The Chris Farley Show: A Biography In Three Acts, by Tom Farley and Tanner Colby tells the story of who Chris Farley really was through the stories and memories of the people that knew him best. I was never a big fan of his, as I found most of his comedy a little too juvenile for me. However, my kids found him extremely funny. After reading The Chris Farley Show, I now see that there was so much more to him that just an insanely crude and funny guy.

It is evident that from this biography that family and friends meant a great deal to Chris Farley. Everyone that knew him found him to be very lovable. However nobody could do anything to control has addictive habits. It is so eerie that John Belushi was Chris's idol and that a whole new generation of Saturday Night Live fans lived through a very similar death.

Here are some excerpts from The Chris Farley Show: A Biography In Three Acts. These are quotes from his SNL colleagues upon first meeting him:

CONAN O' BRIEN, writer:

When Chris first got to the show, I met him hanging out in the conference room outside Lorne's office. He was dressed kind of like a kid going to a job interview. We chatted for a bit. I liked him right away.

I came in and out of that conference room several times during the day, and Chris was still waiting. Lorne would do that to you, make you wait a long time. At the end of the day, I was feeling bad for him, so I said, "Hey, kid. I'll show you around the studio," and I led him on kind of a mock tour where I pretended to be in charge of everyone. Chris fell in and started playing along with me. After that I left and went home. I came back to work the next day, and Chris was still waiting outside Lorne's office.

He had this energy, even when he was sitting there waiting for his meeting, rocking back and forth in his ill-fitting sports jacket with his tie all pulled off to the side. He seemed really earnest about doing the show. You just had the feeling that he was going to be a lot of fun and he belonged here. It was like the show -- and I don't mean this to sound condescending -- but it was like the show had been given this new golden retriever puppy.


LORNE MICHAELS, executive producer:

I'd had something of a concern that maybe he was too big, personality-wise, to play on television. Theatrically, he was sort of playing to the back of the house. But after we saw him, there really wasn't much doubt.

ROBERT SMIGEL:

Lorne invited me to be in on his meeting with Chris. Chris showed up, and he was in full altar-boy mode, lots of "yes, sirs" and bright-eyed alertness. He was so transparently on his best behavior that you kind of had to laugh and wonder if it was inversely proportional to his worst behavior. Lorne talked about the show and what would be expected of him, and Chris just kept sweetly nodding his head in agreement. Lorne had been told, at that point, about Chris's problems. I don't remember exactly what he said, but he told Chris, in so many words, that it wouldn't be tolerated. He even said something to the effect of "We don't want another Belushi."

LORNE MICHAELS:

It wasn't presented to us that Chris had any sort of problem, just that he was still a little young and liked to party too much.

TOM FARLEY:

All the cast and writers were sort of strolling in over the course of that first week. Chris immediately gravitated to this younger, newer crowd of writers and actors: Rob Schneider, Adam Sandler, and David Spade. They were coming on as writers. The only two new cast members were Chris and Chris Rock. They got all the press.

DAVID SPADE, cast member:

I had done four shows as a writer/performer. Then it was summer break, and when I got back Farley and Rock came on as featured players. Sandler came about six months later.

I met Chris the first day, walking over from the Omni Berkshire, where SNL had put us up. I saw him downstairs, and I'd heard about him. We talked and then we walked over to 30 Rock together. I thought he was funny. He was a nice Wisconsin dude, a genuine, sweet guy. I was out from Arizona. I'm not really a bad guy. We just gravitated to hanging out all the time and stayed buddies ever since.

MARCI KLEIN, talent coordinator:

I first met him the day he started. He was wearing this English driving cap and looking very Irish. He was very quiet and deferential, very nervous, like I was the person in charge or something, which I thought was funny, because I wasn't. He would get so nervous; that was one of the things that was really charming about him.

CHRIS ROCK, cast member:

We both got hired the same day, which was probably one of the greatest days of my life. We were the new guys, and they threw us together. The funny thing was that everyone was worried about me -- I lived in Brooklyn and didn't want to move to Manhattan, because I couldn't park on the street and I couldn't get a cab. I said it in the Live from New York book: Two guys named Chris both get hired on the same day and share an office. One's a black guy from Bed-Stuy and one's a white guy from Madison, Wisconsin. Now, which one is going to OD?

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