Thomas Christopher Parnell ( ; born February 5, 1967) is an American actor and comedian. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Parnell found wider success during his tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2006. After leaving SNL, he played the role of Dr. Leo Spaceman on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2006–2013). Parnell is also a prominent voice actor known for his deep and distinctive voice. In animation, he voices the narrator on the PBS Kids series WordGirl (2007–2015), Cyril Figgis on the FX series Archer (2009–2023), Jerry Smith on Adult Swim's Rick and Morty (2013–present), and Doug on Fox's Family Guy (2019–2022). His work also extends into commercials, having voiced the Hamburger Helper mascot "Lefty", appeared in advertisements as "America's Dad" for Orbit Gum, and voiced "The Progressive Box" in a series of advertisements by the Progressive Corporation.
Early life Parnell was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and adopted by a Southern Baptist family. His father, Jack Parnell, was a radio personality in Memphis. He attended the Southern Baptist Educational Center, and graduated from Germantown High School. He decided to pursue acting as a career at age 17 and set his sights on being a theater actor. He attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he received his BFA in Drama. He moved to Houston, Texas after college to do an apprentice actor program for a season at the Alley Theatre, but did not get asked back to join the company. He became temporarily disenchanted with acting, and returned to his hometown and taught acting, film, and video at his alma mater, Germantown High School, for a year. In 1992, he moved to Los Angeles where he worked at FAO Schwarz for five years and took classes at the Groundlings.
Career While performing as a company player with the Groundlings for a number of years, Parnell began doing commercials and getting guest roles on various sitcoms, such as Seinfeld, Friends, and Murphy Brown. He was hired to join the cast of Saturday Night Live as a featured player, and debuted on the show on September 26, 1998. He was promoted to repertory player the following season. In the summer of 2001, because of budget cuts and the hiring of four new cast members, Lorne Michaels was required to dismiss two cast members; he chose to lay off Parnell and Jerry Minor over Horatio Sanz, Rachel Dratch, and Maya Rudolph. Parnell was rehired in the middle of the following season.
While on SNL, Parnell appeared in numerous sketches and commercial parodies, and performed impressions of various celebrities. Among his notable sketches are "Lazy Sunday", a rap video he shot with Andy Samberg, and "More Cowbell". He has performed raps about hosts Jennifer Garner, Britney Spears, Kirsten Dunst, and Ashton Kutcher. On the DVD commentary for the West Coast version of the 30 Rock episode "Live Show", Tina Fey and Beth McCarthy Miller noted that Parnell was nicknamed "The Ice Man" while working at SNL, because of his apparent immunity to breaking character, citing the "More Cowbell" sketch in which he was the only actor not to break.
In 2006, Michaels laid off Parnell, as well as Horatio Sanz and Finesse Mitchell, due to budget cuts. This effectively made Parnell the only SNL performer to have been released twice by Michaels, although Parnell said in a 2008 interview with The Sound of Young America that he was okay with being let go this time, as he was considering leaving after that season anyway, adding that he probably would have stayed one more season had he been asked back. He had been with SNL for eight seasons; at the time only four people (Darrell Hammond, Tim Meadows, Kevin Nealon, and Horatio Sanz) had been cast members longer. He has since made uncredited cameo appearances on the show, including parodying newscasters Tom Brokaw, Jim Lehrer, and Bob Schieffer. Parnell and his former SNL castmate Horatio Sanz starred together in Big Lake, a 2010 sitcom on Comedy Central from executive producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.
Parnell voiced Fly in the animated films Hotel Transylvania and Hotel Transylvania 2, and Stan the Fishman in Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. He is a series regular on the FX animated series Archer, and is also known for his guest appearances as Dr. Leo Spaceman on 30 Rock. He provides the voice of the narrator on the PBS children's series WordGirl. From 2011 to 2014, Parnell co-starred on the ABC comedy series Suburgatory where he played the husband of the character played by his former SNL castmate Ana Gasteyer. His role started out as recurring in the first season but he was bumped up to a series regular in the second season. The series aired for three seasons on ABC.
Parnell provides the voice of the "Progressive Box" in commercials for Progressive Insurance. Since 2013, Parnell has voiced Jerry Smith (and his alternate reality variants) on the Adult Swim series Rick and Morty. On March 16, 2018, Parnell was cast in the main role of Wayne on the CBS sitcom Happy Together.
Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes1996 Jingle All the Way Toy Store Sales Clerk Shooting Lily Phone Company Salesman Voice 1997 Decade of Love Bobby Fastdancer Short film 1998 Operation Cadaver 1999 Deadtime Junior 2000 The Ladies Man Phil Swanson2003 Evil Alien Conquerors Du-ug Down with Love TV Emcee National Lampoon's Barely Legal Mr. Ronald Greitzer2004 Looking for Kitty Guy Borne Anchorman: The Legend of Ron BurgundyGarth HollidayWake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie2006 I'm Reed Fish Ralph Ira & Abby Dr. Ronald Silverberg2007 The Grand Harold Melvin Hot Rod Barry Pasternak Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Theo Sunny & Share Love You Kevin Keith Baker Kabluey Frank2008 Harold Coach Vanderpool Eavesdrop Terrence2009 Paper Man Peter Labor Pains Jerry Steinwald2010 Hollywood & Wine Peter West The Dogfather Brian Franks Kung Fu Magoo Cole Fusion, Ninja Voice A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. 2011 Answer This! Brian Collins2012 21 Jump Street Mr. Gordon The Five-Year Engagement Bill The Dictator News Anchor Hotel Transylvania FlyVoice2013 Escape from Planet Earth Hammer Turbo Announcer #2 Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues Garth Holliday 2014 Break Point Jay LaRoche2015 The Better Half Daniel Hotel Transylvania 2 Fly Voice Sisters Phil The Ridiculous 6 William (Bank Teller)2017 Austin Found Alan Dickinson Battle of the Sexes DJ2018 Life of the Party Wayne Truzack Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation Stan, Fish Men Voice Slice Mayor Tracy Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween Walter2019 The Last Laugh Charlie Green A Name Without a Place Jerry Sundall The Laundromat Doomed Gringo #2 I Am Woman Artie Mogull2021 Finding ʻOhana Brown Home Sweet Home Alone Uncle Stu Mercer2022 Senior Year Jim Conway Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers Dave Bollinari Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again George Washington Voice2023 As We Know It Ted Sommers Milennial Hunter John Voice2024 Micro Budget Toby In Fidelity Lyle Ayker Our Little Secret Veterinarian 2025 Mimics Jack Conrad A Loud House Christmas Movie: Naughty or Nice Gerald Voice 2026 Lorne Narrator Documentary Stop! That! Train! Conductor Davenport The DinkNeil
Television