Comedian Chris Elliott conquered late-night TV, first on Late Night with David Letterman and then on Saturday Night Live. From there, he ascended the very high Hollywood hills, with roles in the sitcom Get a Life and the movie Something About Mary.

Now he has a new novel about a different kind of summit: Into Hot Air: Mounting Mount Everest.

The story begins when the diary of Elliott's great uncle Percy B. Elliott shows up, anonymously, in the mail. Never mind Sir Edmund Hillary — Elliott thinks his ancestor might have been the first person to reach the summit of Everest, but the only way to know for sure is to go there himself. It's a dangerous undertaking.

"Everyone who goes there comes back missing a nose," the writer says.

To help fund the expedition, he assembles a cast of rich celebrities that includes Lauren Bacall, Martin Sheen and Tony Danza, and Michael Moore films the arduous feat for Imax. Elliott says the documentarian was something of a heavy load: "I basically had to haul him all they way up to the summit."

On our blog: Chris Elliott plays Marlon Brando.

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