Chris Farley | A Lasting Impression | A Docu-Mini

I remember one time at and great school at st. Patrick's my mom was in the semicircle with a bunch of nuns around it and they were saying you know the students at school are laughing or Christopher not with him but they'd crack me around a little bit and I went to public school for a year and they like they didn't couldn't hit you there they had to like sing like counseling I remember I broke a few windows or something like that so I had to go and talk to them and we were talking it out and I had brought my parents in to get out of the trouble and said like they don't love me at home and my dad sitting there in this counseling session going yeah uh-huh didn't the family with a ten-speed bike I thought I got out of that gym till we got in the parking lot he said get in the door you prima donna [Music] I won't lie the idea of making this documentary short was a somewhat daunting one on top of being such a renowned figure in comedy today I also just wasn't sure what commentary I could add to the mythos of Chris Farley that hasn't been already said on top of there being a full-length documentary on his career there's also a fantastic biography and countless interviews that fully tell his story unlike other comics I have focused on in the past I also wasn't too familiar with the life of Chris Farley I had seen his more popular films and SNL sketches but I really didn't know about Chris Farley as a person in researching his life to put together this video I became captivated in the story of his life the story of a man so blessed a performance with an immense gift in being able to make people laugh hysterically what kind of a kid were you was that he probably were a little more comfortable being away from home that gave the trouble continued [Laughter] at an early age he set off on a quest to bring joy to anyone that crossed his path and even though that task did not come without a price he would succeed like few others have in watching any of his hilarious screen performances it's impossible not to think that we only got to see a small fraction of his capabilities as an actor you can tell from watching him in interviews and even in the small cameo roles that he had that there was a much greater depth to him as an actor that was often underutilized in some of his bigger starring roles other comedians I've profiled previously had a career spanning decades it's incredibly telling of Chris's talent that he was able to do so much in a screen career of just seven years those seven years are only a small part of the story though a story of a man who made such a huge impact in such a small amount of time the story of Chris Farley from all accounts Chris was destined to be a comedy megastar from childhood born into an Irish Catholic family on February 15th 1964 in Madison Wisconsin Chris's upbringing as a Catholic would actually play an instrumental part in his life not only would he later volunteer for various Catholic ministries even after achieving fame where he would help struggling adults and kids alike he also attended Mass for most of his life from a young age Chris struggled with certain insecurities and used the church as a way to seek treatment and counsel for some of those issues labeled a class clown at a very young age Chris was also known by those closest to him as quiet and gentle although fearless when it came to comedy and performance by the time Chris had reached college he knew comedy was his calling in life although he wanted to drop out and move to Chicago to pursue comedy like his heroes he made a pact with his father that he would graduate first changing his major to communications with a minor in theater he first studied comedy professionally in his hometown of Madison but it was soon clear that this local theater wasn't in a big enough vehicle for the talents of Chris Farley he moved to Chicago where he would study first at improv Olympic performing in small bars and clubs and then later Second City where he had become a staple for his performances although he was promoted of the main stage in 1989 he would make such an impact on the scene that talent scouts would take fast note and here now with an editorial is Weekend Update correspondent Jerry socio Jerry what do you got all right thanks Kevin so I'm in the supermarket the other day right and I'm waiting in the checkout line out and all of a sudden this guy cuts right in front of me right so I says to the guy right I says to him I says to him he's standing there right assesment guy get this get this wait a second I says to the guy says to him I said to him I said I said I said I said I can't I got I just do up I says to him he's standing right there get this get this it is right Chris was announced as a new cast member for Saturday Night Live just a year later in 1990 he packed his bags and moved furthest away from home and family than he had ever been before while Chris was excited and eager to be where he was he still remained humble about the whole experience it would take a few episodes for writers to know how to best utilize Chris but once they cracked a code it would lead to some of the greatest sketches to come from sorry Night Live history first off I am 35 years old I am divorced and I live in a van down by the river [Applause] I'm trying to lose weight [Applause] [Applause] when I move in with you is it so bad to see somebody happy so just let him move in for the love of God while characters like Matt Foley or Todd O'Connor allowed Chris to show his impeccable comedy timing another character would showcase Chris vest himself and of the song and song goes on and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make he remember that yes is that true [Applause] [Music] yes Kristen in my experience it is I find the more you give the more you get those who knew Chris would later claim that the version of him in the Chris Farley show was the closest to his real persona it's obvious that Chris's SNL co-stars thought very highly of him as he started appearing in small cameo roles in some of their comedy films mr. Salas is limo that belongs to Frank sharp had a sharp Records good friend of Alice's wow that's like way bigger than a normal sized car oh it has to be he drives everywhere it's the fly he's going across the country right now to look for new axis sign to his label next stop is st. Louis and he's gonna come back through Chicago on his way to Detroit Thanks you know for a security guard he had an awful lot of information don't you Hank I do not understand I have returned at the agreed-upon time coordinates oh I'm very sorry mr. conehead conehead my name is conehead well look mr. conehead we got a little backed up and took a little long and we expected unacceptable not only have you delayed my departure from here but the entire series of events which was to follow what reason could you have for such deception 1588 that is correct [Music] Chris had struggled with addiction issues beginning in high school but the pressure of not screwing up his dream job allowed Chris to finally sober up he turned a new leaf during this time becoming the organized and motivated person his friends and family knew he could be by 1995 producers were confident that Chris could headline a feature