The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts by Tanner Colby, Tom Farley

he was becoming. He really seemed like he was uncomfortable being the great, swaggering drunk; it didn’t suit him. I always thought that inside there was this nice kid from Wisconsin going, “I’m really not comfortable doing this, but this is who I’m supposed to be.”

TIM MEADOWS:
    Chris used to say that he only had one character, and that was the fat, loud guy. But of course that wasn’t true at all. In our last revue, we did a scene where the premise was basically that Chris and I were good friends, we’re hanging out, and then his sister, played by Jill Talley, comes in. She and I really hit it off and I’m digging on her and Chris is really not okay with it.

JILL TALLEY, cast member:
    The more Tim and I would milk our flirtation, the more Chris would amp up his reactions. Tim was giving me a foot rub, I was laughing at all of his jokes, and Chris was just fuming, bubbling under the surface, which he did so brilliantly.
    Then Chris comes right out and tells Tim, “You can’t date my sister.”
    “Why, because we’re friends?”
    “No, because you’re black.”

TIM MEADOWS:
    The thing that I loved about Chris was that he was willing to be the racist in that scene. He starts off as my best friend, and then when I exit the stage for a moment he does this really subtle change where he confronts her and tells her he doesn’t like it. Then I walk back onstage right as he says “nigger.” Every night you could hear a pin drop as soon as he said it. People didn’t expect that from Second City, and they certainly didn’t expect it from Chris.

FR. MATT FOLEY:
    When he was at Second City, he would call me late at night and I could tell he was using, that he was not doing well. He was really struggling; he was so damn lonely. He’d lost some of his anchors, and he was ashamed of his drug use.

TIM MEADOWS:
    When we were in Chicago, we all drank, and we all did our share of other things. But one night after we did the first show we were getting notes from Del in the back. Farley went into the kitchen, got a bottle of wine, and just started guzzling it straight down. I remember watching him drink that bottle and thinking, holy shit.
    Then, when we would go out drinking after the show, it would never end. His personality changed. He was a messy drunk. He would just get loud and in your face. I would go to one bar with him, and then he’d ask me if I was going to Burton Place, this bar that was open until five in the morning. I’d say, “No, I don’t like that place.” There was just a bad vibe in there, a lot of people who were involved in heavier drugs. I used to call it Satan’s Den, and he would always tease me about that. “You wanna go over to Satan’s Den with me?”

TIM O’MALLEY:
    When you drank or got high with Chris, it was like corralling a tiger. I was doing coke on a regular basis, and I knew I was an addict. I don’t know if I recognized Chris as being worse off than me, though. Guzzle and pour, guzzle and pour, slobber and puke. That was about it for us. We’d sleep all day. If we had rehearsal, we’d haul out of bed and make it there by eleven. We’d always try and get home by sunrise and get some sleep, but some days we were partying right up through to rehearsal, then try and get a nap and some food in before the show. Then, sometimes, we were just high for days.

TED DONDANVILLE:
    The first hour of drinking with Chris was fun. The second hour was the best hour of your life. The rest of the night was pure hell.

DAVID PASQUESI:
    He was taking it as far as someone could while still making it to work, and he was being rewarded all along the way. So there was no reason to stop.

TOM GIANAS:
    Chris came in to rehearsal one day, and he was really out of it, kind of falling asleep. I took him aside and told him he had to go home. But Chris could always turn on the charm. He talked me into letting him stay. I always regretted that one moment. It was just a minor incident, but it was one