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Chris Parnell is a normcore comedy assassin. After a career in improv, two stints on Saturday Night Live, and countless roles on sitcoms like 30 Rock and animated shows like Rick and Morty, Parnell has perfected the art of using his extremely average appearance — and voice — to deliver disarmingly strange, ridiculous and deadpan comedy. Few are better at making the act of looking like a relatively normal dude and keeping a straight face so funny (“the Chronic — what — cles of Narnia!”).
This is why, as Jerry Smith, Parnell is an essential part of what makes Rick and Morty work. His ability to adopt an aw-shucks affectation even as he bears witness to some of the most bizarre things committed to animation makes him one of the most…