[12] Elliott became known in the mid-1980s for playing an assortment of recurring quirky, oddball characters on Late Night, each of which would usually last for a few weeks to a few months, before being retired amidst much mock-fanfare on the show.

[13][14] In 1987, while still working at Letterman, Elliott starred in two Cinemax Comedy Experiment TV specials called FDR: A One Man Show and Action Family.

FDR: A One Man Show was a fake play about the life and times of Franklin D. Roosevelt (influenced by Frank Perry's 1984 TV movie J.F.K.

Elliott looked and sounded nothing like Roosevelt; he portrayed events from his life that never happened, such as a Japanese bombing of the White House, and his crossing the Potomac in a rowboat.

Elliott and Resnick's character bits found him playing self-involved show business people, both real and fake.

[10] These characters include Rip Taylor-esque Las Vegas lounge lizard Skylark, talk show host Chris Elliott Jr. (a la Morton Downey Jr.), and exaggerated surreal impressions of Marlon Brando, Jay Leno, and Marv Albert.

That year he appeared in a prominent supporting role as Bill Murray's cameraman in the Harold Ramis film Groundhog Day.

[19] Although it has since garnered a cult following, Cabin Boy, which featured a short appearance by Elliott's old boss, David Letterman, opened in 1994 to bad reviews and scant box office returns.

Following Cabin Boys dismal reception, Elliott accepted an offer to join the cast of Saturday Night Live for the 1994 season and moved back to New York City.

In the fall of 2000, he returned to a series regular role on television, starring alongside Steven Weber in the NBC sitcom Cursed.

[23] Next, Elliott played prominent supporting parts in Scary Movie 2 and Osmosis Jones, which reunited him with Bill Murray and frequent collaborators The Farrelly Brothers.

In 2011, Elliott returned to a leading role on TV for the first time since Get a Life, starring in the Adult Swim series Eagleheart.

Created by Michael Koman and Andrew Weinberg and produced by Conan O'Brien, Eagleheart found Chris Elliott starring as U.S.

Marshal Chris Monsanto in an exaggerated, dark version of a fake Walker, Texas Ranger-esque TV procedural.

The Shroud of the Thwacker is a historical novel about Elliott's investigation of a serial killer in 1882 New York City, spoofing London's infamous Jack the Ripper case.