Christopher Kelly (born September 7, 1983) is an American screenwriter and director known for his work on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' (''SNL''), 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 E ...

. He has received five

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

nominations for his work on ''SNL''.

Career

Early career

Kelly grew up in

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

, 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: Education In the United States * University of California system * University of Charleston, West Virginia * University of Chicago, Illinois * University of Cincinnati, Ohio * Upsala College, East Orange, New Jersey (''defunct ...

. He was a staff writer and director at

Funny or Die Funny or Die, Inc. is a comedy video website and 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 regular staf ...

and ''

Onion News Network ''Onion News Network'' is a parody television news show produced by ''The Onion'' that originated as a YouTube video series in 2007 and was further developed into a 22 minute television program in 2011, with two seasons of ten episodes aired on ...

'', 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 Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

. He was also Head Writer for

Matt Besser Matthew Gregory Besser (born September 22, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, director, producer, writer, and one of the four founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, who had their own show on Comedy Central from 1 ...

's Comedy Central special ''This Show Will Get You High'' in 2010. Kelly also performed at NYC's

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

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''

Kelly joined ''

'' as a staff writer in 2011 for the 37th season. He was promoted to a 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, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

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

Aidy Bryant Aidy Bryant (born May 7, 1987) is an American actress and comedian. Bryant is most notable for being a cast member on the NBC late-night sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' for ten seasons, joining the show for its 38th season in 2012, ...

and

Kate McKinnon Kate McKinnon Berthold (born January 6, 1984) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2012 to 2022, where she became known for her character work and celebrity im ...

, 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. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

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 was also a writer and consulting producer on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

'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 serie ...

'', 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 and American television writer and film producer. He created and produced ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and produced the ''Late Night (franchise) ...

) of '' The Other Two'', which premiered on January 24, 2019, on Comedy Central. The show stars Drew Tarver, Heléne Yorke,

Molly Shannon Molly Shannon (born September 16, 1964) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2001. In 2017, she won the Film Independent Spirit Award for playing Joanne ...

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 ''Child ...

, and Case Walker. Season 3 received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.

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 breakthrough with his role as Landry Clarke in the NBC drama series '' Friday Night Lights'' (2006–2011). He subsequently portra ...

), 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, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

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 pr ...

- ''

'' 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 Television writers from California American comedy writers American male screenwriters American gay writers American LGBTQ screenwriters Screenwriters from New York City Peabody Award winners Place of birth missing (living people) American LGBTQ film directors 1983 births Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers Comedians from California 21st-century American comedians American male television writers 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American LGBTQ people Writers Guild of America Award winners