Autopsy Completed

Former ‘Saturday Night Live’ Star Dies at 33
Farley Autopsy Completed

C H I C A G O, Dec. 19 —Friends and fans expressed sadness today over the loss of comedian Chris Farley and the outsized appetites that apparently led to his death, as autopsy results were inconclusive.
A spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner said the autopsy results were incomplete pending the results of toxicology tests often employed to determine drug use. The results could take weeks.
The burly 33-year-old Farley, whose weight fluctuated near 300 pounds, was found clad only in pajama bottoms Thursday afternoon by his brother John in the entranceway of Farley’s 60th floor condominium in the landmark Hancock Center skyscraper. Police said there was no sign of foul play and no drug paraphernalia was found in the apartment.

Friends Recall "A Nice Guy"
Farley died at the same age as one of his idols, comedian John Belushi, who was found dead in 1982 of a drug overdose, and like Belushi he was beloved for a manic, self-deprecating style that Farley himself found difficult to maintain.
     “Although I love this kind of comedy, sometimes I feel trapped by always having to be the most outrageous guy in the room,” Farley said in a published interview last year.
     “I’m working on trying not to be that guy in my private life,” he said, noting his former boss Lorne Michaels on television’s Saturday Night Live show told him that was what killed Belushi.
     “He was a nice guy, but obviously self-destructive,” said Bea Klugh, the owner of the Old Town Ale House, a tavern across the street from The Second City theater where Farley perfected his craft.
     “He was always well-behaved here. He was very friendly and not at all standoffish,” she said. “Some of the stars are full of themselves and others not; Farley and Belushi and [Dan] Akroyd never were.”
     Comedy writer Tim Kazurinsky, another Second City and Saturday Night Live alumnus, told the Chicago Tribune that friends were “nervous for Chris” because of his girth and party habits.
     “There are a lot of people shedding tears because they were unable to stop this from happening,” Kazurinsky said.
     “I know his (Alcoholics Anonymous treatment program) sponsor tried desperately,” he said. “I think a lot of people who knew Chris knew he was having trouble.”

Farley Was Most Proud of Latest Role
Among Farley’s best-known characterizations were the inept motivational speaker Matt Foley who would hike up his bulging pants while bellowing to young clients that he “lived in a van down by the river.”
     As one of the “superfans” that worshipped “Da Bears” football team, Farley would act like he was suffering a heart attack and then revive himself by pounding on his own chest, all the while continuing to munch on giant sausages.
     During his five-year stint on Saturday Night Live, Farley had small roles in the two Wayne’s World movies and The Coneheads. He then left the television show to star in a series of slapstick movies including Beverly Hills Ninja earlier this year, playing buffoonish but well-meaning characters.
     He was reported to be most proud of his upcoming role in the soon-to-be-released period piece Edwards and Hunt, in which he co-starred with Matthew Perry, a star of the television show Friends, as a pair of fictional explorers.