Career

Saturday Night Live

Along with Chris Rock, Farley was one of two new Saturday Night Live cast members announced in the spring of 1990.^[2][3] On SNL, Farley frequently collaborated with his fellow cast members Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, and David Spade, among others. This group came to be known as the "Bad Boys of SNL."^[12]
Popular characters performed by Farley included Matt Foley, an over-the-top motivational speaker who constantly reminded other characters that he "lived in a van, down by the river". The name of the character was drawn from a real life friend of Farley's named Matt Foley, who, during a troubled period, lived in a van near a river. He later became a Catholic priest and appeared in the 2015 documentary "I am Chris Farley". In early renditions of the character, Farley used other names, depending on whom he knew in the audience, until the real life Foley went to the show and had his name used, at which point Farley felt the name best suited the character and refused to change it. Some of the mannerisms of the character were a combination of the positions Farley noticed his Rugby teammates take (at the pitch), coupled with the angry, high pitched yet low volume/muffled voice his father used when he was angry;^[13] Todd O'Connor of Bill Swerski's Superfans, a group of stereotypical Chicagoans who constantly shouted "da Bears!";^[14] a Chippendale's dancer, in a famous sketch that paired him with guest host Patrick Swayze;^[15] one of the "Gap Girls", who hung out together at a local mall; a stereotypical lunch lady, to the theme of Lunchlady Land performed by Adam Sandler;^[16] Bennett Brauer, a Weekend Update commentator who often divulged his personal and hygienic problems via air quotes; and himself on The Chris Farley Show, a talk show in which Farley quite often "interviewed" the guest, regularly getting very nervous.
Some of these characters were brought to SNL from his days at Second City. Farley also performed impersonations of Tom Arnold, who gave Farley's eulogy at his private funeral; Andrew Giuliani, Jerry Garcia, Meat Loaf, Norman Schwarzkopf, Dom DeLuise, Roger Ebert, Carnie Wilson, Newt Gingrich, Mindy Cohn, Mama Cass, Hank Williams, Jr., and Rush Limbaugh.^[17]
Off-screen, Farley was well known for his pranks in the offices of Saturday Night Live. This would refer to Sandler and Farley making late-night prank phone calls from the SNL offices in Rockefeller Center, with Sandler speaking in an old woman's voice and Farley farting into the phone and mooning cars from a limousine. He was also known to frequently get naked and do various stunts for laughs. Chris Rock once claimed that he probably saw Farley's private parts more than Farley's girlfriend did.^[18][19][20] Sandler told Conan O'Brien on Late Night that NBC fired him and Farley from the show in 1995.^[21]

Film career

During his time on SNL, Farley appeared in the comedy films Wayne's World,^[22] Coneheads,^[23] Airheads,^[24] and uncredited in Billy Madison.^[25] He also appeared in the Red Hot Chili Peppers music video for "Soul to Squeeze", which was a song featured on the Coneheads soundtrack.^[26]
After Farley and most of his fellow cast members were released from their contracts at Saturday Night Live following the 1994–1995 season, Farley began focusing on his film career. His first two major films co-starred his fellow SNL colleague and close friend David Spade. Together, the duo made the films Tommy Boy and Black Sheep. These were a success at the domestic box office, earning around $32 million each and gaining a large cult following on home video.^[27][28]
The two films established Farley as a relatively bankable star and he was given the title role of Beverly Hills Ninja, which finished in first place at the box office on its opening weekend.^[29]
Drug and alcohol abuse-related problems interfered with Farley's film work at this time. Production of his final film, Almost Heroes, was held up several times so Farley could enter rehab. He was known among comedic contemporaries and friends to be sensitive about how his comedy was perceived ("fatty-fall-down"), and was particularly hurt by harsh critical reactions to Tommy Boy, a film he enjoyed making. He was particularly dissatisfied with Black Sheep, an attempt by the studio to recapture the chemistry on Tommy Boy and was only 60 pages into the script when the project was green-lit. As a result, he relapsed again the night of the premier, which required further rehab before he would begin to work on Beverly Hills Ninja.^[30] After his death on December 18, 1997, his final completed films, Almost Heroes and Dirty Work, were released posthumously.