Chris Parnell

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Thomas Christopher Parnell (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; 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 series Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2006. After leaving SNL, he played the role of Dr. Leo Spaceman on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2006–2013). Parnell is also a prominent voice actor known for his deep and distinctive voice. In animation, he voices the narrator on the PBS Kids series WordGirl (2007–2015), Cyril Figgis on the FX series Archer (2009–2023), Jerry Smith on Adult Swim's Rick and Morty (2013–present), and Doug on Fox's Family Guy (2019–2022). His work also extends into commercials, having voiced the Hamburger Helper mascot "Lefty", appeared in advertisements as "America's Dad" for Orbit Gum, and is most known for voicing "The Progressive Box" in a series of advertisements by the Progressive Corporation.

Early life

Parnell was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and adopted by a Southern Baptist family.<ref name="plume2003">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His father, Jack Parnell, was a radio personality in Memphis. He attended the Southern Baptist Educational Center, and graduated from Germantown High School. He decided to pursue acting as a career at age 17 and set his sights on being a theater actor. He attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he received his BFA in Drama. He moved to Houston, Texas after college to do an apprentice actor program for a season at the Alley Theatre, but did not get asked back to join the company. He became temporarily disenchanted with acting, and returned to his hometown and taught acting, film, and video at his alma mater, Germantown High School, for a year. In 1992, he moved to Los Angeles where he worked at FAO Schwarz for five years and took classes at the Groundlings.<ref name="wtf">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Career

While performing as a company player with the Groundlings for a number of years, Parnell began doing commercials and getting guest roles on various sitcoms, such as Seinfeld and Murphy Brown.<ref name="wtf"/> He was hired to join the cast of Saturday Night Live as a featured player, and debuted on the show on September 26, 1998. He was promoted to repertory player the following season. In the summer of 2001, because of 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Parnell was rehired in the middle of the following season.<ref name="graham2010">Graham, Mark (January 14, 2010). Archer's Chris Parnell Talks Well-Endowed Cartoon Characters, Being Fired From SNL Twice. vulture.com, 14 January 2010. Retrieved on April 2, 2014 from http://www.vulture.com/2010/01/chris_parnell.html Template:Webarchive.</ref>

While on SNL, Chris appeared in numerous sketches and commercial parodies, and performed impressions of various celebrities. Among his notable sketches are "Lazy Sunday", a rap video he shot with Andy Samberg, and "More Cowbell". He has performed raps about hosts Jennifer Garner, Britney Spears, Kirsten Dunst, and Ashton Kutcher. On the DVD commentary for the West Coast version of the 30 Rock episode "Live Show", Tina Fey and Beth McCarthy Miller noted that Parnell was nicknamed "The Ice Man" while working at SNL, because of his apparent immunity to breaking character, citing the "More Cowbell" sketch in which he was the only actor not to break.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:Chris Parnell by David Shankbone (cropped).jpg

