Period 2005–present Parents Joanne Kelly | Genre Comedy | |
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Occupation Writer, director, Website content writer, screenwriter Notable works The Onion News NetworkSaturday Night LiveOther People Alma mater University of California, Irvine Movies Other People, Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special Nominations Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay Similar Profiles | ||
Chris Kelly is an American writer and director known for his work on Saturday Night Live and directing the film Other People that premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Contents
- Early career
- Saturday Night Live
- Broad City
- Film
- Personal life
- Awards and nominations
- Peabody Award
- Primetime Emmy Award
- Writers Guild of America Award
- References
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 re-marriage.He attended college at UC Irvine. 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.
Saturday Night Live
Currently, Kelly is 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 of SNL's recent hits including: “(Do It On My) Twin Bed,” “Back Home Ballers,” "The Beygency" (about Beyoncé), and “First Got Horny 2 U.” He and Schneider primarily write for Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon, including "Dyke and Fats." Kelly has been nominated for 5 Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on SNL.
In August 2016, it was announced that Kelly and writing partner Sarah Schneider will be co-head writers for SNL's 42nd season. Chris is the first openly gay head writer of SNL.
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. 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.
Film
Kelly wrote and directed his first feature film, Other People, that premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival in the opening slot. 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). 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
Kelly currently lives in New York City with his boyfriend and their dog Harry.
Awards and nominations
Kelly received the following awards and nominations: