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The Dan Le Batard Show
South Beach Sessions - Chris Parnell
01:00:02
SNL, '30 Rock' and 'Rick & Morty' star Chris Parnell joins Dan Le Batard on South Beach Sessions to share his favorite, wild moments in comedy and his unique upbringing.
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- [00:01]
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- [00:48]
Dan
Hello and welcome to South Beach Sessions. Look, we've got velvety couches. We brought in bigger star power. This is very exciting. We are celebrating here in Los Angeles 50 years with two comedy institutions that this man has a legendary status at. Both of them. The Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles. Sketch comedy and improv. And Saturday Night Live, Both celebrating their 50th anniversary. Saturday Night Live in February with a three hour primetime special. So thank you, Chris, for making the time for us.
- [01:18]
Chris Parnell
Thanks for having me.
- [01:19]
Dan
Dan, I want to probe your biography, but you have to have all the good stories, though. You have to be. You have worked with so many interesting people in a time in comedy that was so vibrant that I just. I simply don't even know where to begin with asking you about who you've enjoyed working with the most, who you've been awed by when you're in the presence of. Because comedy can be hard and improv is so vulnerable.
- [01:44]
Chris Parnell
It's true. It's true. You know, for me at the Groundlings, like, you know, I would go see shows while I was taking the classes. I moved here on New Year's eve, going from 91 to 92, drove out with my buddy Matthew, and by February, based on the advice of some friends, I started taking classes at the Groundlings. So, you know, I would go see the shows and see the improv shows. So as I moved up and eventually got into the Sunday show and then the main show, you know, I was getting to perform with these people, some of whom I'd been watching, you know, so Michael McDonald was a big standout for me. He. He just killed me. And then, you know, so get to perform with him in the mainstage show and improvise, and that was delightful. But there were so many obviously talented.
- [02:33]
Dan
But these are your formative years. So take me through how it is that you come, how you make the decision to try this without a safety.
- [02:40]
Chris Parnell
Net to come To LA and do it. The whole thing.
- [02:43]
Dan
To do the whole thing. To choose this as a vocation. Yeah. Cause it strikes me as one of the hardest ways to succeed in entertainment.
- [02:53]
Chris Parnell
Yeah.
- [02:53]
Dan
On your funny and on the expectation of funny.
- [02:56]
Chris Parnell
It is. It is. Well, you know, I had a fortunate path. I started doing plays when I was in. I did my first one in seventh grade at Southern Baptist Educational center. And then halfway through ninth grade, we moved to a suburb of Memphis called Germantown. And I started going to Germantown High School, which, as it turns out, had an extraordinary theater department with an amazing man named Frank Bluestein who ran it, and Sarah Savelle who ran the music end of things. And also while I was there, the television studio got put into the high school, so doing plays with Mr. Bluestein, he, you know, after I'd done a few things and I sort of had a breakthrough with this play called the Diviners, where I felt like, oh, I think I understand what acting is now. You know, I just connected to the character. And he. He was intending to cast somebody else, this other very talented guy in the program, but he's like, you know, I've got to give it to you. And. And so after that and a few other plays, I did a play called Greater Tuna with my friend Dan McCleary, where we each play like 10 different characters each, and these quick costume changes and, you know, and that was, I guess that was my first sort of big on stage comedy thing, you know.
- [04:19]
Dan
And it, you know, funny's always a part of it. It's not like you're not aspiring necessarily to thespian or you are, you know what I mean? Like, are you. Which part of it is calling you the idea of being theatrical or the idea of being funny?
- [04:34]
Chris Parnell
Theatrical? Being an actor. Yeah, that's. That's what I started with. And then, you know, it seemed like, oh, well, this, you know, this Greater Tuna thing went well. And I mean, I'd always been a. In my much younger years, been a class clown, you know, wanted to make people laugh and get attention. I don't know how good at it I was.
- [04:55]
Dan
Your second grade teacher speaks ill of you.
- [04:57]
Chris Parnell
Oh, man, she was. It's funny you mention her because she. She at one point stuffed paper in my mouth to keep me from talking. And my parents found out about that, and I did not go to that school the next year.
- [05:13]
Dan
Weren't you always running afoul of specifically her? It feels like that particular act was built up of a great deal of resentment. That's the last act that's not the first time you were talking too much?
- [05:25]
Chris Parnell
No, no, no. Well, every week she would put marks on the chalkboard, and if you got three marks, you got sent to the principal's office. And I think I got sent every week, except one or two, which would sometimes involve paddling. And this was a different school. This was called Bethel Baptist. It sometimes would involve a paddling, but often, you know, just stern warnings and.
- [05:49]
Dan
But it was all talking. It was all class clown stuff. It wasn't anything more sinister than that.
- [05:54]
Chris Parnell
No, no. I mean, I was. I was. I was a little Christian boy, you know, So I, like. I was. Other than the talking and cutting up and trying to make people laugh, I was, you know, I was kind of down the straight and narrow, you know, but. Yeah, so. And then at Germantown, I was doing these plays, and I was trying to decide between computer programming because I really like my Apple 2 Plus computer that I got when I was 11, or the family got. And then Mr. Bluestein, who's still a friend of mine, he said, you know, if you want to do this for real, you could, like, you know, you got the chops for this. I was like, wow, okay, cool. And he recommended a school that a former student of his had gone to, North Carolina School of the Arts. And I auditioned there and got in and went through there. And while I was there, it seemed that comedy was, in fact, what I excelled at. And so, you know, I remember doing this restoration play called man of Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter was the other title. And. And it was a. I did really well in it. I felt really at home. And I got some great comments from the dean of the school, Malcolm Morrison, at the time. And, yeah, it just became apparent as I went on that that was my strength.
- [07:06]
Dan
Well, in reading some of the stories about you, especially when you were there and succeeding, you were wearing a mask a couple of different times when you crushed it in as you're getting the feedback and validation you need to continue to pursue things. And I thought to myself in reading about that, to ask, do you like. Not just actually physically wearing a mask, but what is it that you like about the career that always lets you wear a mask?