film dance before yeah do you eat a lot of paint chips when you were a kid why teaming with best friend David Spade and director Peter Segal Tommy Boy would take inspiration from Chris's real relationship with his father [Music] and also actual road trip mishaps that occur to the director and writers it would also use his real-life friendship with David Spade as a basis for their amazing comedy chemistry Hayes this suit made me look fat no no no your face does okay let's check you out it was also just a film role that was a perfect showcase for Chris not only would it give him some of the best comedy writing of his career it also offered a chance to show the innocence that made the Chris Farley show sketch worked so well on SNL this perfect combination of elements allowed Tommy Boy to become a smash hit promoting Chris yet again this time to a movie star he was on top of the world by age 31 movie oh man things are getting better and better for your thing yeah I love it Pera melt quickly commissioned a follow up to Tommy bully they had Chris in a tight contract that stated he had to make another movie for them by a certain date if they didn't present him with a film offer by then he would be free to pursue other film offers from other studios he wanted a star in a film called the Cable Guy but paramount forced a project to be quickly developed so they wouldn't lose their new star this rushed film would have become known as black sheep and although it tried hard to replicate elements from Tommy Boy it would fail to recapture the same magic good afternoon sir we'd like you to vote al Donnelly for governor we appreciate it bird I'm sorry even though it would once again become a hit Chris felt disappointed by the film and the studio's handling of the situation Emma's also let down by his own performance in the film thank you little roots please stay strong [Music] he would sadly relapse around this time and although he continued the seek recovery he was never able to achieve the same level of dedicated sobriety as he had just a few years earlier SNL was also going through a difficult transition and was being received poor critically Chris and his peers all seemed to mutually decide it was time to move on he was next offered six million dollars over triple what he was making to star in a film called Beverly Hills ninja although friends and management tried to talk him out of accepting the offer it was just the payday he couldn't turn down Chris was also convinced he can bring in new writers to retool his scenes and better the script Chris even threw himself into the martial arts training required for the film and used it as a chance to sober himself up although he managed to better this film by him just being in it and even though the movie opened at number 1 Chris still felt disappointed by his performance only this time there wasn't a co-star sharing the spotlight and Chris would blame himself entirely for the film's negative reception without the martial arts training to occupy his time any longer he would lose his grip on sobriety yet again but a couple of projects on the horizon were becoming a great source of motivation for him one was the voice of Shrek in a feature film adaptation of the popular children's book Chris threw himself into the recording sessions for the film giving a hilarious performance as the title character I like my cockles room-temperature thank you very much simple fart wad gets his princess I get what I want which is now come on what do you want I don't have time to set it to music oh this is another one of those onion things no this is one of those drop it and leave me alone thing this original version of Shrek was even designed to look slightly like Chris he was next cast in the film about silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle who had become tangled in the first major Hollywood scandal that would end his career Chris was very enthused about the chance to play the part of a tortured clown a role he himself claimed to know all too well the project was being scripted by David Mamet and would give Chris a chance to exercise his dramatic acting ability producers however refused to back the film unless Chris was sober for two full years Chris was planning to commit to his sobriety fully in the new year he took on another comedy role in a project called Edwards and hunt the ensemble comedy was originally described as a Mel Brooks style film about the American Age of Exploration Christopher Guest was brought in to direct and the film seemed like it would be a surefire hit once there was a Hawk and swooped down from the sky and plucked the man's eyeballs out of his sockets the fellow was screaming before breaking for the Christmas holiday Chris filmed a small role in Norma Donald's dirty work once again giving the performance his all you bastard hey I'm just messing with you Jimmy I saw you down there hey Mazzetti got Jimmy a beer on me okay after he finished filming his scenes Chris made plans in the new year to hire a personal trainer and a private chef to better himself and he plans to go sober after the holiday celebrations but then all too sadly Chris Farley's career came to an end in late December of 1997 when he lost his battle with addiction he was just 33 years old Edwardson hunt was released as almost heroes the following year much of the original film script and charm had been lost in the film's editing and reshoots it would become the first of Chris's starring roles that wouldn't open at number one dreamworks had decided to go in a different story direction for shrek and chose to scrap all of Chris's voice work rather than try to hire a sound-alike Mike Meyers was hired as a replacement and recorded the entire film not knowing it had originally been Chris's role looking back on his all too short career although he shines in any film role that he's in it's hard to look at all of them except Tommy Boy and not feel he was slightly underutilized as a lead actor watching any behind the scenes footage of him you can tell his comedy brilliance could not be limited to comedy scripts that didn't fully understand how to best use him most of Chris's peers struggled to find their brand early in their film careers it was so evident that Chris was just finding his footing as a film star in just the four movies he started he easily made them far more memorable just because he's there and I think that would have carried for any movie he would have appeared in if only Chris could have lived to see himself become the legend that he rightfully is to see that no one was ever laughing at him but rather all laughing with him there's an alternate reality where he went off the star in that Fatty Arbuckle movie and maybe even won an Oscar I could see him popping up on starry night live now on again for a surprise cameo bringing down the house just by walking on stage I could even see him joining his peers and earning legions of new fans as a star of his own Netflix movies wherever that alternate reality is the world is surely a better place because of it but our reality is a much different one but one I am still glad exists for we God's a witness what a lasting impression Chris Farley was able to make in such a short amount of time that's gonna leave a mark [Music]