Parnell at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival

In 2006, Michaels laid off Parnell, as well as Horatio Sanz and Finesse Mitchell, due to budget cuts.<ref name="keller2006">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This effectively made Parnell the only SNL performer to have been released twice by Michaels, although Parnell said in a 2008 interview with The Sound of Young America that he was okay with being let go this time, as he was considering leaving after that season anyway, adding that he probably would have stayed one more season had he been asked back. He had been with SNL for eight seasons; at the time only four people (Darrell Hammond, Tim Meadows, Kevin Nealon, and Horatio Sanz) had been cast members longer. He has since made uncredited cameo appearances on the show, including parodying newscasters Tom Brokaw, Jim Lehrer, and Bob Schieffer. Parnell and his former SNL castmate Horatio Sanz starred together in Big Lake, a 2010 sitcom on Comedy Central from executive producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.<ref name=info>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Parnell voiced Fly in the animated films Hotel Transylvania and Hotel Transylvania 2, and Stan the Fishman in Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. He is a series regular on the FX animated series Archer, and is also known for his guest appearances as Dr. Leo Spaceman on 30 Rock. He provides the voice of the narrator on the PBS children's series WordGirl. From 2011 to 2014, Parnell co-starred on the ABC comedy series Suburgatory where he played the husband of the character played by his former SNL castmate Ana Gasteyer. His role started out as recurring in the first season but he was bumped up to a series regular in the second season. The series aired for three seasons on ABC.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Parnell provides the voice of the "Progressive Box" in commercials for Progressive Insurance.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Since 2013, Parnell has voiced Jerry Smith (and his alternate reality variants) on the Adult Swim series Rick and Morty.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On March 16, 2018, Parnell was cast in the main role of Wayne on the CBS sitcom Happy Together.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Jingle All the Way	Toy Store Sales Clerk
	Shooting Lily	Phone Company Salesman	Voice
1997	Decade of Love	Bobby Fastdancer	Short film
1998	Operation	Cadaver
1999	Deadtime	Junior
2000	The Ladies Man	Phil Swanson
2003	Evil Alien Conquerors	Du-ug
	Down with Love	TV Emcee
	National Lampoon's Barely Legal	Mr. Ronald Greitzer
2004	Looking for Kitty	Guy Borne
	Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy	Garth Holliday
	Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie
2006	I'm Reed Fish	Ralph
	Ira & Abby	Dr. Ronald Silverberg
2007	The Grand	Harold Melvin
	Hot Rod	Barry Pasternak
	Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story	Theo
	Sunny & Share Love You	Kevin Keith Baker
	Kabluey	Frank
2008	Harold	Coach Vanderpool
	Eavesdrop	Terrence
2009	Paper Man	Peter
	Labor Pains	Jerry Steinwald
2010	Hollywood & Wine	Peter West
	The Dogfather	Brian Franks
	Kung Fu Magoo	Cole Fusion, Ninja	citation	CitationClass=web }} A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.</ref>
2011	Answer This!	Brian Collins
2012	21 Jump Street	Mr. Gordon
	The Five-Year Engagement	Bill
	The Dictator	News Anchor
	Hotel Transylvania	Fly	Voice<ref name="btva" />
2013	Escape from Planet Earth	Hammer
	Turbo	Announcer #2
	Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues	Garth Holliday
2014	Break Point	Jay LaRoche
2015	The Better Half	Daniel
	Hotel Transylvania 2	Fly	Voice<ref name="btva" />
	Sisters	Phil
	The Ridiculous 6	William (Bank Teller)
2017	Austin Found	Alan Dickinson
	Battle of the Sexes	DJ
2018	Life of the Party	Wayne Truzack
	Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation	Stan, Fish Men	Voice<ref name="btva" />
	Slice	Mayor Tracy
	Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween	Walter
2019	The Last Laugh	Charlie Green
	A Name Without a Place	Jerry Sundall
	The Laundromat	Doomed Gringo #2
	I Am Woman	Artie Mogull
2021	Finding ʻOhana	Brown
	Home Sweet Home Alone	Uncle Stu Mercer
2022	Senior Year	Jim Conway
	Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers	Dave Bollinari
	Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again	George Washington	Voice<ref name="btva" />
