Chris Elliott says he doesn’t mind if you call his brand of comedy “stupid.” The pratfalls, the non sequiturs, the general air of dweebiness-it’s all part of Elliott’s shtick.
“It’s stupid and always has been,” says the thin, bearded comic, who’s starring in “Cabin Boy.” “My comedy has always been stupid and goofy, and that’s always been the intent behind it. You’re talking comedy, so stupid to me evokes a funny image. It’s not negative.”
Like we didn’t know this about Chris Elliott already. Remember “the guy under the seats” and “the panicky guy” on the old Letterman show? That was Elliott. How about the Fox TV series “Get a Life,” about a 30-year-old paper boy still living at home? That was Elliott also. This guy’s made a career out of playing the kind of self-absorbed social mutants you either love or want to punch out.
That image, though, is totally at odds with his real life as a loving husband with two small children. “In public, I’m a psycho; in private, I’m a normal family guy,” says the 32-year-old Elliott. “I guess I’m just attracted to the kind of guy I play, who has tunnel vision. I find there’s something funny about that.”
“Cabin Boy” is more of the same. Elliott plays a spoiled rich kid who inadvertently falls in with a down-and-dirty fishing boat and its slovenly crew. There’s plenty of physical humor, some truly surreal touches-his character loses his virginity to a six-armed goddess-and, because it was shot primarily on a soundstage, the film has an old Hollywood feel.
Elliott explains that he and director Adam Resnick “wanted to design a movie that was for me what `Pee-wee’s Big Adventure’ was for Pee-wee Herman.
“The whole sea idea came because Adam and I are fans of movies like `Captains Courageous.’ And shooting on the soundstage was partially because of our budget, but it also adds a certain dramatic, theatrical feel.”
Elliott, who won four Emmys as a writer for David Letterman, has cast Letterman in a hilarious film cameo as a salty old dog with a weird sense of humor. “He’s been my greatest supporter,” says Elliott, “and everything leads back to him. Originally, we were going to have him in drag, but then Adam wrote the part in for him.”
Of course, Letterman wasn’t his only influence and supporter. Chris’ dad is Bob Elliott of the famous Bob and Ray comedy team, whose comedic style was much more low-key than Chris’. “My dad’s biggest influence was getting me into the business,” says Chris.
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Elliott, who says “my sense of humor wasn’t fully developed” when he began working for Letterman, feels that the late comic/performance artist Andy Kaufman was the person who shaped his style.
“He influenced the stuff I did on `Late Night.’ His stuff was different, odd, very confrontational. I think the biggest difference between us is that Andy didn’t care if people liked him, but I want to be liked at the end of the day.”
Which is why Elliott’s characters dance along, but never fall into, that chasm separating audience adoration from spectator hatred. Not that there haven’t been moments when even he wondered what the hell he was doing.
“I look back on `Get a Life’ with an even mixture of pride and embarrassment,” he says. “There were things I was doing that were even too bizarre for me. But I think I’ve gotten better at what I do. I’ve honed what I do. (Back then) I see myself taking chances, and I just wasn’t good at it at the time.”