Who voices Jerry in Rick and Morty?

In Rick and Morty, the character Jerry Smith is voiced by Chris Parnell, an American actor and comedian best known for his comedic roles on shows like Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, and Archer.

Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Chris Parnell enrolled at Germantown High School where he took drama and auditioned for every play. In 1985, when he was a senior at Germantown, he was voted “Most Talented” by his classmates. Right after graduating high school, Chris attended North Carolina School of Arts in Winston-Salem, where he received his BFA in Drama. He later performed with the Berkshire Theatre in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas. Afterwards Chris moved back to Tennessee and taught acting, film, and video at his own Germantown High School. He became bored, however, with teaching and moved to Los Angeles. Once in LA, he got a job at FAO Schwartz in Beverly Center, where he eventually became Operations Manager.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

Chris Parnell was born on February 5, 1967 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was adopted into a Southern Baptist family with his father Jack Parnell working as a radio personality in Memphis. Parnell attended Germantown High School and the Southern Baptist Educational Center before deciding to pursue acting at age 17. He received formal training at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, graduating with a BFA in Drama.

After a season apprenticing at Houston’s Alley Theatre, a disenchanted Parnell returned home to teach drama for a year at his former high school. In 1992 he moved to Los Angeles and spent five years working at FAO Schwarz while taking classes at the famous improvisational comedy troupe Groundlings.

Breakout on Saturday Night Live

Parnell’s big break came in 1998 when he was hired as a featured player on Saturday Night Live. He was promoted to a repertory player the next season and spent a total of eight seasons on the iconic sketch comedy show. Known for his impressions and ability to keep a straight face during silly sketches, Parnell shone in segments like the smash viral video “Lazy Sunday” and the offbeat “More Cowbell” routine.

Budget cuts led to Parnell’s departure from SNL in 2006, but he later made uncredited cameos sending up news anchors like Tom Brokaw. He holds the distinction of being the only cast member Lorne Michaels has fired twice from the long-running show.

Voiceover Work and Recent Roles

After leaving Saturday Night Live, Parnell began voicing characters on animated series like PBS Kids’ “WordGirl” and FX’s spy spoof “Archer.” He is probably best known to animation fans as the Hotel Transylvania franchise’s nervous, fly-eating monster Fly.

On the live-action side, Parnell earned acclaim playing eccentric Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC’s “30 Rock” starting in 2006. More recently he had a starring role alongside his former SNL castmate Ana Gasteyer on ABC’s “Suburgatory,” voiced the anthropomorphic box in The Progressive Insurance commercials, and joined the mad scientist household as the oft-beleaguered Jerry Smith on Adult Swim’s hit “Rick and Morty” since 2013.

Portraying Jerry Smith on Rick and Morty

On the wildly popular animated sci-fi sitcom “Rick and Morty,” Chris Parnell voices the endlessly put-upon Jerry Smith – hapless husband to Beth, father to Summer and Morty, and thorn in the side to his bizarre genius father-in-law, Rick Sanchez.

Jerry is depicted as meek and frequently unemployed, struggling to find relevance within his dysfunctional family. His marriage to Beth is strained and he is often insensitive as a parent. He nearly gets divorced in the pilot episode after Rick moves back into the family home.

While Jerry means well, he’s simply not as intelligent or daring as the other characters. His attempts to connect with Rick or impart life lessons to his kids routinely backfire comically. Parnell captures Jerry’s chronic exasperation, fear and futility in an engaging, amusing performance.

By turns frustrated, jealous and insecure, Jerry serves as the closest thing to an everyman viewers have to latch onto in Rick and Morty’s insane multidimensional universe. His total lack of science acumen balances Rick’s brilliance. And his flaws make Beth, Morty and Summer seem better adjusted in comparison.

While he’s mainly played for laughs as the perpetual straight man, Jerrys from various realities have displayed occasional bravery like in the “Rick Potion No. 9” episode when he risks his life to create a cure. The show’s writers seem to take particular glee in putting Jerry in emasculating scenarios that make audiences cringe and laugh.

Ultimately Jerry Smith represents the oblivious human condition on Rick and Morty. His total irrelevance as Rick adventures across time and space underscores the meaninglessness of mundane suburban life compared to exploring the cosmos. And Parnell’s portrayal manages to both mock Jerry’s ineptness and evoke empathy for just how pathetic his situation is. It takes serious comedic skills to pull that off!

Why Chris Parnell is Perfect as Jerry

While Rick and Morty features gifted voice talents like Justin Roiland, Sarah Chalke and Spencer Grammer, Chris Parnell is uniquely qualified to bring sad sack Jerry Smith to such cringingly funny life on the show. His knack for characters that require being the butt of jokes was honed over nearly a decade on Saturday Night Live where he worked opposite greats like Will Ferrell, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

Parnell has an incredible ability to deadpan lines, pairing high-status words and midwestern sensibility with unearned confidence that generates laughs. That comedic persona translates flawlessly into Morty’s dad. He’s also shown dramatic range on series like “Suburgatory” that allows him to make Jerry’s constant exasperation feel genuine.

But most importantly, Parnell just has one of those instantly recognizable voices that can turn even a throwaway line into a memorable, meme-worthy moment. When an animated character like Jerry Smith starts trending online because of his catchphrases, you know the vocal performance is special.

Whether getting fired as a mall Santa, nearly cuckolded by an alien or abandoned in a hostile daycare dimension, Jerry Smith makes the most of simply being human in Rick and Morty’s insane world. And Chris Parnell makes the most of every pathetic moment as the perpetually suffering suburban dad audiences love laughing at!

So next time you watch Rick transform himself into a pickle or revive a deadly Voltron cracker monster, listen closely for Parnell’s whining screams as Jerry bemoans his horrible fate – it’s truly one of television’s funniest pairings!