Ken Jennings makes a cameo in the season three starter of comedy Call Me Kat on Fox Sept. 29. Mayim Bialik plays Kat, who runs a cat-friendly cafe in Louisville. She travels the world for a few months, returns, and finds a few changes at the cafe.
On a flight during those travels, Bialik is seated next to Ken Jennings, who won 74 straight Jeopardy! games in 2004, and now hosts the game show along with Bialik.
“We were trying to think of some really fun way to start season three,” said Bialik in a press event.
She was asked by show “higher ups than me,” Bialik said, about Jennings. “I think it’d be amazing,” she responded. “I don’t think he’ll do it though, he’s very busy.”
Jennings made time for Call Me Kat. “He showed up on set so thrilled. He’d never been on a set like that before,” said Bialik. We had a great time with him.”
Bialik noted Jennings’ “great sense of humor about us teasing him.”
She called the episode a “really fun, tongue in cheek crossover” and concluded, “He’s a big deal and we’re happy to have him.”
Asked about balancing Kat and Jeopardy!, Bialik told B+C she’s learned to do a better job of pacing herself so she has the energy required for both. She added that she’s “very relieved” to wear sneakers on the Kat set. “On Jeopardy! I always have to wear heels,” said Bialik.
Swoosie Kurtz, Cheyenne Jackson, Kyla Pratt and Leslie Jordan are also in the Kat cast. Bialik is the star and an executive producer.
On the call, Kurtz, who plays Kat’s mother, saluted Bialik as an actress and a producer. “She’s a great comedian and great actor, a great born producer and thank God we have her as a producer,” said Kurtz. “She always has her eyes on everything, she does not miss a thing.”
Kurtz said Bialik has “360 eyes and a huge heart that’s 360 as well.” ■
