“I Am Chris Farley” does not — and obviously cannot — shy away from the comic actor’s death at age 33 of an overdose of cocaine and morphine.
It mentions his 17 stints in rehab, including an epic relapse after a preview of the movie “Black Sheep,” but it doesn’t dwell on his final weeks or hours but on his talent, vulnerability, kindness, charisma, desire to be part of a team or ensemble, and willingness to do anything for a laugh.
That was obvious to anyone who watched him crash through that coffee table during the “Saturday Night Live” Matt Foley sketch (he was the one living in a van down by the river). It was apparent to anyone who saw him alongside Patrick Swayze as an aspiring Chippendales dancer.
Fellow “SNL” player Mike Myers recalls that after the skit — in which both actors were shirtless and gyrating up a storm — “We were like, this guy’s going to be giant.” But he knew that back in Chicago when he shared The Second City stage with him and lived to tell and rave about it.
He did improv with Farley and says, “I was scared to death.” In his exuberance, Farley had knocked out someone’s tooth and left another performer with a scar. “I have a lot of energy, but I don’t have that energy.”
Dan Aykroyd, who speaks of Farley in almost fatherly terms, acknowledges that the late comic pushed it, just as John Belushi had. “He had automatic charisma,” making heads turn when he entered a room.
“I Am Chris Farley,” which counts Chris’ brother Kevin Farley as an executive producer, features interviews with family members along with many other “SNL” alums (David Spade, Adam Sandler, Molly Shannon, Jon Lovitz, Jay Mohr) plus creator Lorne Michaels. And it turns out there is a Father Matt Foley who went to school with Chris and whose name was appropriated for the motivational speaker sketch inspired by the father of the five Farley children.
Writer and actor Fred Wolf compares the actor to a ski lift; “SNL” writers would craft a sketch and hold on as Farley pulled it up the hill to roaring audience approval. He was a man of big appetites who vaulted to TV and then movie fame and found himself working long hours, grappling with success and eventually being cut loose from “SNL” (along with Sandler, due to “a change in administration at NBC,” Michaels says).
As Bob Saget observes, “Success in show business does not always create the best version of people.”
A few weeks after his passing, Entertainment Weekly published a story headlined “Chris Farley’s sad, drug-fueled final days.” Much has been made of his death, and it’s only right that family and friends remind us of his life.
Watch
“I Am Chris Farley”
9 p.m. Aug. 10, Spike (cable)
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