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Chris Parnell

Chris Parnell

​Thomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell (born February 5, 1967) is an American comic actor best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2006 and currently for his recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock. Parnell is currently one of the lead voices on the FX animated comedy Archer. In 2010, Parnell starred alongside his former SNL castmate Horatio Sanz in the Comedy Central series Big Lake.

After performing as a company player with The Groundlings for a number of years, Parnell was hired to join the cast of Saturday Night Live as a featured player on September 26, 1998, and was promoted to repertory player the following season. In the summer of 2001, budget cuts and hiring four new cast members required Lorne Michaels to dismiss two cast members; he chose to lay off Parnell and Jerry Minor over Horatio Sanz, Rachel Dratch, and Maya Rudolph.

While on SNL, Parnell appeared in numerous sketches, and commercial parodies, and performed memorable impressions of various celebrities. One of his most popular sketches is Lazy Sunday, a rap video he shot with Andy Samberg about buying cupcakes and going to see The Chronicles of Narnia. He has also performed raps about hosts Jennifer Garner, Britney Spears, Kirsten Dunst and Ashton Kutcher.

In the summer of 2006, Lorne Michaels announced that four cast members would be fired due to budget cuts, but he did not say who. On September 22, 2006 it was announced that three cast members had been fired: Parnell, Horatio Sanz, and Finesse Mitchell. This effectively made him the only SNL performer to have been fired twice by Lorne Michaels, though Parnell did say in a 2008 interview with The Sound of Young America podcast that he was okay with being let go this time, because he was considering leaving after that season anyway, but added that he probably would have stayed one last season if he was asked back. He had been with SNL for eight seasons; at the time only four people (Darrell Hammond, Tim Meadows, Kevin Nealon, and Al Franken) have been cast members longer. He has since made uncredited cameo appearances on the show, most recently in 2008 parodying newscasters Tom Brokaw, Jim Lehrer, and Bob Schieffer.

Parnell and his former SNL castmate Horatio Sanz recently starred together in Big Lake, a 2010 sitcom on Comedy Central from executive producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.

He also recently appeared as Dr. Drummer/Santa in the SyFy Holiday Special episode from the television show Eureka, which aired on December 7, 2010 (Season 4 Episode 10).

Our Little Secret

2024

Micro Budget

2024

as Toby

Nature Cat's Nature Movie Special Extraordinaire

2024

as Houston / Sir Galahad (voice)

Fallout

2024

as Overseer Benjamin

As We Know It

2023

Krapopolis

2023

as Ares (voice)

Millennial Hunter

2023

as John (voice)

My Adventures with Superman

2023

as Agent Slade Wilson (voice)

Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again

2022

as Washington (voice)

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

2022

as Dave Bollinari (voice)

Senior Year

2022

as Jim Conway

Hot Mess Holiday

2021

as Mike

Dogs in Space

2021

as Ed (voice)

Yung Punx: A Punk Parable

2021

as therapist (voice)

Home Sweet Home Alone

2021

as Uncle Stu

Marvel's M.O.D.O.K.

2021

as Alvin Healy / Tenpin (voice)

Alpha Betas

2021

as Darryl (voice)

Finding ʻOhana

2021

as Brown

Name That Tune

2021

as Self - Contestant

I Am Woman

2020

as Artie Mogull

Close Enough

2020

as Ron (voice)

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend

2020

as Junior

Dummy

2020

as Agent Chett

Nature Cat: A Nature Carol

2019

as Narrator (voice)

The Laundromat

2019

as Doomed Gringo #2

Love, Death & Robots

2019

as The Cat (voice)

Alien News Desk

2019

Miracle Workers

2019

as God's Dad

The Last Laugh

2019

as Charlie Green

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

2018

as Walter

Happy Together

2018

as Wayne

Slice

2018

as Mayor Tracy

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation

2018

as Stan / Fish Man (voice)

Life of the Party

2018

as Wayne Truzack

grown-ish

2018

as Dean Burt Parker

Nature Cat: The Return of Bad Dog Bart

2018

as Houston (voice)

Will & Grace

2017

as Dr. DiLorenzo

Battle of the Sexes

2017

as DJ

Elena of Avalor: Realm of the Jaquins

2017

as Migs (voice)

Austin Found

2017

as Alan Dickinson

Nature Cat: Ocean Commotion

2017

as Houston / Sputnik / Dolphin (voice)

Great News

2017

as Gerald

Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special

2017

as Dr. Vince Harbert

Elena and the Secret of Avalor

2016

as Migs (voice)

Rhett & Link's Buddy System

2016

as Vice Chairman

Ask the Storybots

2016

Elena of Avalor

2016

as Migs (voice)

Match Game

2016

as Self - Panelist

Bajillion Dollar Propertie$

2016

as Walton Rothchild

Electric City

2016

as Voice Actor (voice)

Dawn of the Croods

2015

as Snoot / Dub (voice)

Dawn of the Croods

2015

as Snoot / Evil Egg (voice)

Dawn of the Croods

2015

as Snoot (voice)

Sisters

2015

as Phil

The Better Half

2015

as Daniel

The Ridiculous 6

2015

as Bank Manager

Highston

2015

as Wilbur Liggetts

The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show

2015

as Mr. Peabody (voice)

Adam Ruins Everything

2015

Hotel Transylvania 2

2015

as Fly (voice)

Jeff Dunham: Unhinged in Hollywood

2015

as Self

We Bare Bears

2015

as Additional Voices (voice)