Channel: Hats Off Entertainment

Views: 250,718

Keywords: chris farley, chris farley documentary, tommy boy, black sheep movie, david spade, adam sandler, billy madison, dirty work, beverly hills ninja, saturday night live, snl documentary, almost heroes, matt foley, best of chris farley, joe ramoni, hats off entertainment, almost cult classics, forgotten failures, history of comedy

Id: OVWBwwsXevQ

Length: 20min 9sec (1209 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 02 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/R2LUKE2]

Check out the book “Why Do We Kill Our Clowns?” It’s about Farley, Belushi, Lenny Bruce among others EDIT: got the title wrong it’s “The Tragic Clowns”

[u/SalaciousDumb]

For anyone who hasn’t seen it I highly recommend the documentary I Am Chris Farley that came out a few years ago.

[u/GrandBago]

I miss Phil Hartman. He had a role to fill in this world and it was cut too soon.

/fuck Andy Dick

[u/abraksis747]

Tommy likey, Tommy want Wingy

[u/[deleted]]

I have such fond memories of watching Tommy Boy with my brother growing up.

So sad hearing about his struggles knowing how much joy he gave to others .

[u/mcncl]

The song about Chris Farley in Adam Sandlers stand up gets me every time.

[u/aibra2020]

Tommy boy, Beverly Hills ninja and Almost Heroes with Mathew Perry made my childhood great.

[u/Sugreev2001]

This is a great channel. I highly recommend subscribing to it, along with a similar channel called Oliver Harper.

[u/Teh_Pagemaster]

I know I’m late to this, but I read a book on him entitled “The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts” and it really gives you a deep insight into the guy. I believe his brother worked on the book. The entire thing just consists of quotes about him arranged chronologically and it creates a solid narrative on his life. I’d highly recommend to any who are more interested in Farley.