In one variation, he played a German Panicky Guy in Lederhosen, who was run over by a hand dolly full of cheese wheels.
Once in the hallway he would be run over and crushed by an advancing floor waxer, with his hands raised in terror. "The Panicky Guy": Elliott would pretend to be an audience member, who panics and runs from the studio at the slightest threat of danger (similar to doomed characters in disaster movies)."The Conspiracy Guy": During staged audience "question and answer" sessions with Dave, Elliott would approach the microphone and begin accusing Letterman of various plots and schemes, after which "security" would wrestle Elliott to the ground and drag him out of the studio while Elliott yelled threats to Dave.
He became known in the mid-to-late 1980s for playing an assortment of recurring quirky, oddball characters on Late Night. In the spring of 1983, Elliott became a writer on the show and his on-camera appearances became more frequent. Over the first year of the show, he was seen on camera irregularly and usually in small sketch roles. Career Įlliott was hired as a production assistant on Late Night with David Letterman, and was with the show from its very beginning in February 1982. He attended the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center for a semester. Elliott was born in New York City, and is the youngest of five children of Lee (née Peppers), a model and TV director, and Bob Elliott, who was part of the successful comedy team Bob and Ray.