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Thomas Christopher Parnell (born February 5, 1967) is an American actor and comedian. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Parnell found wider success during his tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy and variety series Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2006.

Chris joined the show on September 26, 1998, with Horatio Sanz and Jimmy Fallon as a featured player and made his debut. He was promoted to repertory player the following season. In the summer of 2001, he was fired due to budget cuts and the hiring of four new cast members, Lorne Michaels was required to dismiss two cast members; he chose to lay off Parnell and Jerry Minor over Horatio Sanz, Rachel Dratch, and Maya Rudolph. However, Chris was rehired in March of the next year, making him one of the only 2 people to be rehired after being fired (the other being Jim Belushi.) He was later fired again in 2006 again due to budget cuts.

In 2005, Chris shot a pilot episode for a sitcom called Thick and Thin of which he was going to be the star with former SNL writer Paula Pell. But the show was not picked up.

After leaving SNL, he played the role of Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's sitcom 30 Rock from 2006 to 2013. In animation, he voices Cyril Figgis on the FX series Archer, Jerry Smith on Adult Swim's Rick and Morty, Doug on Fox's Family Guy, and the narrator on the PBS Kids series WordGirl (2007-2015). He also voices "The Progressive Box" in a series of advertisements by the Progressive Corporation.

Currently, Chris voices the character Cyril Figgis on the FX animated series Archer and Jerry Smith on the [adult swim] animated series Rick and Morty. Chris was a regular cast member on the ABC sitcom Suburgatory where he played Fred Shay (opposite Ana Gasteyer), and on the Comedy Central series Big Lake (with Horatio Sanz). He also had a recurring role on Tina Fey's sitcom 30 Rock as Dr. Spaceman.

Impressions/Characters[]

Impressions[]

  • Andrew Card
  • Arlen Specter
  • Bert Convy
  • Bing Crosby
  • Bob Barr
  • Bob Schieffer
  • Cameron Crowe
  • Cane
  • Chad Lowe
  • Charles Gibson
  • Chris Fowler
  • David Gregory
  • Douglas Feith
  • Emeril Lagasse
  • Eminem
Eric Bloom

Characters[]

  • Alan "Sticks" McRae
  • Daniel
  • Jeph
  • Mervin "Merv the Perv" Watson
  • Kevin Aquarius
  • Sean DeMarco
  • Tato
  • Terrye Funcke
  • Thad
  • Tyler
  • Warren Kirney
  • Wayne Bloder


SNL Career[]

Gallery[]

External Links[]

Chris Parnell at Wikipedia

Preceded by:
Will Ferrell
George W. Bush Impression (6 Appearances)
(20022003)
Followed by:
Darrell Hammond
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