Chris Elliott - Career

Career

Many of Elliott's early film roles were as a supporting actor in non-comedies such as Michael Mann's Manhunter and James Cameron's The Abyss.

Elliott became known in the mid-late 1980s, when he was a writer and performer on Late Night with David Letterman, playing an assortment of recurring oddball characters. His characters on the show included:

• "The Regulator Guy" – a parody of the The Terminator films. The Regulator Guy spoke with a vaguely Germanic accent and claimed to be "from the future". The Regulator Guy segments were usually pre-taped and presented by Letterman as the trailer for an upcoming television series. The font used for the title was similar to the font used for the then-popular American television series The Equalizer. In the Regulator Guy's only live, on-stage appearance, Elliott, carried by wires, "flew" over the audience via jet pack onto the Late Night set. The "jet pack" prop appeared to malfunction, which the Regulator Guy then blamed for ruining his dramatic appearance.
• "The Fugitive Guy" – a parody of the TV series The Fugitive
• "The Guy Under the Seats" – a short character-comedy bit followed by Elliott as himself (living under the seats, that is) who eventually becomes angry at Letterman and threatens him with some metaphorically articulated comeuppance in the future and always closing with the line "But until that day, I'm gonna be right here, making your life...a living hell."
• "The Conspiracy Guy" – During staged audience "question and answer" sessions with Dave, Elliott would approach the microphone and begin accusing Letterman of various plots and schemes, after which "security" would wrestle Elliot to the ground and drag him out of the studio while Elliot yelled threats to Dave.
• "Marlon Brando" – a parody of Brando, whom Elliott portrays as a semi-deranged man who performs a "banana dance" to the tune of "The Alley Cat".
• "Chris Elliott, Jr." – a spoof of talk-show host Morton Downey, Jr.
• "A Television Miracle" – During one Late Night special focused on short films, Elliott was the star of a short about himself, alluding that he was actually an animatronic being that was created for the TV show. The "miracle" was the behind-the-scenes work needed to bring his character to life and others.

In 1986 Elliot starred in the Cinemax special FDR: A One Man Show, a spoof comedy about the life and times of the president. He looked and sounded nothing like the man; he portrayed events from Roosevelt's life that never happened, such as a Japanese bombing of the White House, and his crossing the Potomac in a rowboat. By the end of the show, he had performed Gallagher's shtick of smashing watermelons and other soft fruits on stage.

In 1990, Elliott created and starred in his own sitcom, which was called Get a Life, about a 30-year-old paperboy named Chris Peterson who lived at home with his parents. Elliott's real-life father, Bob Elliott, appeared in the show as Chris' father. The January 1999 issue of TV Guide called the "Zoo Animals on Wheels" episode the 19th funniest TV moment of all time.

In 1993, Elliott teamed up with producer Brad Hall and directed a series of critically acclaimed short films that Elliott showed when appearing on Late Show with David Letterman.

Elliott became a cast member of Saturday Night Live in 1994. Also that year, Elliott starred in his first movie—entitled Cabin Boy—which also featured a short appearance by Elliott's old boss, David Letterman, and was produced by Tim Burton. It was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst New Star.

In 2007 Elliott began reappearing on the Late Show with David Letterman with fellow former Letterman writer Gerard Mulligan. On average, these bits appear once per month.

His other television credits include the chowder taster on Throwdown with Bobby Flay, airdate 09/02/09, and the voice of Dogbert on the short-run show Dilbert for UPN. He played a serial killer in the series Third Watch in episodes 5, "The Hunter, Hunted," and 6, "Greatest Detectives in the World" from season six. He played the role of Peter in the last three seasons of Everybody Loves Raymond and a role in a semi-autobiographical sitcom pilot for CBS, entitled You've Reached the Elliotts, playing a man who tries to balance a modest show business career with his home life. As well as multiple appearances on King of Queens Elliott made guest appearances on the Late Show, That '70s Show episode "2000 Light Years From Home", According to Jim and How I Met Your Mother in the 2009 Thanksgiving episode as Lily's (Alyson Hannigan) father.

Since February 3, 2011, Elliott has starred in the Adult Swim series Eagleheart, produced by Conan O'Brien's production company, Conaco.

Elliott also appeared in a series of commercials for Tostitos tortilla chips in the late 1990's.