Chris D'Elia

Christopher William D'Elia is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and podcast host. He is known for playing Alex Miller on the NBC sitcom Whitney, Danny Burton on the NBC sitcom Undateable, and Kenny on the ABC television series The Good Doctor. In 2019 he appeared as Henderson in the Netflix thriller series You.

This article is about the comedian and actor. For the marine biologist, see Christopher D'Elia.
Chris D'Elia
Chris at SXSW 2015
Born
Montclair, New Jersey, U.S.[1]
Occupation
  • Comedian
  • Actor
  • Podcaster
  • Writer
Years active1996–present
Spouse(s)
Emily Montague
​
(
m. 2006; div. 2010)
Parent(s)Bill D'Elia
Ellie D'Elia
Websitechrisdelia.com

Early life

D'Elia is the son of TV producer and director Bill D'Elia,[2] and interior decorator Ellie D'Elia (née Dombroski). He has a younger brother, filmmaker/actor Matt D'Elia. His father is second generation Italian-American.[3] and his mother is of Polish and Italian descent.

He was born and raised in Montclair, New Jersey,[1] until age twelve, when his family relocated to Los Angeles.[4] He graduated from La Cañada High School in 1998.[5]

Career

D'Elia started acting in high school, and had some guest starring parts on Chicago Hope.[6]

He attended New York University and studied acting but dropped out after a year, because he did not like college.[6] He then appeared in a movie that went straight to DVD. During his downtime as an actor he started writing scripts. When he was 25 he decided to do stand-up comedy, which he had always wanted to do.[7]

D'Elia has been doing stand-up comedy since 2006.[4] He considers himself to be a stand-up comedian who acts.[7] He has been featured on Comedy Central's Live at Gotham, Comedy Central Presents, and Showtime's Live Nude Comedy. He was introduced to a broader audience as a regular on the series Glory Daze,[8] which ran for one season on TBS, playing "the Oracle", William Stankowski. He was originally only cast for the pilot, but was made a series regular.[7]

He co-starred in the NBC comedy series Whitney, opposite comedian Whitney Cummings, for two seasons.[8][9]

D'Elia was one of three hosts of the Ten Minute Podcast (from 2012 to 2015), along with Bryan Callen and Will Sasso. Since February 2017, he has hosted the weekly podcast Congratulations with Chris D'Elia, which has charted in the top 20 comedy podcasts in multiple countries. Listeners of the podcast are often referred to as 'Babies'. Other podcasts have been heavily influenced by his style, including The Fighter and the Kid, hosted by friend Bryan Callen and former MMA fighter turned E! host Brendan Schaub.[10]

D'Elia also gained over 2 million followers on Vine.

In January 2013, D'Elia released his debut parody rap album, as MC "Chank Smith", called Such Is Life (produced by Mr. Green).[11]

On December 6, 2013, D'Elia's first one-hour stand-up special, White Male Black Comic, aired on Comedy Central.[12] He has had three subsequent comedy specials: Incorrigible (2015), Man On Fire (2017) and No Pain (2020), all of which aired on Netflix. All four were directed by his father.[13][1]

D'Elia had the lead role in the 2014-2016 NBC sitcom Undateable as Danny Burton, a ladies' man whose friends are all in one way or another "undateable".[14] The show was executive produced by Bill Lawrence,[15] and is a multi-camera sitcom with a live audience.[16][17] The show often incorporated improvisation. The cast includes stand-up comics who were good friends before the show.[18][19] In 2015, Bill Lawrence and the comics from the cast (D'Elia, Brent Morin, Ron Funches and Rick Glassman) went on a series of stand-up tour dates to promote the show.[20]

In 2016, D'Elia headlined the Leafly 420 Comedy Tour show in Chicago with special guest Ron Funches.[21]

In March 2019, it was announced that D'Elia had been cast in the recurring role of Henderson on the second season of the Netflix thriller series You.[22]

