When Chris Farley first
attracted national attention for his work on Saturday
Night Live, not only was he compared to
vanguard SNL cast member John Belushi by
critics, but he himself admitted to having
modeled his comedy on Belushi's loose-cannon
technique. He once recounted, "I remember
going to see Animal House with my dad and
hearing him roar with laughter every time John
Belushi came onscreen. I thought that was great,
to have somebody make my dad laugh
uncontrollably. I wanted to do that. I wanted to
be like him." And the similarities between
the comedians were striking: both were masters of
over-the-top humor; both relied on their ample
physique to generate laughs; and on a terribly
tragic note, both were snatched away at the age
of thirty-three. Farley's death Thursday from an
apparent heart attack brings to an untimely close
a short career that at its best provided some of
the classic low-comedy bits of this decade, and
at its worst, provided some of the classic low-comedy
bits of this decade. His infamous SNL
sketches as loser-turned-motivational speaker
Matt Foley inspired countless Monday morning
coffee-break impersonations, and his die-hard
Chicago football fan introduced the nation to the
proper pronunciation of the team's name, "Da
Bears." Sure, it's a cliché to encourage
people to dwell on the good in unfortunate
situations like this, but in the case of a
comedic giant like Chris Farley, we think that
advice is right on the mark. Finding something to
smile about in relation to him is as easy as
falling off a log at JT's Chris Farley page, which
normally provides a thorough retrospective of the
comedian's impressive tenure on Saturday Night
Live, but now boasts an irreverently
hilarious song concerning his death. We're sure
he would have approved. For the best all-around
fan tribute--one that encompasses Farley's post-SNL
film career--look no farther than the gargantuan
archive on Dave's Chris Farley Page.