Chris Elliott - Rocketman

[steventhestudent]

genius pure genius

[daven58100]

Chris is all made up like some kind of "fancy lad". Still waiting for "Cabin Boy 2".

[gnortznitz]

Eagle Heart!

[jeffrey44]

What year was this?

[zigzagbigbag]

Chris Elliott mimics Jack Hanna as he brings out a "Rastafarian Snow Leopard" actually, a rabbit in swimming trunks. Anyone have this? Please upload very funny bit.

[ghostieojr]

damn this is weird! i love elliot's lasso dance

[rleary1]

I love Chris Elliot.I've been searching forever for a copy of Chris doing his Paul Schaffer impersonation! Anyone out there ever seen it? He kept pushing his glasses up his nose/leaning backwards while standing behind the keyboard & waving his hands with an obnoxious laugh. He was pretty much 'dead on' doing Paul S. & the audience was howling.I remember the camera panned over to Schaffer & he kind of looked pissed off but maybe I read him wrong. Someone please post Chris Elliot doing Paul!

[kentonlarsen]

"Yes, I miss my wife too." Classic Chris Elliott.

[Suwandi]

Thanks for uploading!

[GettnBooted]

thanks for posting that, it was very funny. I am old enough to have seen it live lol, GB

[tazmantdr]

Is that Woogie?

[gorillabelly1]

Funny up to 1:05.

[yurianne07]

smokin in the nbc studios... !! gimme ashtray.

[hairyhand]

I used to LOVE that show-'Get A Life!'. It was one of those shows that you either loved or hated. No middle ground. Where ever I go now...when I hear that song 'Stand' I think of the show...and of Chris doing his paper route! :)

[405george]

hes a pompous prick now.....

[philumber]

Back when Letterman was a first-rate comedic show instead of being run like a third-rate political forum. His only agenda was to make people laugh in unusual ways.

[richard20bris]

My GOD!! Just having the balls to do this!!!!!!!

(shocked!)

[cepson]

Wow, I remember seeing this when it originally aired. I had also seen Shatner's version when it first aired, and I remember thinking "Holy crap, he's making fun of William Shaner!!" I doubt many people watching that night were aware Elliott was making fun of something that had actually happened.

[JeanneRousseau]

Love the insanity, Chris, thank  you!

[TheChaplinLover]

Chris, you are the MAN!

[HardNotTo]

01:02

[gastonave]

In the 80's Letterman had one of the most entertaining and innovative programs in the history of television. Let's all just try to ignore the crap he's doing now and remember how great it used to be.

[superdavid002]

So, when's he going come out with Cabin Boy 2?

[MervynCruddy]

This is the Letterman I miss. I can't stand his show now.

[GradyPhilpott]

@MervynCruddy

After more than 25 years of watching Letterman, my interest began to wane as he seemed to become just a cranky old geezer and I just had to finally turn him off. I sometimes give him another shot, but even before the monologue is over, I turned off the TV.

[horrorjunkie92]

Who did the Shatner parody first; Chris or Stewie?

[bjc12566]

he's doing Shanter, not james caan

[sdgullsfan]

Yes!!! Chris as James Caan would rule!!!

[neohubris]

oh why did they cancel Get a Life?

[dajoelsta74]

trash-

watch the 70's version with cpt. dickhead much better

[jfsmith881]

lOl butchered!!!!!!

[sclogse1]

Chris as James Caan....

[springloadedchicken]

wow, this is crapper (visually, technicologically, i mean) than it was in the 70s.. come on cbs give letterman more money! :D  the visusals had LINES! LINES! damned you! all to hell.... :D

[kneejerker]

@springloadedchicken This was NBC-era Letterman.

[springloadedchicken]

@kneejerker yes, i know that was the NBC letterman.. but he's with CBS now and they still treat him like he is second best.. esp. after the most recent pile of crap cbs has been dosing him with.. along with nbc and what they messed up with conan and leno.i didn't keep much tabs.. you can only listen to so much corporate crap from people in charge who are younger than all these guys.. treating them like they are their underlings. but i must remember.. carson got that treatment also.

[Emilydogcat]

Funny, I do a version of Rocket Man too on my Emilydogcat channel.

[rideon77]

William Shatner Rocks!

[gumpish]

good job preserving the aspect ratio of the source material -- OH WAIT YOU DIDN'T PRESERVE THE ASPECT RATIO OF THE SOURCE MATERIAL AT ALL.

[hgates101]

eh buddy shaddap.....

[purplemud22]

William Shatner was the first one to do the 3 person thing if I remember right.

[ThisIsMyFridge2]

Does anyone remember a detective show where Chris Elliott played a villain who strapped someone to a machine that sucked the blood out of the said person? I believe Boulevarde of Broken Dreams was also in the show. What show is that, thank you.