On an April 2018 episode of his Congratulations podcast, D'Elia imitated rapper Eminem and made fun of Eminem's middle-aged fans, while conceding that Eminem was "one of the best rappers of all time".[23] Positive reaction to that imitation led D'Elia to imitate Eminem's rapping again in videos he posted online in September 2018 (in his car) and January 2019 (in his garage). In February 2019, Eminem posted the garage video on his Twitter account, writing, "This is INCREDIBLE!!! 4 a second I actually thought it WAS me!!" The May 2019 single "Homicide" by Logic featuring Eminem then included an audio clip from the car video at the end of the song. D'Elia said that it was a "huge honor" to be included in the song, and that he did not ask for any royalties.[24] D'Elia then had a substantial role in the music video for the song, released in June 2019, which had each rapper's part performed/lip-synced by someone else: Logic's part was performed by actor Chauncey Leopardi (in reference to a humorous internet meme that claimed that the two were the same person), Eminem's part was performed by D'Elia, and D'Elia's part was performed by Eminem, mimicking the appearance of D'Elia in the car video.[25]

Personal life

In 2006, D'Elia married actress Emily Montague. They divorced in 2010.[26]

Although his characters in Whitney (Alex Miller) and Undateable (Danny Burton) are both portrayed as frequent drinkers, D'Elia has never consumed illicit drugs or alcohol.[27]

D'Elia lives in the Beachwood Canyon area of Los Angeles.[28]

Misconduct allegations

In June 2020, D'Elia was accused of sexual harassment, grooming, and solicitation of nude photos by multiple underage girls.[29] D'Elia denied the allegations, saying that he had neither "knowingly pursued any underage women at any point" nor "met or exchanged any inappropriate photos with the people who have tweeted about me."[30]

Comedy Central removed the 2011 Workaholics episode "To Friend a Predator", which featured D'Elia as a child molester who befriends the main cast, from their website, Hulu, and Prime Video. Comedy Central also removed D'Elia's 2013 standup special White Male. Black Comic. from their website.[31] Whitney Cummings, who co-starred with D'Elia on Whitney from 2011 to 2013, said that she was "devastated and enraged" by the allegations and that D'Elia exhibited "a pattern of predatory behavior […] enabled by silence."[32] Creative Artists Agency dropped D’Elia due to the allegations.[33] Penn Badgley, the star of You who worked with D'Elia during the show's second season, said that "the idea that a show like ours would indirectly, unwittingly be a haven for people who are abusive is disturbing."[34] In August 2020, D'Elia who previously was cast and shot a role in Army of the Dead directed by Zack Snyder set to be distributed by Netflix was replaced by Tig Notaro, due to the allegations.[35][36]

Influences

D'Elia has cited Jim Carrey, Bryan Callen, Eddie Murphy,[13][37] and Mitzi Shore[38] as major influences on his comedic career.

Filmography

Films
Year Title Role Notes
2004 Almost Marc
2005 Bad Girls from Valley High Gavin
2005 Crazylove Jake
2012 Celeste and Jesse Forever Snow White
2013 Funny: The Documentary Himself Documentary
2015 Flock of Dudes Adam
2016 XOXO[39] Neil
2017 Band Aid Uber Annoying
2017 The Female Brain Charlie
2017 Little Evil Wayne
2018 Half Magic Edward
TBA Life in a Year Phil Post-production

