When I first heard about the I AM CHRIS FARLEY documentary I was excited. Then I watched the trailer and it all felt very bittersweet. Farley was a great cast member on SNL and we got a snapshot of what he could do with featured rolls like Tommy Boy and Black Sheep but we never got to see his true full potential. As I came home from high school one day I had heard of his passing at only the age of 33. Like a few other great SNL cast members before him he was gone to soon.
I had the pleasure to sit down with Chris’ brother Kevin Farley who help put the documentary together (Directed by: Brent Hodge and Derik Murray). He was incredibly humble and generous with his time to share memories of his brother with me.
At one point during our interview Kevin pulls a classic line from Tommy Boy to describe the writing process and how fame can take a toll on someone that the general public doesn’t see;
KEVIN FARLEY: “You just want to eat the steak you don’t want to see how the steak is made…you don’t want to go behind the butcher shop to see how they got the steak. It’s plain old hard grueling work. But when you have a guy like Chris that’s in the scene and performing it, you know at least you are going to get some kind of laugh out of it. Because he finds the way to make it funny.”
To me it always felt like Chris was a writers dream on SNL because you could always count on him to get a laugh. This was a microcosm of Farley’s life. He was infection and his physically comedy was almost second to none. I would go on in the interview to compare Chris to other comedy legends…
KC CANTON: “To me Chris was a perfect combo of John Belushi and John Candy.”
KEVIN: “Yeah I think Chris was more like John Candy than Belushi. I just think that he had the vulnerability of John Candy but the physicality of Belushi. He had a good combo of both of those guys.”
KC CANTON: If someone came to Loren Michaels and said I have a combo of someone who is Candy and Belushi you would have to laugh in their face but here we had Chris and that’s exactly what I thought of. We’ve lost these guys to soon and He had so much overlap of those two guys that were legends of comedy and Chris embodied both of those guys somehow. It’s pretty rare”
KEVIN: “Even though he was my brother I honestly think he was one of the most unique people that ever did comedy. I really think he stands alone in a lot of areas.”
I AM CHRIS FARLEY is a documentary about Chris told by his peers. It’s heartfelt and bittersweet tribute that revisits some of the good times Chris brought us and how the struggle dealing with the rush of fame and be a dark path, even for the funniest of people.
I AM CHRIS FARLEY debuts on SPIKE TV August 10th. Check your local listings for showtimes. PRE-ORDER THE DVD