[sendhimtodetroit]

Genius! Nearly 20 years before Family Guy...

[jbrumundsmith]

Whoa, Family Guy ripped something off? NO! That only happens.....20 times per episode.

[animal90sFreak5]

chris elliott is whacky,weird,zany and the best part funny of course,get a life was a great show too!he was funny in kingpin,pretty much anything he's in,don't forget he was dogbert too!

[jlucci1177]

Great parody of a great parody. Shatner at his cheesiest, revisited by Elliot and his trademark wackiness.

[chaderic27]

LAME! Try making something BEAUTIFUL!!! This sucks!

[Elhardt]

I like Paul Schaffer's version of Rocketman better than Elton's... If you're a Chris Elliott fan, I've also got a couple of his Letterman skits put up here.

[THEGRINNINGDOGGY]

Chris is hysterical. At least he did this to be funny- Shatner did it seriously when he performed at the Sci-Fi convention.

Check Chris out in his Get A Life show. Be sure to see the episode " Handsome Boy Modeling School"

[mlodge87]

Shatner did it as a joke.

[awbYEATS]

This isn't funny. I don't know maybe it's because the original was so damn funny, this just can't compare especially when you know he's joking and with Shatner you're just not quite sure.

[QueenElysabeth]

You are great Chris!!LOL hysterical

[CaboWabotv]

Haha! I remember seeing this and taping it when it aired. Still hilarious!!

[jonanjello]

Elliott is so funny.

Wish the Get A Life series would be released completely on DVD!

Gotta get Cabin Boy, too!

[nretnalneer]

gracias !!!

no se cuanto hace que no me río así.

this guy rocks!!! i didn´t know his name. dayu have + videos from him?

[sugarjoe50]

whatever happened to this guy? hysterical!!

[Jeffrizzel]

In the absence of creativity, we get this comedy. Slap stick, lacking substance.

[chillaxin201]

wow, he had hair back then. or is that a wig

[themooddisorders]

dave or chris? lol

[blackhawkwxfan]

Funny stuff. Almost as funny as Shatners, although Chris is supposed to be funny...I miss the "old" Dave Letterman - when he used to be funny...

[karatezombie]

u haven't been able to watch Dave for years. especially after his surgeries, it's like the LAUGH sign is on for EVERYTHING he says. whatever happened to working for the audiences' applause (DAVE?). hmmmm.

[Eltonology]

Now he is a hero, someone had to give a lesson to Will Shatner for making fun of the great Elton John.

[cro44magnum]

There's a joke within a joke here. "Get a Life" was just cancelled at the time Chris Elliott did this William Shatner spoof. True to form, Chris Elliott saw this as an opportunity to appear desperate, so, he decided that he would stoop to using a well-worn and silly Shatneresque "dramatic" interpretation of "Rocketman" in order to get attention/work. This is why I'm one of Chris Elliot's biggest fans.

[SecretTimeWarp]

@cro44magnum Even his biggest fan can't tell me that anything he did on SNL was worthwhile.

[cro44magnum]

@SecretTimeWarp When is the last time that anyone did anything on SNL that was worthwhile?

[filmguy531]

So what, is that what's funny stealing someone elses joke?

[karatezombie]

that's the whole point of the thing.

[carrieunderwood5223]

how bout a leg, maybe 2, ha ha.

[Wahoofuck]

when was this?

[SamsungGlydeLover]

the family guy version of this is funny

family guy - rocketman

[davidbassplanc]

i love this song and the bill rendition is also great

[rawoctopus]

you cut out where dave says "you made us all sick"

[mobbdeepim3click]

Genious

[lgnlint]

It's spelled genius, you genius.

[huntingtigers]

It's spelt NOT spelled

[dimmiewitson]

It's spelled genius, you genious.

[Satchel334]

I saw this as a kid and just did not get it. It wasn't until I saw the original performance of William Shatner in 1978 on YouTube that I got the joke. It's all about context. Still, Chris Elliot did this sketch in circa 1988? I guess the older people in the crowd had seen the 1978 Shatner perfomance so they got the joke?

[chrisreid1]

The people laughing is annoying as hell, even parts that werent funny *bangs head on wall*

[filmidioten]

People laugh when they see something funny.

[ChrisandDG]

who is he?

[brawnthehulk]

He is the Cabin Boy

[lotuselisel]

Yes...yes he is...

[HenryWickens]

does anyone know how long ago this was??

[EnigmaInsignia]

have to be late 90 - early 92, considering that was when Get a Life was on the air.

[icandynetwork]

Not as good as the Shatner original but pretty damn good for a remake.

[littlepipandcowbell]

It's a parody.

