Christopher Jerell Redd (born March 25, 1985) is an American comedian and actor. After several years performing stand-up comedy, Redd was hired to join the cast of the NBC

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

series ''

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 ...

'' ahead of the show's 43rd season in 2017, making his debut alongside Heidi Gardner and Luke Null, and serving as a cast member for five seasons until 2022. For his work on the show, he won a

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 ...

for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics in 2018 for co-writing the ''SNL'' song "Come Back Barack". He also appeared in the film '' Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping'' (2016) and television sitcoms ''

Disjointed ''Disjointed'' is an American television sitcom created by David Javerbaum and Chuck Lorre and starring Kathy Bates. Twenty episodes of the series were ordered from Warner Bros. by Netflix, with the first 10 episodes premiering on August 25, 20 ...

'' (2017–2018), and '' Kenan'' (2021–2022).

Early life

Redd was born on March 25, 1985, in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, and moved to Naperville, a suburb of Chicago, at age eight. According to Redd, he had a childhood stutter that he overcame by learning how to rap. He attended Naperville schools, including Gregory Middle School and Neuqua Valley High School, and later attended community college in

Elgin, Illinois Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook County, Illinois, Cook and Kane County, Illinois, Kane counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is located northwest of Chicago along the Fox River (Illinois River tributary), Fox River. As of the 2020 United Stat ...

, where he took his first improvisational theater class.

Career

Redd briefly pursued a career as a rapper, while working as a server at Olive Garden, but switched to

in 2009 after being inspired by the work of Steve Carell and realizing that he enjoyed and thrived more in improvisational comedy. He took comedy classes at Jokes & Notes, a now-closed comedy club in Chicago. Redd joined the comedy group

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theaters in Toronto and New York. Since its debut in 1959, it has b ...

, and was a member of its touring company. He moved to Los Angeles in 2016 to further pursue an acting career, and made his film debut as Hunter the Hungry, an underground rapper, in the 2016

mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...

'' Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping''. Redd co-starred in the 2017–2018

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

comedy series ''

'', in which he played the role of Dank, a stoner. After a previous unsuccessful audition for ''

'', Redd joined the show's cast as a featured player for season 43, alongside fellow newcomers Heidi Gardner and Luke Null. In 2018, Redd won a

for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for writing the song "Come Back Barack", which lamented former president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's departure from the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

and aired during

Chance the Rapper Chancelor Johnathan Bennett (born April 16, 1993), known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, he released his debut mixtape '' 10 Day'' (2012) during one of his high school suspension ...

's episode on November 18, 2017. The award was shared with co-writers

Kenan Thompson Kenan Thompson (; born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' since Saturday Night Live season 29, 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the ...

and Will Stephen, and composer Eli Brueggemann. Redd and Gardner were promoted to repertory status in 2019, ahead of ''SNL''s 45th season. His celebrity impressions on the show included U.S. Senator

Cory Booker Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New Jersey, a seat he has held since 2013. A member of the Democ ...

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

, Sterling K. Brown, and Mayor

Eric Adams Eric Leroy Adams (born September 1, 1960) is an American politician and former police officer who has served as the 110th mayor of New York City since 2022. Adams was an officer in the New York City Transit Police and then the New York City P ...

. Redd left ''SNL'' in 2022, after the show's 47th season. Redd's debut stand-up comedy album, ''But Here We Are'', was released by Comedy Central Records in March 2019. Between 2021 and 2022, Redd co-starred in the comedy television series '' Kenan'', alongside his ''SNL'' castmate Kenan Thompson. Their ongoing roles in both shows resulted in frequent travel between New York City, where ''SNL'' is filmed, and Los Angeles, where ''Kenan'' was filmed. Redd appeared in the 2023 film '' Spinning Gold'' as Frankie Crocker, a disc jockey for the first black music radio station in New York. Other projects include the

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) ...

–produced comedy series '' Bust Down'', in which Redd plays a discontented casino employee, and a stand-up comedy special on

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

. In 2025, Redd joined the fourth season of ''Power Book III: Raising Kanan''.

Personal life

In October 2022, Redd was assaulted by an unknown assailant outside of a comedy club in New York. He was then taken to the hospital, and later released.

Other activities

In June 2020, Redd and fellow The Second City alumna Lisa Beasley raised over $360,000 on

GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the ...

to cover the medical costs of racial justice protesters who had contracted

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. After Second City CEO Andrew Alexander resigned during the same month over allegations of institutional racism within the group, Redd and 18 other black alumni and current employees signed an open letter calling for an independent investigation into the allegations.

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Redd, Chris 1985 births 21st-century American comedians 21st-century African-American male actors 21st-century American male actors African-American male comedians African-American comedians American male comedians American impressionists (entertainers) American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American sketch comedians American stand-up comedians Comedians from Illinois Comedians from St. Louis Living people Male actors from Naperville, Illinois Male actors from St. Louis Primetime Emmy Award winners 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people