- [07:34]
Chris Parnell
Well, you know, it's.
- [07:35]
Dan
It's.
- [07:35]
Chris Parnell
It's the transformation, I guess. You know, it's getting to be another person. It's getting to pretend to be this other. This other character. And, you know, I'm. I'm still sort of trying to fully be myself for myself in my life, not performance wise and sort of trying to be free. Because I think it comes from my Christian upbringing. I'm always kind of like, wagging the finger at myself, like, you should be doing this, you should be doing this. And part of my work in therapy is to be free, be free to be creative and do these other things. And it's harder to do that solo. If I've got a job and I know what the job is, I know what the script is and this and that, then I can focus on and try to bring that to life. But the challenge is sort of living my life in a way that I'm. It's not. I'm not being oppressive to myself.
- [08:35]
Dan
That is a great goal in therapy. Freedom. Just the idea. I know I search for joy in it. And one of the things that I'm always trying to. I've told people before, if I could get one thing out of therapy, it would be. I would go easier on myself. I would be more forgiving with myself.
- [08:53]
Chris Parnell
That's exactly it. Yeah, that's. That's. That's a huge part of what I try to do in my work.
- [08:58]
Dan
But, so why. This one is the place I'd like to explore. Like, why are you like that? Like, why. Why are you that hard on yourself? You. You put religion on it. Religious upbringing.
- [09:11]
Chris Parnell
Yeah.
- [09:11]
Dan
As the start.
- [09:12]
Chris Parnell
Well, I was a real. I was a real believer. You know, I went to Sunday school and church, and my parents were not, like, over the top, you know, religious fanatics, but they were believers, you know, and they'd grown up in the church, Southern Baptist. And, you know, I really. I guess I'm kind of a literal person. And so I, you know, I took it very seriously. I pray. I would ask for forgiveness, you know, anytime I did something that I felt like was a sin. And even into college, you know, I would still pray before my meals in the cafeteria. So I think I always felt watched by God, you know, and tried to live in a way that wouldn't piss him off. I mean, I didn't have sex till I was 24 because I feared the wrath of God. That was the one thing that the Bible said, like flee fornication. So I allowed other experiences sexually, but not sex. So I don't know. That's my. That's my sort of dime store appraisal of where that wagging, pointing finger comes.
- [10:21]
Dan
From and how much progress or what kind of tools do you have on getting to something that feels closer to freedom and forgiving. Like, what have you gotten from therapy? Because it's one thing to know what the roots of it are. But to leave there. The reason I advocate for therapy is I just tell people, why wouldn't. If you trust somebody, a good therapist, why wouldn't you give that person your vulnerability so they can then in turn give you some of the tools so that when you're walking around without that person. Person during the day, you could sort of self love yourself?
- [10:51]
Chris Parnell
Yeah, well, it's a good question. I mean, the way my therapist works, you know, she's. She has never at any point sort of pointed the blame to my religious upbringing. I've talked about it with her and she sort. I think she agrees that, like, that's. That's a, you know, that's a legitimate explanation for why I tend to be like I am. But she's more about, you know, just working in the present and what. How I live my life, how I sort of experience the world. And it's. I mean, I think, you know, I like the idea of having tools. I like the idea of specific things, things I need to work on. But for her, and I think she's right, it's about just a different way of experiencing my life in a way and a certain level of awareness and a freeing up that has to happen deep inside that is not that, you know. And yes, I'll. Sometimes I'll catch myself being hard on myself, you know, And I was like, okay, you gotta let that go, let that go, let that go. But it takes so long. It's so much work, you know, to get to a place where I.
- [12:02]
Dan
To go easy on yourself. It takes so much conscious work. Sorry, that's right. It takes so much conscious work to just go easy on yourself.
- [12:10]
Chris Parnell
It does. It does.
- [12:11]
Dan
Because of the patterns of what you've learned, because of how it is that you've been shaped.
- [12:17]
Chris Parnell
Yeah, it is. And also just to embrace being with my children and connecting with them and my wife, because it's so easy for me to have all these tasks in my head, these things that need to be accomplished, that do need to be happening at some point. House stuff and financial stuff and all those kind of things. We have auditions. But yeah, it's a different approach for me. It's a radical approach to not be that way and just be like, oh, you know what? Why don't you go sit with Harry and just be with him for a bit? Or go sit with Damien, you know, and just.
- [12:57]
Dan
You would think perhaps, or someone who doesn't know the amount of work that goes into what it is that you do for a living, you would Think that the laughter would be a balm that would make everything feel a little lighter than that. But if you're coming from a thespian's approach of I must be part perfect or I must be. I must not stumble, I suppose you could get in your own way on just allowing yourself to flow with laughter through a career that seems from over here, like it would have been pretty fun the whole time that.
- [13:24]
Chris Parnell
It's very true. It's very true. You know, I have this reputation for never having broken on Saturday Night Live. And I think. I mean, for better and for worse, maybe the Iceman.
- [13:37]
Dan
They called you the Iceman because you're the only person that has the reputation of during a skit, during cowbell, this is the one guy who's not going to fall apart.
- [13:47]
Chris Parnell
Yeah, I mean, I don't think. I don't think. You know, I'm definitely not the only cast member in the history of Saturday Night Live that didn't break or didn't, you know, tend to break or whatever.
- [13:58]
Dan
The Iceman. You're the Iceman. No one else is the Iceman. You're the Iceman. Well, you know, I mean, More cowbell. You did not break during More Cowbell. Every other actor on the set broke.
- [14:09]
Chris Parnell
Correct. It was very hard. It was very hard. Christopher Walken did not break.
- [14:13]
Dan
Okay, so look at that. You're in good company.
- [14:15]
Chris Parnell
I am in good company. I am. But I just knew, you know, I mean, I knew I had to hold it together because otherwise it was, you know.
- [14:24]
Dan
It's interesting symbolically, though, if you think about the question I just asked you and your answer is some form of yes, I'm famously rigid here.