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1996–1997 Chicago Hope Luke Sarison Episodes: "Quiet Riot" and "Love on the Rocks"
2000 Get Real Chuck Episodes: "Choices" and "Absolution"
2004 Boston Legal Kevin Quinlan Episode: "An Eye for an Eye"
2005 American Dreams Phil Toolin Episode: "California Dreamin'"Episode:
2005 Monk Cal Gefsky Episode: "Mr. Monk Gets Drunk"
2010–2011 Glory Daze Bill Stankowski Main role
2011 Workaholics Topher Episode: "To Friend a Predator"
2011–2013 Whitney Alex Miller Main
2012 Sullivan & Son Ryan Capps Episode: "The Fifth Musketeer"
2013 White Male. Black Comic Himself Television special
2013–2016 Sanjay and Craig Remington Tufflips Recurring
Voice
2014 Jennifer Falls Adam Recurring role
2014–2016 Undateable Danny Burton Lead role
2015 Incorrigible Himself Television special
2015 The Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber Himself One night television special
2016 Rush Hour Buddy Episode: "Welcome Back, Carter"
Typical Rick Lukee Sado Episodes: "Schmooze You Lose" and "Unbroken Family"
Lip Sync Battle Himself Episode: "Brent Morin vs. Chris D'Elia"
2017 The Great Indoors Aaron Wolf Episode: "Aaron Wolf"
Man On Fire Himself Television special
2017–2018 The Good Doctor Kenny Recurring
(Season 1)
2018 Alone Together Dean Recurring
2019 Comedians of the World Himself Episode: "Chris D'Elia"
Huge in France Himself Recurring
You Henderson Recurring role (season 2)[22]
2020 No Pain Himself Television special

Web
Year Title Role Notes
2012–2016 Ten Minute Podcast[40] Himself Podcast
2014–2017 The Joe Rogan Experience Himself Podcast
2018-2019 H3 Podcast Himself Podcast
2018 Tigerbelly Himself Podcast
2019 Armchair Expert Himself Podcast
2016-present The Fighter and The Kid Himself Podcast
2017–present Congratulations with Chris D'Elia Himself Podcast
2018-present This Past Weekend with Theo Von Himself Podcast
2020-present The King and The Sting Himself Podcast

Discography
Comedy albums
Title Album details
Such is Life[41]

