Chris Parnell on Being the Only Cast Member Fired from ‘SNL’ Twice

In his eight years on Saturday Night Live, Chris Parnell certainly left a mark. From his dead-on impression of Tom Brokaw, to his famous rapping skills, to his earning the nickname “The Iceman” for never breaking in a sketch, Parnell’s legacy on the show is impressive. There is, however, one thing that sets him apart from every other cast member ever: He’s the only guy to have been fired from the show not once, but twice. 

I recently caught up with the presently gainfully employed Parnell to discuss those two dismissals as well as the protest sketch one of the show’s writers put together to express to Lorne Michaels their displeasure with Parnell’s termination.

Before we get into the two ends of your tenure, do you have a favorite moment from your time on the show?

I always enjoyed doing the Weekend Update raps to different celebrity hosts — almost only female hosts — although I did do one to Ashtron Kutcher. That was the only one I co-wrote with anybody. I wrote it with Eric Slovin and Leo Allen, and I think that was the best one in some ways, because it had a different point-of-view.

How about a favorite sketch?

I did a sketch that Harper Steele wrote. It was with Bill Murray as Steve Baxter, the Hollywood gynecologist. I came out as a song-and-dance man to introduce him, and I was always happy with how that performance came out. I did this thing where I was getting funky and twisting my head around. But Lorne (Michaels) had given me a note between dress and air where he had asked me not to do that, and feeling like I really needed to do that for whatever stupid, naive reason, I did it. 

I noticed, after that, Harper never wrote any more of those kinds of roles for me. Knowing Lorne, he probably was pissed off and told her to not do it anymore. Which is a shame, because I definitely feel like I screwed up in not taking Lorne’s note, which is a pretty big no-no. I paid the price for it. I can’t help but wonder if I would’ve been given more of those kinds of silly things. 

I know what I did in ignoring Lorne’s note, and I know that he can take that out on you in ways you might or might not know. I can’t fault him for it. It’s a live show, and he needs to be able to give actors notes and they should follow them. Then again, I may be making all that up; I never asked Harper about it. 

Do you think being let go the first time was related to that in any way?

I never really knew. There was some rumor that there was an NBC executive who didn’t dig my stuff. Supposedly that was the reason. 

We find out in the summer if our contract has been renewed or not, and there’s always this waiting period because Lorne needs more time to make the decision. You’re supposed to know by July 1st, but I don’t know if that ever happens, it certainly didn’t for me. So, I was in touch with Rachel Dratch and maybe Horatio Sanz too about getting renewed for another season, and we all just assumed we were getting renewed. So it was a pretty big blow when I found out from my manager that I wasn’t going back.

What happened after that?

Happily, there was a big outcry from a few of the cast members — Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan and some of the writers. They shared that with me, and it definitely helped. It made me feel like, “Gosh, I’m not oblivious here. A lot of people are surprised by this.” 

Very shortly thereafter, I think Will Ferrell had said that he’d heard through Tim Meadows — or maybe Tim Meadows himself told me — that maybe the door wasn’t entirely shut and that Lorne might still bring me back. It was weird. I’d moved back to L.A., but I’d kept my stuff in storage in New York just waiting to hear if I was going back. It was a real roller coaster because I’d hear from my manager that Lorne was still thinking about it. 

I finally got to the point where I was like, “Look, man, I’d love to go back to the show, but I’ve got to move on with my life. So, I moved all my stuff back to L.A.. Shortly thereafter, though, they did bring me back. I went back on the 12th show of what was my fourth season. I even went and lived in a hotel for the rest of the season. 

Have you ever heard of another instance like that? Where there was a groundswell of support and Lorne went back on a decision like that?

I don’t think so. Not that I’m aware of. 

T. Sean Shannon, who was one of the writers at the time, wrote this incredible sketch that I heard about and was later able to read. He wrote this very scathing sketch of Lorne and some of the producers of the show. The idea was that I was a chef at Benihana, and I’d gotten fired for no reason. People were coming to the Benihana and asking, “What happened to chef what’s-his-name?” It was sort of a roundabout way of singing my praises and people asking, “Why did this happen? This is ridiculous! We loved him!” It was such a ballsy thing to do, and it meant so much to me.

What happened the second time you were let go?

They let me go after my eighth season. They were giving me the opportunity to bow out on my own. By then, I’d felt good about the amount of time I’d done there, and I was a little burnt out. But if they were going to give me another season, I wasn’t going to say no. It’s a freaking job, and I liked it. Sure enough, they didn't renew it, but it was okay. It wasn’t a blow that time. 

Did you just feel better that time about what was to come for you?

Yeah. I’d done a few movie parts and things. I got to do an episode of Friends. So I wasn’t in full-on despair like I was the first time.