The new documentary “I Am Chris Farley,” opening July 31, tells the life story of the energetic comedian who died of an overdose in 1997.
Farley’s family and “Saturday Night Live” co-stars talk about his rise to fame and death.
Though pal David Spade doesn’t plan to watch it himself: “I saw the trailer. When Chris comes up and cartwheels on ‘Letterman,’ it’s like, oh, what a stab. It’s gonna be a tear-jerker.”
Some highlights from the film: Farley worked for his dad’s asphalt company before signing up for improv classes at a local theater. He showed up for the 10 a.m. session with a case of beer. He ultimately moved on to Chicago’s famed Second City.
Mike Myers (“SNL” co-star): “I improvised with Chris, and I was scared to death, because he had already knocked someone’s tooth out and [given] someone else a scar just from being so crazy.”
In 1990, Farley was hired for “SNL.”
Lorne Michaels (“SNL” producer): “I used to say he was the child Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi didn’t have.”
Farley’s appetites soon caught up with him. He was sent to rehab, the first of over 17 stints, in 1991.
Pat Finn (college friend): “He did everything to excess. When it came to drinking and other stuff, he got caught in a world he couldn’t get out of.”
Kevin Farley (brother): “It was nice to see him doing well . . . He’d go down to Rochester Big & Tall and buy like 10 suits. He’d slick his hair back, and I’m like, ‘who is this guy?’ ”
Farley was fired from “SNL” in 1995. He then turned to movies. The comedian gained weight and began using drugs again, eventually dying from an overdose of cocaine and morphine in his Chicago home.
David Spade (“SNL” co-star): “It took months before I could go, ‘OK, I can talk about this.’ It comes up in my life every day, and I think it will forever.”