Feb. 15 — Cake and candles because “I’m STARVING!”
Chris Farley (1964) should’ve turned 57 today. Born in Madison, Wis., and raised in Maple Bluff, he was big into athletics and acting. But the soft-hearted Farley loved making people laugh more than anything, and gravitate toward acting. He made his way to Chicago, working first at Improv Olympic, then at Second City Theatre (where he started on the same day as Stephen Colbert). He joined SNL in 1990, collaborating frequently enough with Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Tim Meadows, and David Spade that their group became known as the “Bad Boys of SNL.” He was a “Superfan.” He was “Matt Foley: motivational speaker.” He showed Patrick Swayze how to dance. He was Mama Cass and the lunch lady in Sandler’s “Lunchladyland.” He was a prankster who had such a penchant for getting naked for laughs that Rock once said he probably saw Farley’s private parts more than Farley’s girlfriend did. Farley was as big a class-clown goofball as anyone could imagine. The party never really ended for Farley. Alcohol and drugs kept fueling the good times. Things spiraled out of control to where he was fired from SNL in 1995.
We kept laughing.
Farley starred in “Tommy Boy” (1995) and “Black Sheep” (1996), which were true to his self-aware revelation that he only really ever played one character, just at different volumes. The diminutive David Spade played the straight man that Farley’s act so desperately needed, waking the echoes of Laurel and Hardy, and Abbott and Costello. “The Cable Guy” was originally written for Farley, but scheduling conflicts allowed it to go to Jim Carrey. The author of the “Captain Underpants” series wanted Farley to play the lead role in a children’s TV series, and Farley was even working as the voice of “Shrek” before December 1997. One can scarcely imagine more perfect roles for the oversized kid. Then came Oct. 25, 1997.
We stopped laughing.
Farley would host SNL for the first time. Cast and showrunners were so concerned about his visible decline in health that the episode has since been pulled from circulation. It was the culmination of Farley having sought treatment for his addictions 17 times.
We wept.
Farley’s brother found him in his apartment on Dec. 18, 1997, dead of a speedball (cocaine/morphine) at 33. His career and death tracked that of his comedic idol, John Belushi. Most of Farley’s old castmates were there, except Spade, who couldn’t handle seeing Farley “in a box.” Farley is interred at Resurrection Cemetery in Madison.
Matt Groening (1954), 67, developed “The Simpsons” after his original comic strip, “Life in Hell” (1977–2012). Producer James L. Brooks reached out about Groening animating the strip for “The Tracy Ullman Show” in 1985. Fearing he’d lose the rights to the strip, Groening came up with something new for the show. “The Simpsons” has been going strong since 1989.
If Darrell Green (1960) can still “run his age,” he’s still faster than most of us at 61. Long known to be the fastest player in the NFL as a cornerback for the Washington Redskins (1983–2002), he’d said he wanted to “run his age,” meaning, say, a 4.3-second 40-yard dash when he was 43 years old. Well, he bettered that by several years. In 2010 when he was 50, he ran a 4.43. But he was more than just fleet of foot. A two-time Super Bowl champ and seven-time Pro Bowler, Green earned a gold jacket as a Pro Football Hall of Famer in 2008.