- [14:33]
Chris Parnell
Exactly.
- [14:33]
Dan
I'm not gonna let go with laughter because I must do the job correctly.
- [14:37]
Chris Parnell
Exactly.
- [14:38]
Dan
That will get in the way of joy, I suspect, as well.
- [14:40]
Chris Parnell
It can. It can. And there are definitely parts of me, you know, that thinks, wow, it might have been fun to let myself go a little bit, like Jimmy or Horatio tended to do, or even Will, you know, or Molly or whoever. But I don't know. It was just. It was my approach, you know, and I just looked at it like I'm that character. I'm in that moment. It's not funny to them, you know, and it helps sell the sketch better if I don't break. So. Yeah.
- [15:10]
Dan
I don't mean to make you feel bad about it. Your way of being was something that was, I mean, clearly fulfilling. Right.
- [15:20]
Chris Parnell
Yeah.
- [15:20]
Dan
And resulted in success. So along your path, you realize now you've been, you're being saluted in college for what it is that you're doing. And now what does the struggle look like after that to get to career success?
- [15:34]
Chris Parnell
Okay. So after college, I went down to the Alley Theater in Houston. I auditioned down there and got into their apprentice company, and I did that. It was. I mean, I think it was a little bit avoidance of, like, going straight to New York, you know, and trying to, you know, make my way there in the theater. But I thought, this is a, you know, this is kind of a soft landing right after college, and. And it was great, and it was fun. I was very naive. I thought, people are going to see my work in this apprentice company, and they'd be like, okay, we want you in our main stage shows. And it just didn't happen that way. I mean, they didn't really have a company. They had a pool of actors they pulled from. But actors would come from all over different regional theaters around the country. And that was going to be my. That was going to be my path. I was going to be a regional theater actor. But after the Alley, and I didn't get. How dare they not discover my greatness.
- [16:32]
Dan
But this is going. You're aspiring to. If I can make a living for the rest of my life as a regional theater actor, that will represent all of my dreams coming true. Yeah.
- [16:43]
Chris Parnell
I don't know if I had to define quite that clearly. And I think probably somewhere in there, the idea was to get to New York and do plays there. But I thought, you know, this is a. This would be a good life, you know, But I left there disenchanted. Not any. Not anybody there's fault, obviously, except my own. And I went back to my old high school and taught high school for a year. Mr. Bluestein said, you know, do you want to come back and teach? One of the other students had done it. And I just. I was like, yeah, you know what? Why not? You know, I make a little money. Not much, but a little money.
- [17:17]
Dan
And a little older than the kids you're teaching.
- [17:20]
Chris Parnell
Exactly. Yeah.
- [17:21]
Dan
Feeling like you've failed or feeling like you've gotten a step, stumbled.
- [17:30]
Chris Parnell
I think it was more about feeling a little lost, you know, I don't know that I really thought of it in terms of failure, having stumbled, because I hadn't. I hadn't really given it a go. You know, all I'd done was the Alley, and I'd done a little theater in the summers, but.
- [17:48]
Dan
But you knew you didn't want to be a teacher. No. Or you didn't know this yet.
- [17:51]
Chris Parnell
Well, I didn't know it. It was not something I'd ever aspired to. And I. And I found out pretty quickly that I was. It was not for me. I was not ready to be an authority figure. I wasn't good at knowing how to maintain discipline in class. But I loved working with the kids who were involved with the theater and TV programs like I had been when I was there, because they were all serious about it and they were into it and they were doing good work and Mr. Bluestein still ran the program and Ms. Savelle. But I realized, like, yeah, I'll do this for the year, but I do not have it in me. It takes a special person to be a teacher. You got to have a giving soul. And, you know, I guess I don't have that in that way, you know, I'm too selfish.
- [18:41]
Dan
Oh, it's a good thing to know about yourself. I've learned after a year of this giving. It's not for me.
- [18:47]
Chris Parnell
It's not. It's not. Not that way anyway. Not putting myself up there in front of these kids. You know, there was a. In every class, it would be like a small group who were very into it, you know, and serious about it. Then there was, at the other end of the spectrum, a group of kids who are cut ups and could care less. And then in the middle, there's the kind of whatevers, you know, so it was just hard to, I don't know, to put yourself out there in front of this, you know, room of high school students. It was a mix of 9 to 12th grade kids. And. Yeah, and also I just realized, like, you know what, if I'm gonna be an actor, I've got to, you know, give it a shot. I've got to really either go to New York or la. And it's. I knew some people in la. I knew some friends from my high school days that had gone out here and I knew some friends from college and. And so I said, you know what? I'm gonna. I'm gonna move out to LA and give it a go.
- [19:44]
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- [20:48]
Dan
Your voice is distracting because of how perfect it is. And it was hand me down. Correct. You've done a lot of voice work. You've done famous voice work that we'll get to in a second. But this was hand me down. Correct. Because your father was a. Was he. He was a legendary radio personality. Correct. Known. A known radio personality with pipes.
- [21:10]
Chris Parnell
He was absolutely. In Memphis there at whbq. And, yeah, he had an amazing voice. And after he left the disc jockey world, he had a recording studio with another former disc jockey, Skip Wilkerson, and they called it Wilkerson Parnell Sound Studios. And they. They did voiceover work themselves, and they produced other people's stuff, other commercials and things. And if they needed the voice of a kid, it would often be my sister or myself doing that. And, yeah, I think I definitely absorbed a lot from him vocally. The interesting thing maybe is that I'm adopted, so it wasn't a genetic hand me down, but I definitely, you know, I was born with something, and then I definitely. I think listening to his voice through my life made a difference.
- [21:58]
Dan
Yes. So I'd like to talk to you about if you've gotten. If you've dug in on some of the things that are formative about being adopted, because, yes, obviously it's not. It was hand me down, but because it was around you at all times, not because of anything biological.
