Chris Kelly is an American writer and director known for his work on Saturday Night Live, and writing and directing the autobiographical film Other People that premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. He has received five Emmy Award nominations for his work on SNL.
Career
Early career
Kelly grew up in Sacramento, California, the son of Joanne née Kellogg Kelly. He has a sister, Janelle, and a half sister, Katie, from his mother's re-marriage. He attended and graduated from Sheldon High School. 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''
Kelly was 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 sketches including: " Twin Bed," "Back Home Ballers," "The Beygency", 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 five Primetime Emmy Awards 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's Broad City, which earned him a nomination for the. He was a self described fan of the Broad Cityweb series and joined the show as a writer and consulting producer when it was picked up as a series on Comedy Central.
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, who has just broken up with his boyfriend and moves from New York City to Sacramento to help his sick mother. 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 Los Angeles with his boyfriend and their dog, Jill.
Awards and nominations
Kelly received the following awards and nominations:
