A wonderful, sad book about a wonderful sad man: "The Chris Farley Show"
Here's my review at Amazon of the book, which came out about a few months ago.
It's an extremely well written book, surprisingly so, about the troubled and brilliant addict, Chris Farley, who died just before Christmas of 1997. He died of heart failure brought on by drug use and food addiction, much much too young.
Though Farley has only one good movie and a several dozen Saturday Night Live sketches to remember his on screen life by, the book interviews dozens and dozens of folks who knew him best. The authors; Chris' brother Tom Farley, Jr. and Tanner Colby, do a wonderful job of telling the WHOLE story: describing the big hearted lunk who could always make other comedians laugh and the addict who couldn't control his addictions and at the end alienated all who loved him.
Why did Farley have to die? Well, he didn't have to. He did, though. The lesson being that addiction to alcohol, drugs, even food can and will kill you much too young if left untreated. Farley had the advantages of money and fame, but the disadvantage of being so charming that he could literally get away with anything in his loved ones eyes, at least until the end.
In the end, his legacy will be controversial "Chippendales" sketch with Patrick Swayze, Matt Foley, the motivational speaker running character, and the sweet, enduring and endearing "Tommy Boy", on of my favorite buddy comedies, as well as his death due to his alcoholism and drug addiction. Hopefully, we can learn from both: how to laugh, and how to live.
It's an extremely well written book, surprisingly so, about the troubled and brilliant addict, Chris Farley, who died just before Christmas of 1997. He died of heart failure brought on by drug use and food addiction, much much too young.
Though Farley has only one good movie and a several dozen Saturday Night Live sketches to remember his on screen life by, the book interviews dozens and dozens of folks who knew him best. The authors; Chris' brother Tom Farley, Jr. and Tanner Colby, do a wonderful job of telling the WHOLE story: describing the big hearted lunk who could always make other comedians laugh and the addict who couldn't control his addictions and at the end alienated all who loved him.
Why did Farley have to die? Well, he didn't have to. He did, though. The lesson being that addiction to alcohol, drugs, even food can and will kill you much too young if left untreated. Farley had the advantages of money and fame, but the disadvantage of being so charming that he could literally get away with anything in his loved ones eyes, at least until the end.
In the end, his legacy will be controversial "Chippendales" sketch with Patrick Swayze, Matt Foley, the motivational speaker running character, and the sweet, enduring and endearing "Tommy Boy", on of my favorite buddy comedies, as well as his death due to his alcoholism and drug addiction. Hopefully, we can learn from both: how to laugh, and how to live.
posted by joe sweeney at 9:05 PM
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