2023	As We Know It	Ted Sommers
	Milennial Hunter	John	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2024	In Fidelity	Lyle Ayker
	Our Little Secret	Veterinarian
TBA	The Dink		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Hope and Gloria	Howard	Episode: "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Funicular"
1996, 1998	Suddenly Susan	Phil, Waiter	2 episodes
1997	Seinfeld	NBC Executive	Episode: "The Butter Shave"
	The Jamie Foxx Show	Director	Episode: "Do the Write Thing"
	Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher	Announcer	Episode: "The Weighting Game"
1998	Union Square	Don	Episode: "It Takes a Thief"
	Caroline in the City	Gene	Episode: "Caroline and the Cabbie"
	Murphy Brown	Handler #2	2 episodes
	Conrad Bloom	Simpson
1998–2012	Saturday Night Live	Various	148 episodes
2001	TV Funhouse	James Brolin	Voice, episode: "Safari Day"
	The Hughleys	Rick	Episode: "When Darryl Bumped Sally"
	Friends	Bob	Episode: "The One with Rachel's Date"
2002	Ed	DJ Curtis Morris	Episode: "The Divorce"
2003	As Told by Ginger	Radio Announcer, Train Conductor	Voice, episode: "Far from Home"<ref name="btva" />
2006–2013	30 Rock	Dr. Leo Spaceman	25 episodes
2007–2015	WordGirl	Narrator, additional voices	Voice, 89 episodes<ref name="btva" />
2008	Miss Guided	Vice Principal Bruce Terry	7 episodes
	Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday	Bob Schieffer, Tom Brokaw	2 episodes
2009	Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire	Narrator	Voice, 5 episodes
2009, 2010	Glenn Martin, DDS	Various voices	4 episodes
2009–2023	Archer	Cyril Figgis, Buck Henry, Siegbert Fuchs	Voice, 127 episodes
2010	Better Off Ted	Walter Palmer	Episode: "The Impertence of Communicationizing"
	The Life & Times of Tim	Mark Douglas, Principal, William	Voice, 3 episodes
	Big Lake	Chris Henkel	10 episodes
2010, 2011	Funny or Die Presents	Various	6 episodes
	Eureka	Dr. Noah Drummer	2 episodes
2010–2021	Tayo the Little Bus	Citu	Voice, English dub
2011	Fish Hooks	Allibut, Announcer, Gecko Schoolmaster	Voice, 2 episodes<ref name="btva" />
	Robot Chicken	Scooter, Major Nelson	Voice, episode: "Big Trouble in Little Clerks 2"
	Mad Love	Officer Dennis Barrett	2 episodes
	Workaholics	Bruce Benson	Episode: "In the Line of Getting Fired"
	Jon Benjamin Has a Van	Area 51 Scientist	Episode: "Stardoor"
	Love Bites	Chad Banks	Episode: "Stand and Deliver"
	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Hank	Episode: "The Hero"
	Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice	Mr. Thistleton	Voice, television special<ref name="btva" />
	T.U.F.F. Puppy	Caped Cod	Voice, episode: "The Dog Who Cried Fish"<ref name="btva" />
2011–2012	I Just Want My Pants Back	JB	6 episodes
2011–2014	Suburgatory	Fred Shay	38 episodes
2012	Gravity Falls	Additional voices	2 episodes
	Electric City	Giovanni Montalbon	Voice, 20 episodes
2012–2016	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Various	4 episodes
2013–2019	Drunk History		6 episodes
2013–present	Rick and Morty	Jerry Smith	Voice, main role
2014	Filthy Preppy Teen$	Sean Hastings	Television special
	The Tom and Jerry Show	Narrator	Voice, episode: "Sleep Disorder/Tom's In-Tents Adventure"
	Glee	Mario	Episode: "Opening Night"
	Garfunkel and Oates	Stan	Episode: "Rule 34"
	BoJack Horseman	Klaus, News Reporter	Voice, episode: "Our A-Story is a 'D' Story"
	Bad Judge	Douglas Riller	Episode: "Pilot"
	Benched	Mitch	Episode: "Campaign Contributions"
	AJ's Infinite Summer	Dad	Cartoon Network short
2014–2016	TripTank	Various voices	7 episodes<ref name="btva" />
2015	Brooklyn Nine-Nine	Geoffrey Hoytsman	2 episodes
	Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero	Judge	Voice, episode: "Defending the Earth"<ref name="btva" />
	Childrens Hospital	Ron Pippin	Episode: "Five Years Later"
	Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja	Charlie Clucker	Voice, episode: "McCluckerbusters"
	The Adventures of OG Sherlock Kush	Prime Minister	Voice, episode: "The Mystery of the Royal Flasher"
	The Spoils Before Dying	Bebop Jones	2 episodes
	Another Period	Sigmund Freud	Episode: "Senate"
	Jeff Dunham: Unhinged in Hollywood	Network Executive	Television special
	Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!	Dustin Wallswreath, Jim McCoy, Cop	Voice, episode: "Grand Scam"<ref name="btva" />
	Highston	Wilbur Liggetts	Episode: "Pilot"
2015–2016	Dawn of the Croods	Snoot, Dub, Evil Egg	Voice, 12 episodes<ref name="btva" />
2015–2017	The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show	Mr. Peabody	Voice, main role<ref name="btva" />
