Chris Kelly (writer)

Chris Kelly (born September 7, 1983) is an American writer and director known for his work on Saturday Night Live, and writing and directing the autobiographical film Other People that premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. He has received five Emmy Award nominations for his work on SNL.

For the writer from Dallas, see Christopher Kelly (author).
Chris Kelly
Born (1983-09-07) September 7, 1983
Sacramento, California, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of California Irvine
Occupation
  • Screenwriter
  • director
Years active2005–present
AwardsPeabody Award (2009)

Career

Early career

Kelly grew up in Sacramento, California, the son of Joanne née Kellogg (1960–2009) Kelly. He has a sister, Janelle, and a half sister, Katie, from his mother's remarriage.[1][2] He attended and graduated from Sheldon High School.[3] He attended college at UC Irvine.[4] He was a staff writer and director at Funny or Die and Onion News Network, the latter of which won the 2009 Peabody Award. He was also Head Writer for Matt Besser's Comedy Central special This Show Will Get You High in 2010. Kelly also performed at UCBNY with his storytelling show Chris Kelly: America's Princess Diana, and before that, wrote, directed and starred in the play, Oh My God, I Heard You're Dying! He was on various Maude Teams as both a writer and actor, including Stone Cold Fox, 27 Kidneys, and Thunder Gulch, and was a frequent monologist at ASSSSCAT in both NYC and LA.[5]

Saturday Night Live

Kelly was a supervising writer for Saturday Night Live having joined the show as a staff writer for the 37th season and promoted to supervising writer on the 40th season. Along with his SNL writing partner, Sarah Schneider, Kelly has created many sketches including: "(Do It On My) Twin Bed," "Back Home Ballers," "The Beygency" (about Beyoncé), and "First Got Horny 2 U."[6] He and Schneider primarily write for Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon,[6] including "Dyke and Fats."[7] Kelly has been nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on SNL.

In August 2016, it was announced that Kelly and Schneider would be co-head writers for SNL's 42nd season.[8][9] Kelly was the first openly gay head writer of SNL.[10] Both Kelly and Schneider left SNL after the completion of the 42nd season.[11]

Broad City

Kelly is also a writer and consulting producer on Comedy Central's Broad City, which earned him a nomination for the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy Series.[12] He was a self described fan of the Broad City web series and joined the show as a writer and consulting producer when it was picked up as a series on Comedy Central.[13]

The Other Two

Along with SNL co-headwriter Schneider, Kelly is the creator and executive producer (along with Lorne Michaels) of The Other Two, which premiered on January 24, 2019 on Comedy Central.[11] The show stars Drew Tarver, Heléne Yorke, Molly Shannon, Ken Marino, and Case Walker.[11]

Film

Kelly wrote and directed his first feature film, Other People, that premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival in the opening slot.[14] The film is about a struggling comedy writer (played by Jesse Plemons), who has just broken up with his boyfriend and moves from New York City to Sacramento to help his sick mother (played by Molly Shannon).[15] He has to live with his conservative father and younger sisters for the first time in many years and feels like a stranger in his childhood home. As his mother's health deteriorates, David tries to extract meaning from the awful experience and convince everyone that he's doing okay.[16] The film is loosely based on his own life drawing from his experience of losing his mother to cancer in 2009.[17] He was labeled one of the "13 Hot Directors to Watch" at Sundance in 2016.[14]

Personal life

Kelly currently lives in Los Angeles with his boyfriend[6] and their dog, Jill.[18]

Awards and nominations

Kelly received the following awards and nominations:

Peabody Award

Primetime Emmy Award

Writers Guild of America Award

References
  1. Joanne Kelly Obituary accessed 11/23/2016
  2. "I Think I Have Overstayed My Welcome In Sacramento". tumblr.com. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  3. News, Elk Grove Laguna (2016-12-05). "Sheldon High grad is lead writer for Saturday Night Live". Elk Grove Laguna News. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  4. Dang, Mike (8 March 2016). "Inside the Thriving Comedy Career of 'SNL' and 'Broad City' Writer Chris Kelly". The Billfold. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  5. "Chris Kelly". ucbcomedy.com. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  6. Steiner, Amanda Michelle (November 20, 2015). "Sarah Schneider & Chris Kelly talk 'First Got Horny 2 U,' the ladies of SNL, Beyoncé, and more". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  7. "'SNL's' Sarah Schneider & Chris Kelly Reminisce About Writing 'Back Home Ballers' Sketch". aboveaverage.com. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  8. Jones, Nate (August 12, 2016). "Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider Are Your Newest SNL Head Writers". Vulture. New York Magazine. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  9. Wright, Megh (12 August 2016). "'SNL' Promotes Sarah Schneider and Chris Kelly to Co-Head Writers". Splitsider. Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  10. Reynolds, Daniel (16 August 2016). "Chris Kelly Makes SNL History as First Out Head Writer". The Advocate. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  11. Wright, Megh (October 25, 2018). "Broad City Returns in January Alongside New Series The Other Two". New York. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  12. "2016 Writers Guild Awards Nominees". awards.wga.org. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  13. Blake, Meredith (January 17, 2014). "'Broad City' brings female misadventures to male-oriented Comedy Central". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  14. Jeff Sneider And Matt Donnelly. "Sundance 2016: 13 Hot Directors to Watch". TheWrap. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  15. Yohannes, Alamin (August 3, 2016). "'SNL' Writer Chris Kelly Taps Into His Life Story for 'Other People'". NBC News. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  16. "Other People". sundance.org. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  17. Dowd, A.A. (January 22, 2016). "Sundance begins with a divisive "Sundance movie," go figure". avclub.com. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  18. "Meet Jill". Instagram.com. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  19. "The Peabody Awards - Onion News Network". peabodyawards.com. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
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