- [22:16]
Chris Parnell
Right. I mean, I. You know, I've never met my birth father. I would be surprised if he didn't have something of a voice himself, you know, but, yeah, my parents always made it very clear to my sister and me, who was also adopted, that we were adopted. And it was from the angle of they chose us. You know, they really wanted to have children. And they went to the Tennessee Baptist Children's Home, and the social worker they'd been in touch with said, we have this boy. You want to come see him? And, you know, I was little, I was like, I don't know, just six weeks old or something. And, you know, very luckily they adopted me, you know, and gave me a wonderful life and my sister. And so I guess for me, the deep dive on that subject is when I was 25, the laws of the state of Tennessee allow you to seek out your birth parents at that point. So they do a thing where they sort of try to get in touch with them. Sometimes they don't find them, and they just say, okay, we couldn't find them. Here's the information we have on them. They did find them, and my birth mother did not want any contact. The interesting thing was that they sent. I don't know how deliberate it was, but they sent me all the sort of the records of the correspondence they'd had with her, which included a copy of her driver's license. So I kind of knew what. I knew what she looked like based on this black and white copy. And they got in touch with my birth father, and he said he would be open to contact and provided his phone number, but to definitely not contact the birth mother. They were not together anymore. And, I mean, that was illegitimate, you know, And I thought about it many times. I've thought about it many times. I've lost both my dad and my mom now, and my mom passed away in early April. And so I've had the flickering thought, like, well, is now an okay time to try to reach out to him, my birth father? But I don't know. You know, it's. It's. It's. I'm curious about whose genes I got, you know, and where I came from, genetically, biologically. But on the other hand, it's like, that's. That could be a whole can of worms, you know? It's like, I don't know what this man's life is. I think I found him online, I think. Um. But, you know, it's just, I. I've. I've got my wife and my kids. I got my sister. I got my friends. It's like, do I need to open up that. You know, so I've just sort of been. I haven't chosen to make that plunge.
- [25:01]
Dan
Sounds like you've been wrestling with it, though, for years.
- [25:04]
Chris Parnell
I have that.
- [25:06]
Dan
It's something that you're. You're. It's calling you. It would appear or it's not. It hasn't silenced.
- [25:12]
Chris Parnell
No, no. It's like, can I live not ever having known that person or those people? So I've sort of toyed with the idea of hiring a private investigator to just find out things about them instead.
- [25:30]
Dan
Of, well, finding out by asking questions of your father. Because you could.
- [25:38]
Chris Parnell
Yes, because, you know, even though I'm not a big celebrity, I'm a minor celebrity, and, you know, what do I pretend that I'm not? Do they know who I am from that angle? What does that mean? What if they need money? Do they think I have money? And, you know, and I spoke to a friend who was a writer at snl, and he had sought out his birth parents, and it didn't turn out well for him. I mean, he didn't ruin his life, but it just was like, no, no, no, I can't go there. So that was a cautionary tale that.
- [26:16]
Dan
Informed me there's fear in it for you because. And forgive me, I'll leave this line of questioning in a second. But when your mother says she doesn't want contact, I don't know how that one lands. And then your father says he's good with it. But how many years removed are we now? I wasn't doing the math of, like, you've had that. You've been holding on to the decision of whether to reach out for him, to him for how many years?
- [26:40]
Chris Parnell
I mean, I was 25. I'm 57 now.
- [26:42]
Dan
It's super interesting to hold on to something like that for that long and to wrestle and to still, as we sit here, not feel like you have an answer and should I do this?
- [26:50]
Chris Parnell
Yeah, no, it's true. It's true. You know, it's usually way in the background, you know, so it's. It's only something that comes up in my mind, like, oh, yeah, there's that. There's that thing. Should I do anything about that? Do I want to? Do I care enough to. Will I be okay eventually dying without ever having known who those people were? And I think the answer is yes, because I have my parents. You know, I had my parents. They passed away, and I had a whole life with them, you know, And I couldn't have asked for better parents, you know, so do I need to seek that out? What do. I don't know. I don't know. It's sort of. It's almost a scientific curiosity in a way.
- [27:28]
Dan
You know, I don't know what kind of morsel there are. Morsels I can understand where There would be fear around them, but there would also be just endless curiosity. Curiosities about.
- [27:38]
Chris Parnell
Yeah.
- [27:38]
Dan
What was it? Give me some information about how my path could have been different. Just curiosity.
- [27:45]
Chris Parnell
Sure. Yeah. Well, I mean, I know the basics of how they came together. Like, he was in the Navy, and I don't know how they met exactly, but she got pregnant, he offered to marry her, and then his family advised him not to do that. And I think. I assume she was, you know, a young Baptist woman. And so I think she was based in Nashville, and she went down to the Tennessee Baptist Children's Home. Sort of be. My take is to be out of sight to have this child and. And then sort of, you know, brush it under and carry on with her life, you know, And I don't. I don't fault her for that. You know, she. I don't. She wasn't planning to get pregnant, I assume. And, you know, and I suspect my life turned out better. You know, I was with parents who really wanted me, you know, and that's. You know, you can't beat that.
- [28:38]
Dan
Do you think that the reason you chose the professional path you did is because of what your adopted father was doing professionally? You're surrounded by. It's not just the feedback of. I'm performing in some of these commercials. He's going home every day, and this is what he does. He's this magical voice who. Who people know.
- [29:00]
Chris Parnell
I'm sure it did. But, you know, what he was doing was an acting. Really, you know, he wasn't doing, like, animation. He wasn't doing voices for animated characters.
- [29:12]
Dan
But he's doing. Performing. He's performing.
- [29:13]
Chris Parnell
He's definitely performing. And, you know, and sometimes he would have to do sort of charactery voices, but, you know, like, he would put on his Southern dialect for certain characters and things. And I'm sure it affected me. I mean, my memory of how I sort of thought, oh, I want to. I think I want to do that. It's two things. The first one is questionable. When I was very young, I had. I loved Charlie's Angels. Had a crush on Farrah Fawcett. She was my first celebrity crush. And I remember having the thought process of, like, how would one go about being. Being around beautiful women like that?
