Tattoo artist appears on TV show
Eric Catalano, the Hecker tattoo artist who became somewhat of an online sensation last year for his hyperrealistic fingernail tattoo, had another brush with fame recently when he appeared as a guest on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
“It was fun,” Catalano said of the experience. “(Other guests) Billy Ray Cyrus, Rainn Wilson and I, we were all in a Skype room together waiting for our turns. That was just really cool because we were talking to each other behind the scenes.”
The show first reached out to Catalano about his work, like tattooing navels on those who no longer have them or performing nipple and areola reconstruction for breast cancer survivors, in mid-October.
Catalano’s assistant called him after she got an email from the show with a request for him to send a one-minute video explaining why he does what he does.
“I thought, ‘wow that’s kind of random. So I submitted a video and they were like ‘we want to have you on our show,’” Catalano said. “I was pretty shocked they sought me out. It’s been about a year since my media frenzy with the breast cancer and fingernail tattoo thing. That’s really died down, so this caught me off guard.”
Catalano filmed his segment, which included him appearing alongside Cyrus and Wilson, on Nov. 4.
He said he was not very familiar with the American Idol and Grammy award-winning host of the show before his appearance, but after doing some research and talking with her, Catalano said he is now a fan.
“I was not really familiar with Kelly Clarkson or the show before this, and I’ll tell you what I looked her up and looked at a few of her past shows and other interviews that she’s done, and I think she’s awesome,” Catalano said. “She’s very, very fun and very nice. I had a really good experience with her. And she told me she loved me.”
On the show, Catalano discussed his unique tattoo work. He also had a client who received a belly button tattoo after she had a tummy tuck done on the show with him to talk about his work.
The episode with Catalano aired last Monday morning at 11 a.m. on KPLR 11.
