When it comes to off-putting comedic personas, Chris Elliot has the market cornered, most recently as Brad Garrett’s creepy brother-in-law on “Everybody Loves Raymond.”
At 45, Elliot has penned his first novel, “The Shroud of the Thwacker” (Miramax Books, 340 pages, $22.95), an antic-minded riff on the Jack the Ripper crime genre. (He comes to town Oct. 17 to speak at Borders on State Street and Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville.) “It was the first time since I was writing at [David] Letterman that I could do my own thing without getting network notes to make a character more likable.”
It should come as no surprise that Elliot and wife Paula lean toward “stuff that is sort of Victorian Gothic.” Their four-bedroom, six-bath Ridgefield, Conn., home, shared with daughters Abby, 18, and Bridey, 15, is a “mini-McMansion,” Elliot says, “a quarter-pounder McMansion.”
1. One thing on your nightstand: A bowl of Rolaids. Not a roll. A bowl.
2. One thing you have in your house from your childhood: My retainer. It’s up in the bathroom cabinet.
3. Three condiments we would find in your refrigerator: Mustard, of course, hot sauce and hot fudge.
4. Three things we would find in your medicine cabinet: Besides the retainer? Some Xanax. Any number of antidepressants. And toothpaste.
5. Do your dirty dishes go in the sink or dishwasher? My kids put them in the sink; my wife and I put them in the dishwasher. My kids don’t know how to load the dishwasher. We found that out the other day when we asked my daughter to load it, and she was gagging over the idea of having to brush a scrap of egg off the plate.
6. Maker of your everyday dinnerware: We use paper plates. Our dishes pretty much stay in the cabinets.
7. Maker of your fine china: We have no chiner. China. We have Chinet.
8. What music have you been listening to at home lately? Phillip Glass because it really annoys my kids and keeps them out of my office.
9. What reading material would we find in your bathroom? Stacks and stacks and stacks of real estate magazines. We’re obsessed with what’s on the market.
10. Most embarrassing thing in your home that you hide when guests come over: Our junk food.