- [29:53]
Dan
If I'm reasoning, yes, you know, it's.
- [29:56]
Chris Parnell
Primitive, but, you know.
- [29:57]
Dan
Yeah, it's. Yes, it's a calling.
- [29:59]
Chris Parnell
Yeah. And so I thought, oh, if I were an actor, I mean, if I'd been smart, I thought if I were a director, producer. But I thought if I were an actor, I might be able to work with with women like this. It wasn't until years later and I got my yearbook at SBC and I noticed my friend Tiger Hale was in, had done this school play that I was completely unaware was happening there. Didn't know anything about it or he was in the drama club, I guess was what it was. I thought, oh, I want to do that. I want to be in the drama club. And we had a new teacher, Gay Forbus was her name. She came in to teach English and she also started doing some plays. So I auditioned for it and I don't know, it just I enjoyed that. I enjoyed the performing.
- [30:49]
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- [31:55]
Dan
Let's talk about then the Saturday Night Live years because you lasted eight seasons there on and off. Correct. And what did you learn? It seems like a pressure cooker. It seems like that would be a very easy environment for the laughter to not necessarily feel good except for those 90 minutes on Saturday Night Night that it's the week of Saturday Night Live from everything I've read in oral histories or everything else will fry every young person who's ever worked there.
- [32:25]
Chris Parnell
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's hard. I mean, I was, I was very lucky in that people wanted to put me in their sketches, you know, not. Not a ton. But as it went on, you know, they knew what I could bring to the table. And for me, the biggest struggle was the writing. I had written at the Groundlings with some success, but what I'd written at the Groundlings that I felt the best at were monologues. Finding this character and speaking of that character's voice and then writing scenes was always. Which I did at the Groundlings, but was always more challenging for me. And then when I got to snl, I found writers that I did like to work with, but I just always was very insecure about my ability to find an idea and write it into a sketch. And, I mean, my regret, I guess, about SNL was that I didn't have more confidence, that I wasn't bolder and didn't have the same sort of sense of freedom that I'm still seeking out creatively because I. You know, I feel it was a good SNL experience for the most part. Getting fired was heartbreaking. Thankfully, I got hired back, but it really shook my confidence again. You know, I started to feel like I got my legs under me, and then, oh, no, you're gone. Lauren's not bringing you back. And I was like, oh, fuck, that's. My whole identity was kind of built around the idea that I'm a Saturday Night Live cast member, and I had this big break, and now, okay, now what do I do? And, you know, eventually they brought me back. I heard from Will Ferrell pretty early on that the door wasn't completely shut. And so there was this a lot of, like, Lauren might be bringing you back and this and that. And I eventually told my manager at the time, I was like, I don't want to hear about any more of those maybes. I'd love to go back. If they want to bring me back, great, but I've got to settle back to my life in la. And then, of course, after I'd done that, is when they brought me back. But. But, yeah, you know, it was a roller coaster. Lots of ups and downs. You could have a good dress rehearsal and then have a lot of pieces get cut and not have a great air show in terms of just your presence on the show, you know. But, you know, it was amazing. I mean, it was. I'm talking about, you know, my struggles with it, but overall, it was extraordinary.
- [34:58]
Dan
When I left ESPN, and I'm older, I'm 50 years old, but you're on television as part of a thing. And part of my identity collapsed in that, and There was wounding in not thinking that that was gonna happen to me because I was an older man. You're still. I can understand how that would wreck you. Like, that would be a very hard thing. And then put on top of it whatever it is that comes with. And I don't wanna go too much deep on the psychology here, but my father had an episode when he was rejected by a boss late in life that triggered some stuff that came from feeling rejected by his own mother. So go. God knows how it is that if your identity is wrapped up in this thing and then they tell you you're not good enough, what that creates.
- [35:47]
Chris Parnell
Yes. You know what? Part of what kept me from sinking too far down was the outpouring of love, support, and surprise from my fellow cast members and some of the writers who just also were blindsided by it. And I knew because of the way they were reaching out and what was being said, like, that they were sincere. So it made me feel like, oh, I'm not the only one who is completely surprised by this. A lot of other people were, too. So that made me feel like, all right, okay, so I'm not wrong to continue believing somewhat in myself. And that helped a lot. That made a big difference, you know.
- [36:27]
Dan
Well, your peers are. You're getting the respect and the love of your peers, and they are buoying you. That must feel good. But you're still without a job and wondering whether they're going to take you back.
- [36:39]
Chris Parnell
Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, I just thought, well, hopefully I can, you know, get back into the sitcom lane and do that. And I think somebody kindly threw me a job on from. On Friends. You know, I got a guest star part on that. And. But, yeah. Yeah. So when I. When I finally heard that they were going to bring me back, I was like, great. You know, I'm not. I don't want to. I don't want to burn a bridge with Lorne. I want to go back. I wasn't done. I had. I had more to do. And thankfully, I got to, you know, not too many people get to do that.
- [37:12]
Dan
What do you regard. You've done a lot of stuff. 30 Rock, Rick and Morty. What do you regard as the most fun? Just the thing that you were doing that while you were doing it was simply the most enjoyable. It doesn't even have to be any of the big ones. It could have been a different time in your life. Well, could have been local theater, for all I know.
- [37:29]
Chris Parnell
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's hard to. That's A tough one. Doing the Sunday show at the Groundlings was a pretty amazing time because we're all kind of hungry and we're writing a lot and very creative, and it was just such a fun bunch. I mean, I'm still in touch with a number of people from that time. We get together periodically, so that was pretty amazing. My high school time was really fun. It's hard to beat that.
- [38:01]
Dan
The young stuff. So the stuff when you're still just dreaming and the business parts of it are not the things that you're thinking about or feelings.
- [38:11]
Chris Parnell
Right? Yeah, it's true. It's true. But doing SNL was a lot of fun in a lot of ways. I mean, it was amazing. Anchorman was a lot of fun. So, yeah, I mean, there have been a lot of. A lot of fun things. And I. And I. I love that I got to do snl. I love. I. I loved being there while I was there. It wasn't easy, but it was fun, you know?