References
  1. Martin, Julia (October 11, 2018). "Montclair native Chris D'Elia is a stand-up comic and an actor, in that order". North Jersey Record.
  2. Tomashoff, Craig (March 2013). "Like Father, Like Son". Emmy. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  3. Martin, Babara E. (Winter 2001). "Bill D' Elia: Hollywood Storyteller". WP: The Magazine of William Paterson University. Archived from the original on 30 December 2001. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  4. Downs, Gordon (January 19, 2011). "Interview With Comedian Chris D'Elia". San Diego. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  5. Cormaci, Carol (May 22, 2017). "La Cañada History: Comedian Chris D'Elia has role in LCHS production of 'The Pajama Game'". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  6. Gleib, Ben (July 11, 2012). "#034: Guest Chris D'Elia: "God Particle Testicle Fish"". Last Week on Earth with Ben Gleib. Smodcast. Archived from the original (Audio interview/podcast) on April 27, 2015. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  7. Lamoray, Lena (February 2, 2011). "Exclusive Interview Chris D'Elia, Chris plays STANKOWSKI in GLORY DAZE on TBS". Lena Lamoray. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  8. Wiegand, David (21 September 2011). "'Whitney' review: Too much stand-up in sitcom". San Francisco Chronicle. p. E1. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  9. Clements, Erin (November 15, 2012). "Whitney Cummings, Chris D'Elia Talk Dating Deal-Breakers, Go-To Excuses For HuffPost's #nofilter". Huffington Post. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  10. The Fighter and The Kid (2017-06-05), The Fighter and The Kid - Episode 265: Chris D'Elia, retrieved 2018-03-24
  11. Gutierrez, Juan (September 12, 2013). "Chris D'Elia's Loveably Clueless Rap Persona". LA Weekly. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  12. Ortiz, Jen (December 2, 2013). "The GQ+A: Comedian Chris D'Elia on His Comedy Central Special and Getting Heckled by Drunk Girls". GQ. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  13. King, Larry (6 December 2013). "Larry King Now: Alex Borstein & Chris D'Elia". Larry King Now. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  14. Kasperowicz, Leslie (March 3, 2013). "Whitney's Chris D'Elia Joins NBC's Undateable Pilot". Cinemablend. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  15. Stanley, Alessandra (May 28, 2014). "A Bunch of Friends? Yeah, Again: 'Undateable' Keeps a Sitcom Formula Alive". New York Times. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  16. Steinberg, Lisa (May 23, 2014). "Interviews – TV: Chris D'Elia & Bill Lawrence – Undateable". Starry Constellation Magazine. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  17. Goldberg, Lesley (February 20, 2013). "NBC's Bill Lawrence Comedy 'Undateable' Casts Lead". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  18. Ray, Lincee (June 19, 2014). "5 reasons to watch 'Undateable'". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on July 25, 2014. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  19. Radish, Christina (July 6, 2014). "Brent Morin Talks 'Undateable,' Performing Stand-Up, His Weird Life Journey with Chris D'Elia, Being Funny on Camera, Singing on the Show, and More". Collider. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  20. Littleton, Cynthia (February 25, 2014). "Bill Lawrence and 'Undateable' Stars Hit the Road to Promote NBC Comedy 'Undateable'". Variety. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  21. "Leafly Comedy Tour Chicago". Leafly Events. Retrieved 2016-04-23.
  22. Petski, Denise (March 5, 2019). "'You': Chris D'Elia To Recur In Series' Second Season On Netflix". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  23. Chris D'Elia. "CLIP: Eminem Locker Room Bit - Congratulations with Chris D'Elia". YouTube.
  24. Kaufman, Gil (May 3, 2019). "Chris D'Elia Talks Sample on Eminem & Logic's 'Homicide' Single: 'It's a Huge Honor'". Billboard.
  25. Kreps, Daniel (June 29, 2019). "Watch Logic, Eminem Recruit Famous Stunt Doubles for 'Homicide' Video". Rolling Stone.
  26. Rivas, Aby (December 10, 2019). "Inside the Life of Actress Emily Montague and Her Two Marriages". amomama.com. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  27. Roots, Kimberly (November 12, 2012). "Whitney Season 2 Preview: Whitney Cummings on Alex's Issues, the Possible Patter of Little Feet". TV Line. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  28. David, Mark (August 8, 2013). "Comedian Craig Ferguson Sells to Comic Chris D'Elia". Variety. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  29. Nolan, Emma (June 17, 2020). "Chris D'Elia Accused of Sexually Harassing Multiple Underage Girls". Newsweek. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
  30. Otterson, Joe (June 17, 2020). "Chris D'Elia Denies Allegations of Sexually Harassing Teenagers". Variety. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  31. Moreau, Jordan (June 21, 2020). "'Workaholics' Episode With Chris D'Elia Playing a Child Molester Removed From Hulu, Amazon Prime, Comedy Central". Variety. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  32. Brown, Tracy (June 22, 2020). "Whitney Cummings and Amy Schumer react to allegations against Chris D'Elia". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  33. Otterson, Joe (June 23, 2020). "Chris D'Elia Dropped by CAA After Sexual Misconduct Allegations". Variety. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  34. https://globalnews.ca/news/7101824/penn-badgley-whitney-cummings-chris-delia-sexual-harassment-allegations/
  35. Galuppo, Mia (July 15, 2019). "Zack Snyder's 'Army of the Dead' Rounds Out Cast with Omari Hardwick, Chris D'Elia". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  36. Kit, Borys (August 14, 2020). "Tig Notaro to Replace Chris D'Elia in Zack Snyder's 'Army of the Dead' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  37. "I am comedian Chris D'Elia (from Workaholics and other things). Ask me anything. (self.IAmA)". Reddit. 5 December 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  38. Martin, Brittany (April 11, 2018). "What Comedy Store Owner Mitzi Shore Meant to Yakov Smirnoff, Chris D'Elia, and Comedy in L.A." Los Angeles Magazine.
  39. "Hayley Kiyoko Of 'CSI: Cyber' Is Cast In 'XOXO', Netflix' Indie-Fest Feature Project". Hollywood Reporter. 8 August 2013.
  40. "Last Night On @midnight: Will Sasso, Bryan Callen, Chris D'Elia". Nerdist. May 30, 2011. Archived from the original on November 22, 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2011.
  41. "Chris D'elia AKA Chank Smith released his rap album...."Such is Life"". Duncan Trussell. 30 May 2011. Archived from the original on 2015-11-22. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
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