighborhoiod Watch probably is working in certain neighborhoods, “Kato’s coming! Please, slam the door!” A So what did you say when you knocked on the door, “Hello, I’m Kato Kaelin” or what? K I’m TV’s Kato Kaelin. A TV’s Kato Kaelin? K Hi, I’m TV’s Kato Kaelin, and uh, I said, I’m supposed to be staying at your house this weekend, and they looked puzzled, and I said, “No I’m staying here. Ii’m gonna chill out for the weekend with your family, and uh, can I just move my stuff in now? What kind of a room do I have?” And they they’d just freak-out. Either they would let me in or just slam the door, or they would just scream, “MOm, DAd, and a lot of times, you know, see the house, give me a tour of the place. Like I said, I went through the refrigerators, I went through their drawers, I did everything. A You went through their drawers? K Certain people, I went through their drawers. A Did you stay up all night? K I pretty much never slept in 4 days. We stayed up the first night. We went out with the girls and all their friends they called, and we ended up going to some college party. And we went to, uh, the dormitories at Fresno State and got in about 4 or 5am, and the next thing I was doing was a step class. A An Irish step class? K No, it’s just a step class, you know a workout, it was a no sleep week. A Have you thrown a dart again? K Well, we haven’t thrown a dart again, but we’re thinking Michigan for some reason. Michigan, maybe Miami is where I’m going to be aiming. So that’s where I’d like to go. Actually, we want to stay away from the major cities. We like to get suburbs, we don’t want to hit, like, Manhattan, we’d rather hit Albany. A And what do you plan to do with this, is it going to be an hour pilot? K No it’s a half hour pilot. We already have interest in network, cable, we’re throwing a very big premiere party. A Are we going to get invited? K Well yea, of course! Actually you can review it. But I think the important thing is this, that funny is funny, when you don’t have a laugh track, and you have families that are actually laughing, you can’t replace that laugh track, because you realize what’s going on there, really laughing, it’s genuine, and nothing’s made up, so... A Do you think people are craving “genuine” these days? K I think so, reality TV, I see mine as being a real show, not reality TV. I think my thrust is totally different. I am that houseguest living with a family, and I think some reality shows are planting things. I think our show is markedly genuine, and there’s a theme that goes through our show, comparing different families from different cultures. It’s just amazing to see how all the different people - it’s all basically the same thing, that laughter is universal, and certain dramedy is universal, with teenagers with the phone, how true that really is, and when the father wants the phone, I might be on the phone, like, “Hey, I gotta call L.A., see what’s going on.” It’s really interesting stuff. A Where are you living now? K I don’t want to give an address - living in the Hollywood Hills. A With someone? K I, uh, rent a house. A So you’re not a houseguest. K Not a houseguest anymore. Actually, I just bought my own place, too. So I will move in very shortly in Toluca Lake. A Oh good! So I hear you hang out at the Mansion a lot. K The Mansion’s a good place. A So I thought maybe you were a houseguest at the Mansion. K I would like to be a houseguest at the Mansion. I feel like I am because I’m at every party. Hef is just the gracious host - great man. A How did you get hooked up with Playboy? K Um, had to be about 5 or 6 years ago, so I got invited to a party, they went through my publicist. I went to a party, and that was it. A So you’re a pretty popular guy. You go to a Playboy party 5 years ago for 1 party, and you’ve been to every party there since. K Yea, I miss a few if I’m out of town, A What is the secret to your popularity? Why are you so popular? What is it? K Oh well, I guess it’s meeting people like you or articles that are printed. I think it’s just, you have to be yourself, and hopefully people maybe see themselves in me, and maybe they can kind of relate to it, so vicariously, I think, people want to live through me. Ao I’m the guy, I’m kind of like the, uh, Everyman, so I think people just relate to that. A That you’re not like super successful but you’re trying? K No, I always try to be successful. I mean, I work very hard at what I’m doing, my entire career is just working hard every day and A Aren’t you kind of a struggling actor though? I mean, you haven’t had a huge movie or a huge blockbuster, that’s what I’m talking about. K Well no, but I think it’s not going to happen until I prove myself in smaller parts. I’ve done probably, this last year, about 4 different films that will be coming out, with small parts that people are going to go, “He’s good!” I hope. A So do you think people relate to you because of your struggle, that you’re optimisstic, and that you’re trying they see themselves in you? K Yea, I think so. I think people from, let’s face it from, people move out to L.A. to be discovered, that’s sort of thing. I’m from the Mid West, so I think people see that if he can do it, then I can do it. So I’m sort of, like I say, The Everyman, and I think lately things have been very successful for me, and I’ve been working pretty much constantly. And I, you know... A Do you think that the OJ trial really set you over the top? And that, you know, put you in the limelight? K I think it made me famous, but I think it’s a double edged sword. It’s not a good thing. I don’t like to be known for the OJ trial and now I’m overcoming it. But it’s been six years, and I’ve had a SAG card over 17 years. People should realize that I shot