(Credits: Far Out / Virgil Films And Entertainment LLC)
Thu 25 December 2025 21:30, UK
At some point next year, Saturday Night Live will make its debut as a show in the UK, a proper, British version that is, and not just a replaying of the New York one on a Sunday night, which defeats the purpose of the name, really.
The show has been a launching pad for countless comedy stars, not all of whom got the chance to really fulfil their potential. There was, famously, John Belushi, of course, but there was also Chris Farley.
Farley was less of a name here in the UK than he was in the States, mainly because SNL wasn’t shown on these shores and so we weren’t witness to his chaotic brand of oversized comedy. He was a precursor to Jack Black in terms of his manic energy, and he was seen as a possible successor to John Candy, who died towards the end of Farley’s five-season run at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
Known for his commitment to a ‘bit’, he would famously bring total chaos to any sketch he appeared in, throwing himself around, dancing, disrobing and introducing an element of complete uncertainty that the live audience sparked off. He was part of an ensemble cast that included future household names like Chris Rock and Adam Sandler, and right from the off, he lived life as large off-screen as he did on it.
Sandler and Farley, particularly, were known around the show for doing endless pranks, with Farley constantly getting naked and attempting to shock those around him with impressions of characters like the serial killer from The Silence of the Lambs. But like many before him, including one of his heroes in Belushi, his comic persona hid personal issues; Farley battled alcohol and drug addiction from his mid-twenties onwards.
Another SNL legend that Farley idolised was Chevy Chase, one of the original cast members, the first host of ‘Weekend Update’ and one of the first cast members to leave the show and become a huge movie star, especially through the 1980s with the National Lampoon and Fletch films.
Fred Wolf, who was a writer on the show, said, “I was in such awe of Chevy, and I know Farley was too. Chevy was very nice to Farley, and Farley would sort of sit at his feet and listen to him talk – because Farley was physical, Chevy was physical, and Chevy was telling Farley that he was worried about him throwing out his back or getting into the same problems that Chevy got into because of his physicality. Chevy would talk to Farley and be very nice to him. And Farley just loved it.”
In the end, Farley did manage to make the transition into mainstream movies like his idol, Chase. He appeared in both Wayne’s World movies in cameo roles, but then got a major part in the comedies Tommy Boy and Black Sheep, both alongside his fellow SNL cast member David Spade. The two films did well at the box office, but rather than make Farley’s life easier, he slipped further into addiction and by 1995, he was fired.
SNL’s creator Lorne Michaels spoke about Farley’s hero worship of Chase and his physical commitment to the show and his performance, saying, “As a kid, Chris had taped his eyebrow up to try and look like Belushi. We often said Chris was the child John and Danny (Aykroyd) never had but would have had if they’d had a child. Chevy came to see Chris once, and Chris was doing his falls, and Chevy said, ‘Don’t you use anything to break your fall?’ Chris said, ‘What do you mean? Did you?’ Chris had welts all over his chest. He just assumed that that was the price you paid for doing it.”
By 1997, Farley began to look very unwell when making public appearances. He had been cast as the lead voice in the upcoming animation Shrek, but before it could be completed, Farley was found dead from an overdose of heroin and cocaine, leaving Mike Myers to remake the film. Farley was 33, the same age as John Belushi when he was also found dead of an overdose.
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