The Spoils Before Dying

2015

as Bebop Jones

Another Period

2015

as Dr. Sigmund Freudas

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

2015

as Junior

Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero

2014

as Judge Blort Clooney (voice)

Benched

2014

as Mitch

Bad Judge

2014

as Douglas Riller

black-ish

2014

as Dean Parker

BoJack Horseman

2014

as Klaus / News Reporter (voice)

Garfunkel and Oates

2014

as Stan

The Maya Rudolph Show

2014

as Self

AJ's Infinite Summer

2014

as Dad (voice)

The Tom and Jerry Show

2014

as Narrator (voice)

Break Point

2014

as Jay LaRoche

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

2013

as Garth Holliday

Rick and Morty

2013

as Jerry Smith (voice)

The Goldbergs

2013

as Harrison Whitby

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

2013

as Geoffrey Hoytsman

Turbo

2013

as Announcer #2 (voice)

Escape from Planet Earth

2013

as Hammer (voice)

Hotel Transylvania

2012

as Mr. Fly (voice)

Gravity Falls

2012

as Additional Voices (voice)

Gravity Falls

2012

as Host (voice)

The Dictator

2012

as News Anchor

The Five-Year Engagement

2012

as Bill

21 Jump Street

2012

as Mr. Gordon

WordGirl: The Rise of Ms. Power

2012

Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice

2011

as Mr. Thistleton (voice)

Answer This!

2011

as Brian Collins

Suburgatory

2011

as Fred Shay

I Just Want My Pants Back

2011

Hollywood & Wine

2011

as Peter West

Bob's Burgers

2011

as Warren Fitzgerald (voice)

The Women of SNL

2010

as Various (archive footage)

T.U.F.F. Puppy

2010

as Caped Cod (voice)

Fish Hooks

2010

as Announcer / Allibut (voice)

Big Lake

2010

as Chris Henkel

Kung Fu Magoo

2010

as Cole Fusion / Ninja (voice)

The Dogfather

2010

as Brian Franks

Archer

2009

as Cyril Figgis (voice)

Archer

2009

as Siegbert Fuchs (voice)

Glenn Martin, DDS

2009

Labor Pains

2009

as Jerry Steinwald

Paper Man

2009

as Peter

Glee

2009

as Mario

Saturday Night Live: The Best of Amy Poehler

2009

as Edward Turlington (archive footage)

Better Off Ted

2009

as Walter

Childrens Hospital

2008

as Ron Pippin

The Life & Times of Tim

2008

as William (voice)

Eavesdrop

2008

as Terrence

Harold

2008

as Coach Vanderpool

Miss Guided

2008

as Bruce Terry

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

2007

as Theo

WordGirl

2007

Hot Rod

2007

as Barry Pasternack

Kabluey

2007

as Frank

The Grand

2007

as Harold Melvin

I'm Reed Fish

2007

as Ralph

Sunny and Share Love You

2007

as Kevin Keith Baker

30 Rock

2006

as Dr. Leo Spaceman

Eureka

2006

as Dr. Noah Drummer

Ira & Abby

2006

as Dr. Ronald Silverberg

Saturday Night Live: The Best of Commercial Parodies

2006

American Dad!

2005

as Doctor (voice)

American Dad!

2005

as (voice)

American Dad!

2005

as Valet / Borax Employee (voice)

American Dad!

2005

as Francine's Drinking Buddy (voice)

American Dad!

2005

as Book on Tape (voice)

American Dad!

2005

as Kidnapper (voice)

American Dad!

2005

as Dr. Moe Munney (voice)

American Dad!

2005

as James Garfield / Mint Worker (voice)

American Dad!

2005

as Co-Worker (voice)

American Dad!

2005

as James Garfield (voice)

American Dad!

2005

as Train Actor (voice)

Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie

2004

as Garth Holliday

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

2004

as Garth Holliday

Looking for Kitty

2004

as Guy Borne

Evil Alien Conquerors

2003

as Du-ug

Barely Legal

2003

as Mr. Ronald Greitzer

Down with Love

2003

as TV Emcee

Farm Sluts

2003

as Larry

The Religetables

2002

Saturday Night Live: The Best of Will Ferrell

2002

as Himself / Various (archive footage)

TV Funhouse

2000

as James Brolin (voice)

Curb Your Enthusiasm

2000

as Hank

The Ladies Man

2000

as Phil Swanson

Ed

2000

as DJ Curtis Morris

Family Guy

1999

as Joe Paterno (voice)

Family Guy

1999

as Highway Man (voice)

Family Guy

1999

as Priest / Father Raccoon (voice)

Family Guy

1999

as White Guy (voice)

Family Guy

1999

as Target Manager / Veterinarian (voice)

Family Guy

1999

as Smarmy (voice)

Family Guy

1999

as Priest (voice)

Family Guy

1999

as Doug (voice)

Family Guy

1999

as Guy at Pool / Priest (voice)

Family Guy

1999

as Card Store Owner (voice)

Conrad Bloom

1998

as Simpson

A Freezerburnt Christmas

1997

Union Square

1997

as Don

Jingle All the Way

1996

as Toy Store Sales Clerk

Suddenly Susan

1996

as Waiter

Suddenly Susan

1996

as Phil

The Jamie Foxx Show

1996

Caroline in the City

1995

as Gene

Hope and Gloria

1995

as Howard

Friends

1994

as Bob

The Simpsons

1989

as Surgeon fiancé (voice)

Seinfeld

1989

as NBC Executive

Murphy Brown

1988