It’s 21 years ago today that one of the most talented and gifted comedians of the 90s, Chris Farley died of a drug overdose at the age of just 33 years old. Farley did manage to become one of the best performers in the 40+ year history of Saturday Night Live and I got to say, I feel that we lost a huge talent much too soon as he was not just a great comedian, but a very gifted actor who many feel that could leave his stamp in dramatic roles if he was still with us.
He was also a very sweet and sensitive man; Dave Gahan said in a BBC Radio interview in 2005 that one afternoon Farley went to pick him up by his place in LA, during obviously the drug fuelled days of both stars, and he surprised Gahan by playing Dreaming of Me on the car stereo and singing the lyrics!
Farley was also a good friend of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: he had appeared in the video for 1993’s Soul Squeeze and RCHP praised him in their Purple Stain song from 1999’s Californication with the line «Farley is an angel and I can prove this».
But back to SNL… and probably Chris Farley’s best moment. It’s also one of Paul McCartney’s funniest TV appearances ever: «Do you remember when you were with The Beatles? That was awesome.»
As Paul agreed, «yes it was». Yes it was Chris, and so were you.
Check the video and its description below.
That Time Chris Farley Interviewed Paul McCartney on Saturday Night Live, by Annie Zaleski for Ultimate Classic Rock, 18 December 2017
Chris Farley provided some of Saturday Night Live‘s most enduring comedic moments. However, his recurring sketch, The Chris Farley Show, cemented his place in pop culture’s upper echelon.
The skit’s premise was simple. Farley portrayed a TV host who was nervous interviewing celebrities. He sounded audibly anxious, asked inappropriate questions and beat himself up when he realized he was totally messing up. The sketch only aired three times: twice in 1991 (which found him interviewing Jeff Daniels and Martin Scorsese, respectively) and once more a few years later, on February 13, 1993.
The latter skit found Farley interviewing Beatles legend Paul McCartney, who was on Saturday Night Live as musical guest to promote the recently released Off The Ground. Macca performed three songs during the episode: «Get Out Of My Way,» «Biker Like an Icon» and the Beatles’ «Hey Jude.» But before all that, he was in the hot seat on The Chris Farley Show, being asked questions such as «Did you see Terminator?» («No, I missed that one,» McCartney said dryly.)
The music legend kept a straight face throughout the awkward interview, and gamely answered queries such as, «Remember when you were with the Beatles? That was awesome,» with patient kindness. «Yeah, it was,» McCartney responded.
Later, Farley zeroed in one some of Macca’s more memorable life moments. «You remember when you were with the Beatles, and you were supposed to be dead, and, uh, there was all these clues, that, like, uh, you’d play some song backwards, and it’d say, like, ‘Paul Is Dead,’ and, uh, everyone thought that you were dead?» McCartney nodded in recognition, before Farley asked, «That was, um, a hoax, right?»
«Yeah, I wasn’t really dead,» McCartney deadpanned.
McCartney wasn’t as keen answering questions about being arrested and jailed for trying to bring marijuana into Japan, however, which caused Farley to call himself an idiot, then hit himself on the head in frustration and exclaim, «What a dumb question!»
Ever calm, McCartney let him know, «No, no, no, Chris. I get asked that all the time in interviews. Maria Shriver asked the same question last week.» As the skit wound down, McCartney once again reassured Farley that he did a good job – and sounded genuine, not patronizing, with his demeanor.
Farley was a Saturday Night Live cast member through 1995, and hosted the show in October 1997, but The Chris Farley Show never popped up again. Sadly, Farley died on December 18, 1997, of a drug overdose.
Source: Ultimate Classic Rock
PopMart 2.0 