The first time comedian Chris Farley tried alcohol at age 17 in Madison, he got "blind drunk" and became wilder than normal. He liked how people responded.
"I was like, ’Yeah! Maybe I’ll even get a chick now!’" Farley told a group of recovering addicts at Hazelden, a drug rehabilitation center in Center City, Minn., on June 24, 1994.
Farley also said he wanted to be like former Saturday Night Live star John Belushi, who died of an overdose of cocaine and heroin in 1982. Farley said Belushi’s drug abuse might have scared some people from drugs, but not him.
"’Cause I wanted to be like him in every way, like all those guys from that show. I thought that’s what you had to do."
His rehab speech is part of "The Chris Farley Show. A Biography in Three Acts" by his older brother Tom Farley, Jr. and Tanner Colby.
At that point, Farley had been sober for one year, six months and six days. He had had unsuccessful rehab stints and told the crowd he was confident things would be different this time.
But he died from the same combination of drugs at the same age as Belushi. The 33-year-old comedian was found in a Chicago apartment on Dec. 18, 1997.
The book’s release coincides with the opening of a Wisconsin Historical Museum exhibit titled, "Chris Farley Remembered." The exhibit runs through Nov. 15.
Tom Farley said his brother had a softer side few saw. He was a dedicated churchgoer who entertained terminally ill children. He would give $100 and a ride to a homeless woman or help seniors through his church in New York.
"I never thought much of Chris growing up as an older brother, I thought ’He will never catch up to the level I’ve raised this bar,’" Tom Farley said. "He didn’t. He redefined it and went well beyond it."
The authors interviewed more than 100 people, including David Spade, Chris Rock, SNL creator Lorne Michaels, Alec Baldwin and Conan O’Brien.
The book also details Farley’s upbringing in Madison, his years at Marquette University, learning at ImprovOlympic and Second City in Chicago, and performing on SNL and in "Tommy Boy," "Black Sheep," "Beverly Hills Ninja," and "Almost Heroes."
The book delves into Chris Farley’s efforts to get sober with some unflattering details about relapses. In one incident, the comedian spent the night in a hot tub with Playboy models, flew the group to Hawaii on a whim and, the next day, didn’t remember getting there.
Spade, who was in "Tommy Boy" and "Black Sheep" with Farley, described him as afraid of the devil and superstitious, having to pull up his pant leg twice and tap the ground twice before every take.
Tom Farley said working on the book reminded him that his brother’s addictive behavior was not the real Chris.
"The book kind of reminded me that when he was clean and sober, I mean no one could touch him, humor wise and just his humanity was at its best too," he said. "It just kind of reminded me of that. The kid was going through some tough times."
The book’s title refers to an SNL segment where Chris Farley interviewed celebrities, because the skit encapsulated his personality, Tom Farley said.
In it, Chris Farley, as a parody of himself, rarely asked questions of celebrities like Paul McCartney or Martin Scorsese. Instead, he would recount something from the interviewee’s career. Then he would say: "That was awesome."
The brothers shared a bedroom as children, and Chris would ask crazy questions about a movie they had just watched, Tom Farley said.
"So we said, ’Well, if that’s Chris not acting, being just Chris that’s the Chris Farley show,’" he said. "It was quite a show."
Tom Farley has started the Chris Farley Foundation, which is dedicated to the prevention of substance abuse. He speaks at schools around the country.
He knows his brother’s popularity hasn’t waned because middle school kids he talks to are fans. "Saturday Night Live: The Best of Chris Farley" is also one of the most popular selling DVDs from the "best of" series, he said.
Farley said he hoped the book and exhibit would generate more publicity for the foundation.
The exhibit, in Madison about 75 miles west of Milwaukee, has several dozen items including the sweat-stained jacket and tie Chris Farley wore in the "Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker" skit on SNL, a sword from "Beverly Hills Ninja," and Farley’s Marquette University rugby jacket, a replica of which he wore in "Tommy Boy."
John Lemke, spokesman for the Wisconsin Historical Museum, said Farley captured the spirit of Wisconsin and promoted it nationally, like making mention of Aberg Avenue near his childhood home in "Beverly Hills Ninja" or wearing his Marquette rugby jacket.
"Something like this won’t be brought together in one place for quite some time, if ever," Lemke said.
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On The Net:
Wisconsin Historical Museum: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/
Book Web site: http://www.thechrisfarleyshow.com/
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