- [38:37]
Dan
How about Archer?
- [38:39]
Chris Parnell
Yeah, I mean, I.
- [38:40]
Dan
You know, 140 episodes, 14 seasons.
- [38:44]
Chris Parnell
14 seasons, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I feel so lucky and grateful for that, to have been a part of that for so long. It was very. A big bummer when it ended because we thought we had at least a couple more seasons to go. But, you know, we record that separately. We always recorded it separately, as we do Rick and Morty.
- [39:05]
Dan
Oh, you like the communal stuff?
- [39:07]
Chris Parnell
Well, I do like recording separately. It's much more efficient. I can focus on what I'm doing. But we would get to see each other at Comic Con and other events and things like that, which I love because we like each other, you know, and it was fun to have that. And same with Rick and Morty. But if I had to pick, I prefer doing on camera just because of being with other people. It's better for me in voiceover to not. And here's what it comes down to is if you and I are doing voiceover and we've got a script, the script's not going to be memorized because we've got it there to read. So for me, it's like this thing of, like. Well, do I just focus on my lines in the script here, or is this other actor expecting me to make eye contact and connect with him this way physically in the booth? And it's like, it's too much for my brain.
- [39:59]
Dan
But you like what you feel in the collaboration of creating, right?
- [40:06]
Chris Parnell
Yeah, absolutely.
- [40:06]
Dan
But, I mean, that is the sweet spot, is it not, in terms of working with others and Enjoying your work. Like, obviously you want to feel good about what it is that you've done, but working with people that you like and respect, who can surprise you and then bring out something in you because they know you a little bit, I would think that that would be the sweet spot.
- [40:25]
Chris Parnell
Absolutely, absolutely. And make me laugh, you know.
- [40:28]
Dan
And Saturday Night Live. Was that. Because Anchorman, I can imagine that you guys were. I can imagine anchorman just from what was on screen that a lot of stuff was cut because probably people couldn't keep it together the way that they needed to.
- [40:42]
Chris Parnell
Well, yeah, and I mean, also, it was just such an embarrassment of riches. I mean, especially, I mean, you know, they made a second movie, they made another movie with. Based on outtakes of that and another ending they shot. But yeah, Will just, I mean, so much incredible stuff coming out of his mouth at the news desk and then stuff that Adam McKay would throw into everybody, you know, to say. And yeah, that was pretty special.
- [41:07]
Dan
Who were some of the people you've worked with where you just sort of stand in awe at what it is that's unspooling from their mind?
- [41:14]
Chris Parnell
I mean, Will is the big one. I mean, for sure. Just so extraordinary. And I got to see. I didn't get to work with him, but I got to see Phil Hartman do an improv show with the Groundlings. This is after his SNL time. And oh, my God, I was just, oh, God, you are as brilliant doing scripted stuff, you're as brilliant doing improvised stuff as you are doing scripted stuff. I mean, just amazing. I was just, I was just in awe. But I got to work with so many amazing people at snl, you know, I mean, Molly and Sherry and Catan and Tim Meadows and Daryl and Tracy Morgan and then all the people who came, you know, drat. I mean, I, you know, I'm gonna stop naming people because I'm gonna miss so many, but. Oh, my God, so many amazing people.
- [42:00]
Dan
Did you partake in the famous after parties? Were you raging until 5 o'clock in the morning with an out of control life, blowing off steam from, you know, what that work week is like? Because people don't understand what that work week is like. Correct. They. They couldn't possibly understand that.
- [42:17]
Chris Parnell
No. I mean, there are probably some parallel levels of intensity in other jobs, but, yeah, unless you've been there, you can't really know that. And yes, I did go to the after parties. I think I went to every afterparty, pretty much. I don't know how hard I raged, Dan, because by that time I sort of. I had a pretty good sense of what I could take in, alcohol wise. And I didn't want to be sick, but I certainly enjoyed myself. And. And then, yeah, for many, many years, I'd also go to the after after party and walk home at 7:00am, you know, and then as I got further along and I had a girlfriend and I was like, I don't need to go to the after after party anymore.
- [43:02]
Dan
You know, you're very responsible. I feel like. I feel like you're. I feel like I could identify you as responsible and meticulous.
- [43:08]
Chris Parnell
I try to be. I try to be for better and.
- [43:10]
Dan
For worse and that you care. You care deeply about what it is that you're doing. And so I'm guessing that you probably prepare it to death, that you get great comfort in having the security of. No, I've got very much down what I need to have down so that what I'm executing is just a lifetime of experience.
- [43:30]
Chris Parnell
I try to. I try to. Yeah. I would always get my scripts on Wednesday on the day the table reads beforehand and make sure I read through all the sketches that I was in. Sometimes a writer would have come to me and said, hey, I put you in this. It's this kind of a thing. And I'd be like, okay, okay. But I always wanted to read them before the table read started because I just like, I don't want to cold read all this, you know, and it helped a lot. And, you know, I think it. I think people, the writers and other cast members, but realized that I took it seriously and I was going to try to be as prepared as I could be for to deliver their material on Wednesday to the best of my ability, you know, and I just sort of wing it, you know.
- [44:10]
Dan
But that gets in the way of improv, does it not? Or. Because I would think improv is the freest of the forms but also scariest because you don't have the comfort of safety nets and you're just out there.
- [44:24]
Chris Parnell
No, you're absolutely right. I mean, improv was not much of a thing at snl. You know, improvising did happen, but, you know, basically you have to do a show where the camera knows where to cut. And if somebody improvises something, it's like the camera might not be on you. But yes, this will illustrate what you just said. I haven't improvised live on stage, I don't think, since I got on Saturday Night Live.