[NPRMc]

At the time, so few people even knew of the Shatner original that Elliott's performance was either totally absurd to them or it was a hit with those who were fortunate enough to have gotten a VHS tape of Shatner's original. These were the days of no Internet, no youtube and pretty much all you had was a few VHS tapes of really odd stuff (Like the Shatner tape or the Red tapes) circulating around schools and stuff. I'm still looking for the Davey and Goliath dubs that were huge at Fordham U.

[timbo0424]

Funny....but Shatner's take on rocketman was way funnier. It is the original comedy take on the song. All the others are just imitations. Will the REAL WILLIAM SHATNER PLEASE STAND UP!

[jdbauer36]

I agree. But the funniest thing about Shatner's take is that it's not intended to be funny. At least I think not. Could be wrong.

[comblitz]

I agree with you too, Shatner actually thought he was good and was serious about it... it's the unintentional comedy factor that makes it great!

[mrshow1]

"oh, i miss the earth so much ... i miss my wife, too" /rolls eyes. lol

[norsemustang]

"And I'm gonna be....HIGH!" LOL.

[geraldoatlarge]

Oh, and the two of 'em are online. FDR: a one man show and ActionFamily

[geraldoatlarge]

Ive just watched his old 80's cinemax comedy specials and they were surprisingly amazing. Elliot isn't recognized enough for his comedy chops.

[md4bush]

Anyone have a clip of Chris doing Jay Leno (What's my beef?) or Marv Albert?

[Sharkshooter]

It's kind of funny but he overdoes it too. The shivering, the entire chorus, etc.

A funnier act would have been to be over-serious about it, since that's what makes the original Shatner so entertaining. Elliott is exaggerating qualities of the original performance that were not there.

By itself as purely a rocketman parody, it is amusing and even chuckle-worthy. But as a parody of Shatner, it falls flat.

[graffman13]

shatner will find you and kick your ass chris elliott

[mikey50077]

Chris Elliott does a tribute to Shatner's tribute to Taupin's 'Rocket Man' which was a tribute to Bowie's 'Space Oddity'!

[mdh1961]

OMG that's hilarious.

[buttdagger]

fukkin funny

[Evisceratrix3658]

I just now watched the original Shatner Rocketman, and i have to say this is honestly really funny, since it isn't that far away from the reality.

[BMason3604]

This was not funny, and a horrible impression.

[Soul74]

No YOU are tonight's supper!

[hellobob099]

I Laughed.

[56BUICKRiviera]

Awesome command performance!

[Tingle202]

what a rip off... stealing material from William Shatner... hmmmm... deperate !!!

[LTstudios]

yeah it's taking the piss out of him.

[Rottenriguez]

Hell yes!

"Yeah yeah I know what you're thinking. what's stranger than a big fat ass floating cup cake. Hey! ever see one chew tobacco?!?"

Cabin Boy is fucking funny.

[tonydoraine]

I think Stewie Griffin does the definitive version...

[MinuteMaidDrinker]

When was this?

[dammai25]

so underrated. He rocked Ground Hogs' Day

[PuddyKatz]

handsome in those days!

[radicaledward40]

chris elliott can suck my balls.

[roko2t6]

take my strong hand

[Machiavelli81]

I like Shatners version much better.

Chris just goes over the top, its boring.

[Anninymous]

He's great as Dogbert.

[louise5913]

That Chris Elliot is the world's funniest human, and that is a fact!

[dhille7]

Totally bagging on William Shatner's version.....awesome!!!

[bamabud]

Better than Elton's version.

[EsmeEncens]

Chris Elliot - I love you! 

JM

[omarsucks]

They should really really release Get a life, even if it's on betamax.

[WashingtonBeUpInThis]

Shatner + Elliot = Immanentizing the eschaton.

[10jake10]

MY GOD ITS LIKE SHAKESPEAR! Shatner, Elliot, Stewie Griffin...so many interpretations...stiring,grip­ping,expressing the human condition yet using the same words......this proves humanity is at its zenith.

[JonDavidson]

What's really funny is that both Shatner's & Elliot's performance of "Rockeman" reveal how bad this song actually is; great melody, but the lyrics are insufferable, self-aggrandizing egomania at its worst. You can sell anything...

[iburl]

Elton John is a great musician, the proof is Bernie Taupin's lyrics are some of the cheeziest around and Elton makes it all work. Shatner and Elliot 4 eva.

[Shoubu12]

nice

[mxm5057]

wtf

[kentonlarsen]

Pure Gold!

[hmmbadgors11]

i have the first two seasons (i don't know how many others there were).

[haze1123]

genius

[SuboTV]

IIRC, the next words Dave says are "Now that you've made us all sick" or something like that...

[jpwestfall]

Funny shit! Thanks!

