Schitt’s Creek and Saturday Night Live’s shared history
By Matt Moore
Chris Elliott is the only Schitt’s Creek cast member to also be a Saturday Night Live cast member
As Mayor Roland Schitt, Chris Elliott was the only American in Schitt’s Creek‘s main cast. He’s also the only member of the cast to also have been a Saturday Night Live cast member.
Before joining SNL, Elliott was known for his appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman. Characters like “The Conspiracy Guy” and “The Regulator Guy” showed off Elliott’s ability to play absurd yet oddly specific characters. It helped the comedian land more and more roles outside of The Late Show until he eventually landed at Saturday Night Live.
Elliott joined SNL in 1994 and was immediately made a repertory player for season 20. He was added to a cast that included Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, David Spade, Ellen Cleghorne, and Molly Shannon among others.
Elliott actually had the chance to join SNL years earlier but turned it down. He was offered a spot in the cast during season 11 but decided to stay with The Late Show.
Elliott left after one season in what he describes as a mutual decision. SNL offered him the chance to appear weekly at the “Weekend Update” desk but Elliott only wanted to return if he was to be a full-time cast member. He told The Daily Beast:
"But yeah, it was the totally wrong thing for me to do. Everybody was very sweet, Lorne [Michaels] has always been very supportive of me and I met really nice people who worked there and all that, but that totally wrong for me to go there. They didn’t want me back as a cast member so it was sort of a mutual thing to walk away."
Chris Elliott’s stint at Saturday Night Live returned to the headlines years later when his daughter Abby Elliott joined the cast. But she too has a Schitt’s Creek connection beyond just her father playing Roland Schitt.