- [44:51]
Dan
So, yeah, I was thinking of Groundlings and what it is that they did in Both sketch comedy and improvisation. So I was thinking that the early parts of your career, that you would have access to improv and probably not like it all that much because you couldn't really. That it would be hard to control. Right. I'd be scared of improv. I would find it. I need. Can I have some crutches, please? Some crutches. Give me something so I'm just not out there naked.
- [45:16]
Chris Parnell
Well, the good thing about going through a program like the Groundlings is you do get a lot of tools. You know, you learn how to make an improv work. And so you do know that I can do space work to start it off. Usually there'll be some suggestion from the audience, you know, so you're building the scene on that. There'll be space work, there'll be emotional reactions, there'll be character choices, there'll be what the other actor or actors on stage are giving you. So it's not just in a vacuum once you have sort of those. That framework to work from. And certainly, you know, it still comes up that there is an expectation to improvise in movies, you know, and I have to always remember to. I mean, my way of dealing with that is usually to write some material and to try to make sure I've got some alts, you know, to got some things to add if they want it. And there's a good chance they will because it's probably a comedy and they know I'm a comedy guy. So, you know, I have to try to prepare that way.
- [46:12]
Dan
I would think that Anchorman had a decent amount of improv.
- [46:16]
Chris Parnell
It did. It did my whole poop mouth speech after a certain point after I said. I came in and said the lines, and then I realized Adam was not cutting. He wasn't yelling cut. And I was like, oh, yeah, he wants me to keep going. So that's what came out. The whole disappointment with Ron.
- [46:33]
Dan
I would think that that would be very freeing, though. Like, if you're someone who is in perpetual pursuit of freedom, I would think that there would be some great freedom in being in front of people on a stage where you have learned maximum respect over your life to respect the stage. And also no script, no nothing. I'm going to be free here. Free to be my funniest self.
- [46:57]
Chris Parnell
Yeah, and it's true. You're absolutely right. And when I was, you know, and when I was doing it regularly, I was pretty good at it, you know, and then once I got on snl, I felt like, oh, there's too much going to be too much of an expectation. If I go back on stage to improvise at the Groundlings, you know, they're going to be like, oh, this is what this SNL guy can bring. I just, I was too intimidated by it, you know.
- [47:17]
Dan
Really?
- [47:18]
Chris Parnell
Yeah. And also I felt like I'd gotten rusty because I hadn't done any improv in, you know, in my time at snl. Really?
- [47:26]
Dan
So you didn't say with any degree of remorse when you said it. I don't think I've done improv since I started at snl. Right. Like, there wasn't. There wasn't any longing in your voice when you said that. Or even discovery. Right. Or was there some discovery in the idea of I haven't used this difficult, heavy tool in a while that's also free?
- [47:45]
Chris Parnell
No, I'm fully aware of it. And I guess because I don't feel in shape to do it, it doesn't present itself as this freeing opportunity. Now, I do also have this take on it where, like, as I get older, like, I will just not give as much of hoot about how it goes or what people think, and I'll just get up there and do it. And to that end, my friend Brian Palermo has done this kids show at the Groundlings periodically over the years, and he called me a couple of weeks ago to see if I would do the show and it will involve some improv and it involved me writing a sketch and hopefully my older son will be able to come and see the show because he takes an improv class and he has some aspirations, you know. But I was like, you know what, I'm just going to say yes to this. It's going to be mostly families with kids out there, so the stakes are pretty low. So, yeah, we'll see how it goes.
- [48:45]
Dan
Do you want it for him? Like, do you. Are there any warnings that you're offering when he goes down this path a little bit?
- [48:53]
Chris Parnell
Well, you know, he's 10, so it's.
- [48:57]
Dan
A little early for that.
- [48:58]
Chris Parnell
A little early, yeah. And you know, we definitely don't want him to be a child actor. So, yeah, he. He takes this after school improv class and seems to enjoy it, you know, and his.
- [49:10]
Dan
You're putting him in a class early for it though. You're giving him the scent early.
- [49:14]
Chris Parnell
Like, well, he wanted to do it, you know, it wasn't like something that we were pushing on him, you know, he wanted to. And he has definitely a good sense of humor and he's creative, you know, he's a little performer. You know.
- [49:30]
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- [50:21]
Dan
You learned what from that experience? It's a broad question, but what would you say that you learned?
- [50:28]
Chris Parnell
Wow. I mean, it's fun doing live tv. You don't get to do that hardly ever. It's fun getting to be around those, those people, you know, it was like an extended college. I don't know. I think I just learned to be better at doing that. You know, I learned to be better at doing scenes, being comfortable in front of an audience and live television. I learned to maybe more after the fact to believe in myself more. And I was able to look back and say, hey, I did some pretty good stuff there, you know, and appreciate that, you know. And so on some level it's like about appreciating myself and what I brought to it and also just being part of that SNL family.
- [51:30]
Dan
But it sounds like the way you're articulating it, it sounds like you learned to love yourself at least a little bit better if somehow you got more confident and escaped some of your insecurities. Like if you got, if you felt better about who you were because the identity crushing of everything that happened in the middle of that and then you get to the end of it and you're a stronger person who feels more confident. You're taking care of yourself better.
- [51:54]
Chris Parnell
Yeah, I think so. I think so. It wasn't, it wasn't so clear cut at the time, but it's more of.
- [51:59]
Dan
A suffering at the time, right?
- [52:01]
Chris Parnell
Yeah.
- [52:01]
Dan
And so insecurity is a crippler. Like. Well, I don't Know how art has healed you here? I don't. You. You'd have to help me there, because insecurity. A lot of people get into funny and get into acting because they're. They're whatever. They're trying to squeeze light out of insecurities.
- [52:19]
Chris Parnell
Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely. I mean, when it's. When it's going well, it's. It's so rewarding when I. When I shoot a scene that I feel like my work was good in that, you know, and I brought it acting wise and comedically, if that was what was called for, that's very satisfying. And then to ultimately get to watch it, which can be hard, but to see it and be like, okay, yeah, that was pretty good. Or to hear it in a voiceover recording, that's rewarding. And it's just fun to be on set with other people, especially comedy people. I have occasionally auditioned for a procedural, CSI kind of thing. And look, I would be very lucky to have a show like that I'm on. But at the same time, it's like, that would not be my first choice. I would much rather do a sitcom, you know, where we're trying to be funny and make the audience laugh, make each other laugh, and not just reciting these cold hard facts and all of that.