2015–2024	Nature Cat	Various voices	41 episodes
2016	Sofia the First	Zacharias	Voice, episode: "Her Royal Spyness"
	Bob's Burgers	Warren Fitzgerald	Voice, episode: "Pro Tiki/Con Tiki"<ref name="btva" />
	Ask the StoryBots	Reindeer	Voice, episode: "Where Does Rain Come From?"
	Tween Fest	Preston Stevens Sr.	Episode: "SpurgeExplosion"
	Rhett and Link's Buddy System	Vice Chairman	Episode: "The Magic Is Real"
2016–2020	Elena of Avalor	Migs	Voice, 22 episodes<ref name="btva" />
2016–2022	Inside Amy Schumer	Michael / HR Manager Bob	3 episodes
2016–present	American Dad!	James A. Garfield's clone, additional voices	23 episodes
2017	Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special	Dr. Vince Harbert	Television special
	Elena and the Secret of Avalor	Migs	Voice, television film
	Samurai Jack	Mud Alien, Beetle Drone Scientist	Voice, episode: "XCIII"<ref name="btva" />
	Black-ish	Dean Parker	Episode: "Liberal Arts"
	Great News	Gerald	Episode: "Squad Feud"
2017, 2020	Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt	Junior	2 episodes
2018, 2024	Blaze and the Monster Machines	Cousins Ken and Sven	Voice, 2 episodes
2018	Adam Ruins Everything	Narrator	6 episodes
2018	Grown-ish	Dean Parker	10 episodes (main role; season 1)
2018–2019	Happy Together	Wayne	Main role
2019	Miracle Workers	God's Dad	Episode: "1 Day"
	Bajillion Dollar Propertie$	Walton Rothchild	Episode: "Held Breath"
2019–2020	The Goldbergs	Harrison Whitby	2 episodes
	Will & Grace	Dr. DiLorenzo	2 episodes
	Bless the Harts	Ian David Col	Voice, 2 episodes
2019–2022	Family Guy	Doug, additional voices	Voice, 25 episodes
2019–2025	Love, Death & Robots	The Cat, Sanchez	Voice, 3 episodes<ref name="btva" />
2020	Dummy	Chet Jacobs	Episode: "Plus Size Plus One"
	Close Enough	Ron	Episode: "First Date/Snailin' It"
	At Home with Amy Sedaris	Chug Ducey	Episode: "New Year's"
	Mapleworth Murders<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Ben Canelli	2 episodes
	The Simpsons	Mary Tannenbaum's Fiancé	Voice, episode: "A Springfield Summer Christmas for Christmas"
2021	Archibald's Next Big Thing Is Here!	Dr. Fluffberg	Voice, 5 episodes
	M.O.D.O.K.	Alvin Healy / Tenpin	Voice, episode: "If Saturday Be... for the Boys!"
2021–2022	Dogs in Space	Ed	Voice, 20 episodes<ref name="btva" />
2021–2023	Alpha Betas	Darryl	Voice, 2 episodes
2022	The Mysterious Benedict Society	Captain of the Inverness	2 episodes
2022–2023	Last Week Tonight with John Oliver	HOA Ambassador / Voice Over	2 episodes
2023–2024	My Adventures with Superman	Slade Wilson	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="btva" />
	Hailey's On It!	Various voices	3 episodes<ref name="btva" />
2024	Krapopolis	Ares	Voice, 3 episodes
	Fallout	Overseer Benjamin	2 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role
2014	Rick and Morty: Jerry's Game	Jerry Smith
2016–present	Pocket Mortys
2017	Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality
2019	Grand Theft Auto Online: Diamond Casino & Resort update	Tom Connors
2020	Maneater	Trip Westhaven (Narrator / Host)

Music videos

Year	Song title	Album	Notes
2005	"Lazy Sunday"	Incredibad	Performed on Saturday Night Live
2012	"Lazy Sunday 2"	N/A

Audio

Year	Title	Role	Author	Production company
2021	Batman: The Audio Adventures	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Dennis McNicholas	Blue Ribbon Content

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 663177

 | name/{{#if:{{#invoke:ustring|match|1=663177|2=^nm}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | nm0663177/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345}}
   | name/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%7B%7B%23if%3A+%0A++++++%7C+%7B%7B%7Bname%7D%7D%7D%0A++++++%7C+%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D%0A++++++%7D%7D&s=nm
   }}
 }}{{#if: 663177  {{#property:P345}} | {{#switch: 
 | award | awards = awards Awards for | biography | bio = bio Biography for
 }}}} {{#if: 
 | {{{name}}}
 | Template:PAGENAMEBASE
 }}] at IMDb{{#if: 663177{{#property:P345}}
 | Template:EditAtWikidata
 | Template:Main other

}}{{#switch:{{#invoke:string2|matchAny|^nm.........|^nm.......|nm|.........|source=663177|plain=false}}

 | 1 | 3 =  Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning
 | 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning

}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb name with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | id | name | section }}