Elliott often tends to play a smarmy character who thinks he is a "ladies' man" and is clueless to the fact that women cannot stand him. He exploited that in a series of TV advertisements touting snack foods, in which the women tell him "Get out of here!" (though he does not "get it"). Elliott became known in the early 1980s, when he was a writer and performer on
Late Night With David Letterman, playing an assortment of recurring oddball characters. His characters on the show included:
- "The Regulator Guy" – a parody of the The Terminator films. The Regulator Guy spoke with a vaguely Germanic accent and claimed to be "from the future". The Regulator Guy segments were usually pre-taped, and presented by Letterman as the trailer for an upcoming television series. The font used for the title was similar to the font used for the then-popular American television series The Equalizer. In the Regulator Guy's only live, on-stage appearance, Elliott, carried by wires, "flew" over the audience via jet pack onto the Late Night set. The "jet pack" prop appeared to malfunction, which the Regulator Guy then blamed for ruining his dramatic appearance.
- "The Fugitive Guy" – a parody of the TV series The Fugitive
- "The Guy Under the Seats" – a short character-comedy bit followed by Elliott as himself (living under the seats, that is) who eventually becomes angry at Letterman and threatens him with some metaphorically articulated comeuppance in the future and always closing with the line "But until that day, I'm gonna be right here, making your life ..a living hell."
- "The Conspiracy Guy" – During staged audience "question and answer" sessions with Dave, Elliott would approach the microphone and begin accusing Letterman of various plots and schemes, after which "security" would wrestle Elliot to the ground and drag him out of the studio while Elliot yelled threats to Dave.
- "Marlon Brando" – a parody of Brando, whom Elliott portrays as a semi-deranged man who performs a "banana dance" to the tune of "The Alley Cat".
- "Chris Elliott, Jr." – a spoof of talk-show host Morton Downey, Jr.
- "A Television Miracle" – During one Late Night special focused on short films, Elliott was the star of a short about himself, alluding that he was actually an animatronic being that was created for the TV show. The "miracle" was the behind-the-scenes work needed to bring his character to life and others.
In 1986 Elliot starred in
A One Man Show about the life and times of the president; however, he looks and sounds nothing like the man, portrays him as occasionally ambulatory, and he re-enacts events from Roosevelt's life that never happened, such as the Japanese bombing of the White House.
In 1990, Elliott created and starred in his own sitcom, which was called
Get A Life, about a 30-year-old paperboy named Chris Peterson, who lived at home with his parents. Elliott's real-life father, Bob Elliott, appeared in the show as Peterson's father. The January 1999 issue of
TV Guide called the "Zoo Animals On Wheels" episode the 19th funniest TV moment of all time.
In 1993, Elliott teamed up with producer Brad Hall and directed a series of critically acclaimed short films that Elliott showed when appearing on
Late Show with David Letterman.
Elliott became a cast member of
Saturday Night Live in 1994. Also that year, Elliott starred in his first movie—entitled
Cabin Boy—which also featured a short appearance by Elliott's old boss, David Letterman, and was produced by Tim Burton. It was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst New Star.
In 2007 Elliott began reappearing on the
Late Show with David Letterman with fellow former Letterman writer Gerard Mulligan. On average, these bits appear once per month.
Elliott will star in the upcoming
Eagleheart, a new live-action Adult Swim mini-series produced by Conan O'Brien's production company, Conaco. It will begin airing in late 2010.
His other television credits include:
- chowder taster on Throwdown with Bobby Flay, airdate 09/02/09
- the voice of Dogbert on the short-run show Dilbert for UPN.
- A Serial Killer on the series Third Watch on the episode 5 "The Hunter, Hunted" and episode 6, "Greatest Detectives in the World" from 6 season.
- the role of Peter in the last three seasons of Everybody Loves Raymond.
- a role in a semi-autobiographical sitcom pilot for CBS, entitled You've Reached the Elliotts, playing a man who tries to balance a modest show business career with his home life.
- multiple appearances on King of Queens.
- guest appearances on Late Show
- guest appearance on That '70s Show episode "2000 light years from home"
- guest appearance on According to Jim
- guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother in the 2009 Thanksgiving episode as Lily's (Alyson Hannigan) father