- [53:33]
Dan
You must have some Alec Baldwin stories for us. Like, I've 30 rock. I have thought of him as legitimately comedian funny over the years. Oh, yeah. Not act like I know a lot of actors are funny. But he struck me as somebody who could have just been a straight comedian and just by turning up the volume on who he actually is from 8 to 10.
- [53:56]
Chris Parnell
Yeah, that's probably true. That's probably true. I mean, well, you know, he had hosted several times while I was on the show, and I knew. And I'd seen him before I got on the show and knew how funny he could be. And then at 30 Rock, what I sort of came to appreciate more about Alec was just what a master craftsman he is. Just how fully aware he is of where the cameras are and what's being shot and how we should shoot it.
- [54:23]
Dan
And not craftsman, what you just did there.
- [54:26]
Chris Parnell
Amateur.
- [54:28]
Dan
You were trying to illustrate for us theatrically what the opposite of being a craftsman is.
- [54:32]
Chris Parnell
Thank you. I didn't know if you'd pick up on that, Dan, but, yes, thank you. I was trying to show this is not what Alec Baldwin would do as I bang the microphone.
- [54:39]
Dan
But you're saying he's a sculptor and he. I mean, obviously he's got a lifetime of experiences. But I also think of him as just wildly funny and it's something that I wouldn't have seen back at Glengarry Glen Ross.
- [54:52]
Chris Parnell
No, no. Yeah. Well, you know, he's not, I don't remember him being like, you know, a guy with quips and cut ups and things like that. I mean, he's kind of, he's, I guess I think a little more like me in some ways that he's, you know, he's a little more, has a, a certain demeanor to him. That's not like Mr. Comedy, you know, or anything like that. And then like you said, when he wants to turn it up, you know, it's there for sure.
- [55:18]
Dan
I loved how you illustrated Mr. Comedy like that guy's the life of a party. That guy walks in. It sounds like you have a very crafted. Some of the ways that you're describing the doing of comedy. I'm not gonna say formulaic, but it's like, you know. Cause I really don't mean it that way. I mean like you have the tools on how it is that I can do this, this and this to make you laugh because I've perfected the art of cadence, of tone. I can make it song. And I have sharpened something so that I can present it to you in a way that is. I know it's going to work. I know it's going to be funny.
- [55:57]
Chris Parnell
I don't know about that. No, no, no. You don't ever know it's going to work. You know, I mean, I definitely learned that at snl. I mean, there was a sketch I co wrote with some folks, a Morning Zoo crew sketch, and it killed us writing it and rehearsing it. We did it at dress rehearsal and it was crickets. I mean, it was nothing.
- [56:21]
Dan
And you knew it was going to work and it didn't work.
- [56:23]
Chris Parnell
Exactly, exactly.
- [56:26]
Dan
I would think that your barometer would be so good at this point, so expert that you would know that when you think something's funny, it's going to be fun.
- [56:34]
Chris Parnell
No, no, it's. Comedy's too particular, you know, and it's, it's, it too, it's too dependent on what the frame of reference is for each individual and the group that's watching it and what they bring to it. And like, do they maybe they enjoy Morning Zoo crews that are wacky and crazy and they're like, well, what are they making fun of? You know, you never know. I mean, it's just, it's so particular with, with what a person or an audience is going to find funny.
- [57:01]
Dan
What have you found most fulfilling or rewarding about the work that you do?
- [57:11]
Chris Parnell
Let's see. What's most rewarding is when I feel appreciated. When I feel like the people who are making the project appreciate what I bring to it, and they trust me with it. Like, I did this little part in the series Fallout, and it was just an offer, and I was like, wow, okay. Because I could tell, oh, these are, you know, these are big, important TV making folks who are involved with this, very respected. And they wanted me to do this part. So I'm like, okay, great. And, you know, I didn't get a lot of direction. I just said, this is how I'm thinking of the guy. And they were kind of like, yeah, yeah, that's kind of it. And I did it and I felt good about it, you know, and I was very happy to get to be a little part of such a cool show. So that was very satisfying, you know.
- [58:05]
Dan
Is there a lot of fulfillment in the work? Like, is there when you. When you talk about doing some of the voice work, for example, it seems like it could be a little repetitive, a little lonely, even in the parts that might be funny.
- [58:18]
Chris Parnell
Well, with a voice work, it is about, for me, just trying to just act it. Well, I know it sounds, like, obvious in a way, but it's just to, like, really be present as that character seeing the scene in my mind's eye and trying to react to things as that character would and speak the way he would without falling into the habit of just, like, doing a vocal dance, you know, and, like, this is how it sounds now. Well, I definitely try to vary the takes, you know, and bring different things to it, but ideally, I'm doing that from the point of view of sort of a different frame of mind of how he would say it, as opposed to just, you know, changing my vocal cadence or pitches and that kind of stuff.
- [59:06]
Dan
I'm going to thank you for your time. Now, I don't know if you've noticed it on my forehead gathering, but I'm beginning to sweat profusely. I had too much to drink with your friend Adam McKay last night, and it is pouring out now. So on this note, I'm gonna say thank you for your time and sink deeply into my shame. You can see how much I'm sweating, right? Everyone can see how much I'm sweating. You can't see how much I'm sweating. I could legitimately do. Should I do this? I don't think that I should do this. It's a lot.
- [59:33]
Chris Parnell
I didn't notice it until you said it.
- [59:35]
Dan
Okay. Well, I. You're very. You're very kind. You're an unusually kind person. That's true. Thank you for being on with us. I appreciate it.
- [59:41]
Chris Parnell
Thanks so much for having me, Dan. I really enjoyed it.