a Coke commercial back in 1986. So, you know, I’ve been around a long time. I carry my Screen Actors Guild Card. A When did you move out of the guesthouse in Brentwood? K Um, probably the next day. A Where did you go? K I lived at a friend’s house for a while, and then I got a place in Beverly Hills. A Where did you grow up? Where did you come from originally? K Fetus, embryo, sperm, zygote, then Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I was raised there. A family of six siblings, and we were raised in a four bedroom guesthouse. But it was a rough childhood. I’ll tell you why. My dad was our baseball coach, and he could be cruel sometimes. He traded me for a player to be born later. I love my dad. A So what was your mom like? K My father passed away. My mom is just the most loving woman, we call her Mrs. Claus, she’s like Santa Claus’ wife would be. Best woman in the world. I love her dearly, I’m going to see her tomorrow. I’m flying home to surprise her. A When did you come to Los Angeles? K I went to Wisconsin...which is the second biggest university in Wisconsin. I played baseball there, and I decided to, in 1980 I thought I could become a pro, so I went to Cal State Fullerton, which doesn’t mean anything to you right now, but that’s like the biggest baseball school. And I thought, everybody becomes pros that goes to Cal State Fullerton. So I transferred schools, and I realized that at that time in my life I was very immature, and I had no facial - nothing. I was - my body had not developed yet. I was a late bloomer. A At 18 years old? K 18, 19, I had absolutely - I had not developed at all. My voice was still cracking, and I realized these guys that were playing baseball at Cal State had beards, facial hair, and they were very muscular, and I was just this wirey 150 pound guy, but at Wisconsin I was fine. I was a pretty good pitcher. I won the State for my high school, and I thought, you know, visions of grandeur, that I’d become a pro ball player. A So the big leagues were a little too much. K Yea, I mean I noticed that ten years after, I started developing more. I mean, I started lifting weights and running. I did a few marathons. A Did you play baseball? K Off and on, sometimes, I’d throw the ball. I play in a basketball league more. I mean, I play in a Wednesday league and a Monday league with a bunch of actors. A Where in Hollywood? K One’s at Fairfax and one’s at Sony. A Cool! What do you want to do with your life? K When I grow up...when I grow up, well, I’ll tell you what, what’s going on in my life right now is the most exciting. I have so much faith and passion in my show. I really believe in it. It’s extremely funny. I think it’s a dramedy, to see the reactions of people. When you live with a family, you see how they open up to someone they think they know, but they really don’t know me, and yet, people wonder. I think it’s a culture right now where fame - and people want to be famous, and a camera in a room makes people perform, and it’s amazing how different people react and how they bring out their problems in someone they trust, and they trust me. I am very passionate about the show. A Who is your idol, like, in your whole life, what man did you admire the most? K You know what, I never idolized anybody, and I’m totally against idolizing anybody. I’m always happy. I think, be happy with who you are. I mean, I appreciate other people with things they can do. A Who do you admire a lot? K I admire anyone who actually cures people. Anybody that gives their time to helping other people out, people who don’t have anything, like Mother Theresa. I knew Mother Theresa when she was Terry. She was a player. She is the best. A Describe your ideal woman? K My ideal woman would be a Nubian princess who goes by the name of Alana. I always thought that’d be a great name. Alana, it just sounds like a great name. A And what would she be like? Could she talk? K She could talk. Yea. It’s funny, too, because Barbie, Barbie the Barbie doll, Barbie and I have the exact same birthday. Barbie’s actually from Wisconsin. This is all true. March 9th, 1959, she comes from Wisconsin, she comes from a family of six. This is all facts people fax me over. Honest to God. A The Mattel doll, Barbie Mattel? K Right. It’s amazing. We put down the comparisons of Kato and Barbie, and it was amazing how similar - by the way, I’ve been to Barbie’s house, the guesthouse, very small, the guest towels even smaller. A So you relate to the original Barbie? K I don’t relate to her at all. A But you have a lot of similarities. K I guess so, yea. She lived at other people’s houses - so did I. A Back to Alana, would she be like Barbie? K No. I think she’d be a highly educated person that speaks five languages and...cause I think that’s really interesting to speak different languages. A Do you? K Two, English and Kato. I speak a little broken Spanish, and she’s teaching me French right now. A Who, Barbie? K My girlfriend is. A Oh great! Is she French? K No she’s Greek, from Greece. A Interesting. You look Greek. K Oh really? A Yea, you could be Greek. What is your favorite place? K When I’m winning - Las Vegas. A What three people would you like to be there if you were there? K Let’s see, I guess it would have to be, in one group, the Beatles as a one see me winning at the blackjack table, with me. Let’s see, who else would be there? It would have to be Wayne Newton, he’s Mr. Vegas. A You like him. K Mmm, he’s Mr. Vegas. And uh, my girfriend - seeing me win. That would be it. A What is your favorite pastime, favorite thing to do in the world? K Uh, my favorite pastime is to be with my buddies laughing our butts off, hanging out with my good friends, hanging out and laughing - my favorite pastime.