Christopher Kelly (born September 7, 1983) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

comedian, writer, and director known for his work on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'', and writing and directing the autobiographical film '' Other People'' that premiered at the

2016 Sundance Film Festival The 2016 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 21 to January 31, 2016. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 2, 2015. The opening night film was ''Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You'', directed by Heidi Ew ...

. He has received five

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nominations for his work on ''SNL''.

Career

Early career

Kelly grew up in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

, the son of Joanne ''née'' Kellogg (1960–2009) Kelly. He has a sister, Janelle, and a half sister, Katie, from his mother's remarriage. He attended and graduated from Sheldon High School. He attended college at

UC Irvine UC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''University Challenge'', a popular British quiz programme airing on BBC Two ** '' University Challenge (New Zealand)'', the New Zealand version of the British programme * Universal Century, one of the ti ...

. He was a staff writer and director at

Funny or Die Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a reg ...

and ''

Onion News Network ''Onion News Network'' is a parody television news show that ran for two seasons of ten episodes each, both during 2011, on the Independent Film Channel. History In March 2007, ''The Onion'' launched ''The Onion News Network'', a daily web v ...

'', the latter of which won the 2009

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

. He was also Head Writer for

Matt Besser Matthew Gregory Besser (born September 22, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, director, producer, and writer, best known as one of the four founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, who had their own show on Comedy ...

'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 The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Adam McKay, ...

in both NYC and LA.

''Saturday Night Live''

Kelly was a supervising writer for ''

'' 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 Sarah Schneider (born September 10, 1983) is an American writer, actress, and comedian. She got her start in entertainment as a writer and actress for the comedy website CollegeHumor before becoming a writer for the television sketch comedy ser ...

, Kelly has created many sketches including: "(Do It On My) Twin Bed," "Back Home Ballers," "The Beygency" (about

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

), and "First Got Horny 2 U." He and Schneider primarily wrote for

Aidy Bryant Aidan Mackenzy Bryant (born May 7, 1987) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the late-night variety series ''Saturday Night Live'' (2012–2022), beginning in season 38, and leaving at the end of season 47. For her wo ...

and

Kate McKinnon Kate McKinnon Berthold (born January 6, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She is known for her character work and celebrity impressions on the sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (2012–2022), of which she was a ca ...

, including "Dyke and Fats." Kelly has been nominated for five

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

s 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. Kelly was the first openly gay head writer of ''SNL''. Both Kelly and Schneider left ''SNL'' after the completion of the 42nd season.

''Broad City''

Kelly is also a writer and consulting producer on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

's ''

Broad City ''Broad City'' is an American television sitcom created by and starring Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. It was developed from their independent web series of the same name, which was produced between 2009 and 2011. The sitcom, like the web series ...

'', which earned him a nomination for the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy Series. 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.

''The Other Two''

Along with ''SNL'' co-headwriter Schneider, Kelly is the creator and executive producer (along with

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...

) of ''

The Other Two ''The Other Two'' is an American comedy television series created by Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider. The story follows two floundering millennial siblings who must grapple with their 13-year-old brother's overnight fame. The series premiered ...

'', which premiered on January 24, 2019 on Comedy Central. The show stars

Drew Tarver Andrew Tarver (born May 6, 1986) is an American actor and comedian from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Los Angeles. He is known for starring in the Seeso show '' Bajillion Dollar Propertie$'' and for his appearances on comedy podcasts, i ...

Heléne Yorke Heléne Yorke is a Canadian-American actress, writer, singer, and dancer. Yorke is known for her work on television. She currently plays Brooke Dubek on the HBO Max series '' The Other Two''. She has also played the roles of Jane Martin on the ...

Molly Shannon Molly Helen Shannon (born September 16, 1964) is an American actress and comedian who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2001. In 2017, she won the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ...

Ken Marino Kenneth Joseph Marino (born December 19, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He was a cast member on MTV's ''The State'' and has starred in shows such as ''Party Down'', '' Marry Me'', ''Burning Love'', and ''Childre ...

, and Case Walker.

Film

Kelly wrote and directed his first feature film, ''Other People'', that premiered at the

in the opening slot. The film is about a struggling comedy writer (played by

Jesse Plemons Jesse Plemons (; born April 2, 1988) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and achieved a career breakthrough with his major role as Landry Clarke in the NBC drama series '' Friday Night Lights'' (2006–2011). He subseque ...

), who has just broken up with his boyfriend and moves from New York City to Sacramento to help his sick mother (played by

). 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. The film is loosely based on his own life drawing from his experience of losing his mother to cancer in 2009. He was labeled one of the "13 Hot Directors to Watch" at Sundance in 2016.

Personal life

In 2015, Kelly lived in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

with his boyfriend and their dog Jill.

Awards and nominations

Kelly received the following awards and nominations:

Peabody Award

* 2009 Peabody Award - ''

'' (won)

Primetime Emmy Award

*2012

for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series - ''Saturday Night Live'' (nominated) *2013 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series - ''Saturday Night Live'' (nominated) *2014 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series - ''Saturday Night Live'' (nominated) *2015 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series - ''Saturday Night Live'' (nominated) *2015

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) is a category at the Primetime Emmy Awards. It is awarded annually to the singularly best pre-recorded varietal, musical or comedic special of the year. It was previously pres ...

- ''

'' 40th Anniversary Special (nominated)

Writers Guild of America Award

*2012 Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series - ''Saturday Night Live'' (nominated) *2013 Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series - ''Saturday Night Live'' (nominated) *2014 Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series - ''Saturday Night Live'' (nominated) *2015 Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series - ''Saturday Night Live'' (nominated) *2015 Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy Series - ''Broad City'' (nominated)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Chris University of California, Irvine alumni Living people American television writers American comedy writers American male screenwriters American gay writers American LGBT screenwriters Writers from New York City Peabody Award winners Place of birth missing (living people) LGBT film directors 1983 births Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers Screenwriters from New York (state) Screenwriters from California Comedians from California 21st-century American comedians American male television writers 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American LGBT people Writers Guild of America Award winners