Chris Farley Biography: Chevy, David Spade And Others Remember His Demons

Chris Farley's brother Tom has co-authored a book due out May 6, 2008 called "The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts." The SNL star overdosed in December 1997. The book is excerpted in the May issue of Playboy, and the NY Post got a sneak peak at those excerpts.

Former "Saturday Night Live" star Chevy Chase recalled how he dressed down Farley while preparing for a reunion show: "Look, you're not John Belushi. And when you overdose or kill yourself, you will not have the same acclaim that John did . . . You'll be a blip in the New York Times obituaries page, and that'll be it. Is that what you want?" Farley's sidekick David Spade said he's still taking heat for failing to save Tommy Boy: "I got a lot of s - - - at the end about 'Why weren't you there for him?' But being that close, I dealt with it all the time. And in that situation, before the guy's dead, he's just kind of an a - -hole. Truth is, you get a junkie who's wasted all the time and moody and angry and trying to knock you around, you say, 'OK, you go do that, and I'll be over here.' "

According to The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts description on Amazon, the book:

Chris did not know moderation, either in his boundless generosity toward friends or in the reckless abandon of his drug and alcohol abuse. For ten years, Chris cycled in and out of rehabilitation centers, constantly fighting his insecurities and his fears. Despite three hard-fought years of sobriety, addiction would ultimately take his life at the tragically young age of thirty-three. Fame on SNL and three straight number-one box office hits gave way to a string of embarrassing public appearances, followed by a fatal overdose in December 1997.

Here is Chris Farley as remembered by his family, friends, and colleagues--the true story of a man who lived to make us laugh and died as a result. The Chris Farley Show is an evocative and harrowing portrait of a family trapped by addiction, a father forced to bury a son, and a gifted and kindhearted man ultimately torn apart by the demons inside him.

Comments

[nuglet304]

you people are jokes. everybody's sense of humor is a little different, so who cares who y'all think is and isn't funny? just let people like who they like, and stay out of it.

chris farley was always good for some laughs, and he'll always be an snl legend.

[gd7277467]

CHRIS WHO ???

[sickofthisshit]

Your an A$$HOLE!!!!!

[sickofthisshit]

Pipe down ya punk!!

[Kungfublood]

He made the funniest Kung Fu movie ever.

[amanda85]

"The favoured of the gods die young."

-- Friederich Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil"

[Stirner]

Man, better not to be favored, eh?

[rpence]

Chevy Chase was by far the weakest cast member of the original SNL. Watch the episodes from the first few seasons. The show gets better once he's gone and Bill Murray roared in.

As for David Spade, he is without question one of the most unappealing, unpleasant, and untalented individuals in the history of the entertainment industry.

[cfreedom]

You're a joke and Chris Farley, for one, would disagree with you on both counts. Where do you people come from?

[nastyvirus]

Huh??? Bill Murray appeared in SNL BEFORE Chris Farley. What are you talking about?

[YellowPanties]

Your comments are a bit over the top. Chevy was great in the early years of his career, SNL included, and Spade is not even as bad as half the jackasses who have been cast members of SNL. In the quote cited, Chevy was trying to talk sense into Farley, that Farley did not need to emulate Belushi all the way into an early grave.

SNL itself got better after the first season, when they figured out the kind of show it was to be. Chevy was great, Bill Murray is a whole different level of genius.

As for Chris Farley, it sucks that he threw his life away, the big lovable oaf. Farley had a lot of great moments and could have sequed into a really interesting performer. He died far too young.

[AurigaRa]

Chris

You make me laugh like no one else. Thank you.
Hope you found peace in your little van, down by the river.

[grisgris]

You beat me to it! I will always remember that sketch as the funniest thing I ever saw Farley do.

[unclesmedley]

It's amazing how many people take the time to be mean spirited about human tragedy.

[3billis811]

Human Tragedy! Iraq is Human Tragedy!

[dangerousjay]

Iraq is a human tragedy? Why do you spend your valuable progressive time trolling the entertainment section of huffpo and admonishing the bottom feeders who actually liked Chris Farley?

[CAMBEL]

Oh My God, can Chevy Chase get over the Belushi thing? Big deal Belushi was a fat drug addict who couldn't handle his high and OD'd. He did some funny skits on a once funny show. That was it. People always want to go overboard in praising somebody just because they died young.

[3billis811]

I agree. He was a drug abuser who destroyed himself. There are better people dying young in Iraq who actually deserve our praise. Farley and Belushi were selfish junkies who did NOTHING important.

[unclesmedley]

gee, cambel & billis sure do seem like a fun coupe of guys...

