Entertainment

Life of a ‘late nite’ legend

Chris Elliott’s new book, “The Guy Under the Sheets,” is a mostly fictional flight of fancy that’s fashioned as a memoir. It tells the tale of “Chris Elliott,” son of Bette Davis and Sam Elliott, and his relationships with the likes of John Gotti, serial killer Aileen Wuornos and the women of Grey Gardens.

In reality, Elliott is the son of “Bob and Ray” comedian Bob Elliott, and he’s the father of former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Abby Elliott. (He himself was a cast member in 1994.) He’s also Ben Stiller’s nemesis in “There’s Something About Mary” and a longtime fixture on David Letterman’s shows. His offbeat sense of humor and deliberately bizarre timing made him one of the forerunners of what would become known as “cringe” comedy.

Elliott, who’ll be signing copies of his book at Barnes & Noble in TriBeCa on Wednesday, spoke to The Post about the real and fictional people in his life. He is also, we should note, prone to make absurd observations.

You first auditioned for “SNL” years before you joined the cast. What did you do for your audition?

It was incredibly lame. I showed that I’m double-jointed and recited some one-act play that was, like, five lines. It got me an offer as a featured player, and I decided not to do it, because Dave [Letterman] was giving me my own spotlight on his show.

In the book, you position John Gotti as a mentor. Is that based on anything real?

My wife and I were out to dinner once in the ’80s, and Gotti was there. I got up to use the bathroom, and our eyes met, and he smiled and wagged his index finger, with this half smile like, “I know who you are, kid.” I always thought that was cool, so I put him in the book.

On Letterman, you were in charge of auditioning animals for Stupid Pet Tricks. What was that like?

Miserable. I had this rehearsal hall in Times Square above a porno theater, and had to sit there all day while people came in with their dogs. I’d leave it to the last minute, and throw friends’ dogs on the show. My sister came in for me once because I was one dog short. She went on with her married name, so Dave wouldn’t know.

You were in James Cameron’s “The Abyss,” and he mentioned doing a comedy project with you until you annoyed him on the Letterman show. What happened there?

He was there to promote “The Abyss.” Just before he came out, [Letterman writer] Gerry Mulligan and I did this piece where I told Dave I was in “The Abyss” and that I had a clip, and the clip was me on this terrible set with a bunch of plastic fish, yelling, “Help! I’m stuck in the Abyss, and it’s really scary down here!” I heard afterward [that Cameron] didn’t take kindly to it.

Your daughter Abby was also a cast member on “SNL.” When did you realize she had the funny gene?

She was doing impersonations and singing and stuff when she was little. She did Angelina Jolie on “SNL.” That’s an impersonation she did when she was around 7, maybe even younger. She also does really good foot impersonations. It’s eerie. She can look at your foot, then do an impersonation of it with her foot, and her foot will look exactly like your foot.

Any funny anecdotes from the set of “There’s Something About Mary?”

I can remember [co-director] Peter Farrelly exposing himself all the time, just seeing his d - - k hanging out of the corner of my eye. I don’t know if he still does that, but I remember him doing that frequently.