[lizardkingrevived]

Funny

[mcrick23]

and both beck and family guy mined this post modernfieldafterchriselliot saw william shatners wackiness for what it was

[mcrick23]

this as everything chris elliot does is ahead of its time and amazing.

regardless no,irregardless, any and everything bob and ray did influenced this so checkit out

\

planet of the baboons

[seaguy3000]

pure genius

[viilips]

he sucks

[PollackTroy]

Is that his real hair?

[dantro78]

lol, that was my first reaction too! Because wasn't he already pretty bald when he started doing "Get a Life"?

[HURMSANFORD]

thank you for posting this,this would've been my first post

[drinkedeh]

no good

[Engage777]

Is Get A Life on DVD?

[tungvarsky]

Dave hates to be hugged! I have a signed copy of Thwacker by the Master.

[superbouncezerofroze]

Chris confuses minds of the humor challenged... "Get a life" was the best. Let's post all the Chris Elliot clips we can find.

[tungvarsky]

so fucking cool!

[slokes1]

That's their Komodo Dragon sketch. Glad you like it, too.

[slokes1]

The cool thing about this clip is it wasn't "in" to parody Shatner doing "Rocket Man" circa 1992. Most people didn't even know about the thing until Stewie Griffin performed it on "Family Guy" more than a decade later. As usual, Chris Elliott was way ahead of the curve. And for his sins, he had to act in "Scary Movie 2."

[jeffrey44]

This so true, I wonder what made him parady a little known 1979 performance in the first place. How many people would 'get' it?

[slokes1]

That's Bob Elliott, who spent a few years working with a guy named Ray, hence your confusion.

[drsuperfresh]

chris elliott is a genius.

[Emophiliac2]

It just doesn't get much better than this. Shatner could take some lessons from Chris. Maybe singing lessons. Maybe acting lessons.

[flukenews]

I love the fact that most people don't get Chris Elliott. It makes him that much funnier to me.

[johnboy779]

Absolute genius--I died laughing at this. I didn't think it was possible to make an intentionally hilarious parody of Shatner's unintentionally hilarious rendition of Elton John's unintentionally over-the-top song--but leave it to Chris Elliot. One of the most underrated comedic geniuses of the '80's. Andy Kaufmanesque.

[seaguy3000]

Chris Elliott is a freakin' comic genius!!!!

[zerosnones]

comedy porcupine that is! hahahahaha

get it? ... get it?

:D

[88skisupreme]

If anyone has any pre Get A Life, Elliott on Letterman post 'em up! That stuff was great.

[mendovino]

Your right on! The 'guy under the seats bits were hysterical! Anybody have some??

[fatherbloopy]

Beautiful! Too bad for the negative average people posts :-P HAHA, it is true though, with Chris (and most quality entertainment) either you get it or don't.

[canedingle]

If you see the version you can appreciate both for what they are, original genius vs a comic "tongue in cheek" version, liked 'em both!

[haze1123]

GENIUS!!!

[Luckiestboyinworld]

AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING!! Elliott's humor is far too intelligent for the average person to grasp, hence the negative comments here.

[davidb1b]

exactly. check out my reply to probotvideo. and a better question from moronbot wouldve been why do people think letterman is funny... hes a tool... he thinks dropping watermelons off a roof or repeating a word over and over in a dumb voice is funny? try conan, hes a fucking genius.

[vikings844]

Conan copies everything Letterman didn"t.Most people are to simple minded to get the genius of Chris Elliot.

[jimijames69]

Awesome!  Search for Shatner, Rocketman and compare 'em. Chris is a genius!

[crooon]

Words cannot describe how much this sucked. Nothing creative about his performance at all. Maybe that's why it belongs on youtube.

Shatner > all.

[blackstreet1]

did he play freakshow in harold and kumar go to white castle

[davis002]

no he didn't

[dartmouthhoop]

When was this first aired? Dave mentions Get A Life which ran in the early 90's but I think he was just goofing on Chris.

[cholling]

"I don't know. I didn't look at my watch." LOL! People: prerequisites before watching this... you have to be familiar with Shatner's spoken word singing from seventies TV programs to appreciate this... look for the clip under 'William Shatner'... watch it and then check out Chris Elliott's clip again...

[liquidlen2]

Hilarious. Perfect. Visionary.

[probotvideo]

yaaaaaawn. tell me, who do people think chris elliott is funny?

[davidb1b]

because youre an idiot. re-read what you wrote, then change the 'who' to 'why' and realize that to be as funny as him or to even understand how funny he is, you have to first master English.

[evilshoe6]

not that funny

[martinji]

He means he's doing his version of William Shatner's infamous version of Rocket Man

[kvetchingeditor]

So when you say "William Shatner" you mean "Elton John"?