Chris Rock Explains How 'Chippendales' Killed Chris Farley
As we learned recently, SNL's Chris Farley was far from coddled or loved during his final years by fellow cast members. And now, a new biography on Chris Farley titled The Chris Farley Show will divulge more depressing tales from friends of Farley and how exactly they went about attempting to help the struggling addict get better (hint: they didn't). From former co-stars dishing on his desperate attempts to be loved using prostitutes to anecdotes involving his habit of licking everything from his shoelaces to his wallet, one revelation made by Chris Rock stands out:
"'Chippendales' was a weird sketch. I always hated it...The joke of it is, basically, 'We can't hire you because you're fat.' There's no comic twist to it. It's just [bleep]ing mean. Chris wanted so much to be liked. As funny as that sketch was...it's one of the things that killed him."More dismal details regarding Farley's last days after the jump.
As the NYDN reports, SNL writer Bob Odenkirk called him "totally nuts." But that's the least of it. Former cast member Norm McDonald reveals that after Farley was let go from the show, he felt so low that he'd taken to bringing prostitutes "to dinner and treat them so sweetly. He'd introduce them to you as his girlfriend." Producer Lorne Michaels has repeatedly compared Farley to his predecessor John Belushi, who died at the same age of 33, under remarkably similar circumstances: after going on a drug-infused bender with a strange woman, he was left alone to die after injecting speedballs.
When asked to compare Farley to John Belushi in an interview with TV Guide, Lorne explained:
"John was physical, but he could do remarkable impressions. He could do very deep character work, and I think that he found much more of his talent. Chris, he just didn't get the chance...He perhaps romanticised what he thought was John, the way John lived."And in the upcoming biography, Michaels reveals a much harsher take on Farley's problems: "As soon as I heard it was heroin, I was having none of it. I had been through it with John and I wasn't doing it again."
[Photo credit: Getty]
- CHRIS FARLEY'S DARK COMEDY [NYDN]
7:30 AM on Tue Apr 22 2008
by Molly Friedman
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[www.broadcaster.com] - Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker. "VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER". Still makes me laugh until I cry.
Xylo
@junkie:
well sure, however it was more a commentary on the unlikeliness of someone of his physical stature being "accepted" in society as it was poking fun at the fat guy. and really, Farley's facial expressions and dance moves were easily as funny as the "extra girth"
EuroDad
The guy was certainly more than a one-joke pony.
There was some radiant comedic genius there; if only he had lived long enough to...well, I don't want to say "expand" "broaden" or "flesh-out" his gifts, but I guess I'll have to, with a total "no pun" caveat.
I'd read the bio. There's got to be something extremely poignant about a man who speedballs himself to death whilst clutching a rosary in obvious fear for his own soul.
There. I've gone and spooked myself.
mothrafairy
There's no way you can hide it or obfuscate it Stanley Fish-style, Farley's fatness was THE joke in that sketch, well that and his bad dancing. Skinny guy, bad dancer = mild chuckles most likely or Night at Roxbury at best.
junkie
OK, Rock is wrong about the Chippendales sketch, but he was right about Farley's literally fatal lack of self-esteem; Farley himself summed up his comedy career as "fat guy fall down, go boom" [www.google.com] .There were a couple of really unflattering profiles of Farley in print not long before he died--one in New York magazine and one in EW, I think--and I'm sure that they didn't help his self-loathing much.
Eh, I can't feel that sorry for him, for all that. He could have taken the millions that he got for acting in some really shitty movies, hired a personal trainer, slimmed down, and spent the rest of his life as an amateur Cat 5 bicycle racer. Beats the crap out of croaking on your living room carpet and having pictures of your dead ass all over the internet.
halloweenjack
Wasn't it Rock who said you'd have lost a bet: two guys sharing an office and it's the preppy white guy who OD's?
raincoaster
...Sadly witnessed Farley crossing a street in Beverly Hills one afternoon not too long before his death. My car was the first one at the light and he was a sad sight. There was a woman with him - that did resemble a low rent hooker, and she walked a few paces behind him. She was with him but not with him. Like she was escorting him so he wouldn't be alone. He seemed to be coming out of the Catholic church on the corner. He was wearing a jacket with socks and sandels and at first I thought it was a very old fat man crossing the street very slowly. He looked like he was just one heart attack away from Belushi at that point alone.
Mr-Busy
Yeah, but Rock gave a brilliant lesson on Delivery on the Comedy Central Autism special, when he did that bit with Steven Wright where they told each other's jokes and neither of them were funny...
Pay_Me_Or_Pay_Me_No_Attention
@EuroDad: Good point. Remember Nat X? And isn't Rock's post-SNL standup career built entirely on being the outraged, specifically black dude? And as far as mean behavior goes, Rock is the guy who proclaimed his inclination to "shake the shit out of a woman" on 'Bring the Pain'.
Crazydogggz
Yeah, Chris is way off about that skit. The joke was also that he made it so far and that the judges and his competitor, Swayze, were all really respectful of Chris.
The joke was people were acting the way they are supposed to act, but never would in real life. It's really brilliant. If Chris saw it as "You're fat, ha ha" it could be a clue why Rock never found his place on that show. Nat X? Really?
StylusPictures
sad story indeed.
but c'mon Chris Rock, that skit was pure awesome and i don't really feel it was mean (nor do i recall anything about "not hiring because he was fat" - his character DID make it to the final callback ferchrissakes. Farley played up his character traits and owned it, just like i'm sure you've used the "black guy" thing to your advantage on oh-so-many occasions.
EuroDad