[Kungfublood]

Farley cluster bombed who?
Or in your opinion is it the true measure of a man to take as many innocent people with them as possible when they die needlessly for a pack of proven liars?

[slappymagoo]

Both Belushi & Farley are Second City vets. While I'm not as big a fan of current Second City as I used to be, you don't get to the main stage without being able to write & create. There is, in fact, a book/CD combo of the iustory of Second City where you can hear Farley as matt Foley years before he did it on SNL. Farley could write, but he got in that spiral. The insecurity begat the drug use which made it harder to wrote which resulted in more physical laughing-AT-you laughs which resulted in MORE insecurity which resulted in MORE drugs, which resulted in a GREATER inability to write which resulted in more laughing-AT-you pratfalls...and so on. Like the glimmer of dramatic potential Belushi showed in Continental Divide & Old Boyfriends, I wonder if Farley could've taken dramatic roles had he cleaned up, focused on his craft and stopped relying on the purely physical humor, which was embarrassing to watch throughout his last 3 years on SNL and most of his movie career.

[3billis811]

You're overselling Continental Divide.

[RossalGondamer]

Please - take your rocking chair grandpa. Sure Chevy Chase and the Belushi's are icons, but so is Red Skelton.

Today's SNL is exactly missing the immediate humor Farley mastered simply by being Large and 'not so much' incharge. Funny is half the responsibility of the audience, and the first second we saw Farley in skin tight pants and wacked out hair, we became that immediate fertile soil which even the best comedians struggle to sew.

Your rocked Tommy Boy - and your image will continue to sell in those on-campus poster tents right next to the one with the unknown guy in the 'college' sweatshirt.

[DasBoot]

Wow, It seems that for some reason this post brings out some of the worst in people. What a nice opportunity to trash Chris Farley...

I don't care if he was better than John Belushi or not. He was funny, and contrary to what some people have been saying here, he did not just play on his weight. During the "Chris Farley Show" sketches he was sitting, only working with his face and voice.

He apparently lived a miserable life and died a pathetic death. Poor guy.

[GregSolo]

Wow. And I though conservatives were insensitive. This guy was a really good comedian. Let's just leave it at that. No need to be obnoxious. Oh, wait. It's the comment section. It's mandatory.

[speakyourmind]

It's funny how heated these discussions get over differences in taste.

[MoeSart]

John Belushi has always been overrated, and most of that has to do with his dying young.

If he were still alive, he would have had a career even more spotty than Dan Aykroyd's, and Dan Aykroyd is the second best SNL cast member ever after Phil Hartman. Hartman and Aykroyd could do anything and even make a bad sketch fun to watch. Belushi never was on their level.

[drumz]

Opinions are like assholes; everybody has one and they all stink, especially yours.

[grisgris]

Thank you for saving me a whole lot of trouble. I have about a million problems with what "Moe" had to say and was getting ready to address some of his stupidity, but your comment sums up all that needed to be said to him quite succinctly. Well done.

[Kungfublood]

Not everyone wheres it on their face and speaks through it all day long though.

[Steamboater]

Aykroyd has had a career he can be proud of. He's not not just done comedy but shown he's a fine actor in dramatic parts. He became an exceptional character actor and one of the best. He never got the chances Bill Murray did to star as a comedic lead really. Both Murray and Aykroyd have done comedy and drama though and both have succeeded.
I never found Belushi that funny. His slash and burn type of comedy e.g. as the Japaense on SNL and his bull in a china shop comedy never impressed me. That's a personal choice though. I like my comedy subtler than that. As for Farley, he was a Belushi wannabe and often I had to just turn to another channel when he was on. That he died young is tragic. Whenever anyone dies young it's tragic but Farley made his choices, even if controlled by something we don't understand, and in the end, no one else should be blamed for it, not David Spade--no one.

[misslily]

That guy was funny as hell, and one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Stop comparing him to Belushi and just enjoy the many laughs he gave us.

[JoeKing]

I remember in the few weeks before Chris died, he was a frequent guest on Mancow Muller's radio show in Chicago. I worked nights then and one night literally days before he died, Mancow (Eric), Chris and a few others from the morning show showed up at the studio on a Saturday morning about 4 a.m. They were completely wasted. Chris could barely form a coherent word let alone sentence.

I'm certainly not going to say Mancow was a catalyst to Chris' death, but, he sure didn't seem to trying to help him stop the drugs and booze.

I also remember a couple days after Chris died. Mancow and crew took the day off but when they returned, they were changed people.

I miss Irma Blanco. Where the hell is she now?