Latest / DISGRACELAND / Chris Farley: Raging Bulls, Insatiable Appetites, Dead Comics, and a Four-Day Plunge off the Edge

Transcript

Chris Farley: Raging Bulls, Insatiable Appetites, Dead Comics, and a Four-Day Plunge off the Edge · DISGRACELAND

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This is the
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: story of a larger than life comedian, of wild behavior
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: by that larger than life comedian. It's about a torched home,
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: a binge with playboy bunnies, lots of drugs. It's a
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: story about Chris Farley and has hell bent desire to
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: burn as hard as his hero John Belushi. Two comedians
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: who behaved more like rock stars. Rock stars who of
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: course would have made great music. Unlike that music I've
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: played few at the top of the show, wasn't great music?
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: That was a preset loop from my mellotron called Dead
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: before Christmas MK one. I played you that loop because
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: I can't afford the rights to Candle in the Wind
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: by Elton John. And why would I play you that
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: specific slice of recycled tribute cheese? Could I afford it?
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Because that was the number one song in America on
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: December eighteenth, nineteen ninety seven, And that was the day
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: one of the greatest comics we've ever seen, Chris Farley, died.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Just the age of thirty three.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: On this episode, Torch homes binging with playboy bunnies, burning
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: out like Belushi and one of the greatest to ever
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: do it, Chris Farley. I'm Jake Brennan in this this Disgraceland.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Chris Farley lined up at the fourteen yard line at
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Chicago's Soldier Field. His castmates stood watching along with sixty
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: one thousand screaming Bears fans. It was freezing December doesn't
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: fuck around in Chicago, but Farley was sweating and just
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: his flannel shirt and his Bear's starter jacket. The Walrus
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: mustache plastered to his upper lip for the pregame show
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: was beginning to peel off, and his aviator's sunglasses had
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: fogged up. The center waited for Farley to give the
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: signal to snap the ball, but Farley wasn't ready.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: He had to come up with the bit first.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Chris Farley was at the game and character as one
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: of the super Fans, a Saturday Night Live sketch about
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: a Chicago sports show that was a huge hit in
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: the Whitney City, Such a huge hit that Farley and
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: the others have been invited to do a pregame and
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: halftime commentary for an actual Bears game. In character, they
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: were emceeing the halftime point after kick contests along with
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: the Bear's regular announcer, when the announcer turned to Farley.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: And said, Hey, why don't you give it a try.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: Farley's background was an improv a comedy world where you
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: didn't say no, you said yes, and that's what the
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: improv gurus taught you.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: And before the other guys could respond, Farley said they
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: were in. Down on the field, Farley, beer in hand,
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: finally gave the signal. The center snapped the ball. Farley
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: barrowed forward.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: A massive momentum.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: As he approached the ball, he tripped, landed flat on
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: his face. His body kept going. He slid across the
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: frost lick turf, his beer spilled, his aviators hung on
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: to his nose for dear life, and the crowd at
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Soldier Field lost their shit. Farley's castmates realized they'd fucked
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: up when they let him go first. You didn't want
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: to follow Chris Farley. You didn't want to follow Chris
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: Farley on stage, and he sure shit didn't want to
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: follow Chris Farley to a second bar or a third
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: or God help you to.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: An after party.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: The first hour of drinking with Chris Farley was fun,
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: and the second hour was the best hour of your life,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: and the rest of the night was pure hell. Farley
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: hoisted beers at the game and the super fans went
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: out to dinner afterwards, where Farley packed away food and
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: tossed back liquor. He begged the guys to hit another bar. Instead,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: they got in a cat with him and drove him
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: back to his hotel, and they walked him up to
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: his room told him to sleep it off tomorrow they
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: were flying back to New York. Tomorrow was the start
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: of another week at SNL, and they figured that was
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: the end of Farley's night. But Chris Farley had plenty
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: of other friends at Chicago, friends from his days with
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: the Second City Comedy. True, he got ahold of another
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: improvt and convinced her to meet him out at a
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: bar nearby. She didn't know what kind of mileage Farley
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: had put in that night, but she clocked it quick.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: It wasn't long before she took Farley back to his
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: hotel for the second time that night and tried to
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: put him to bed. She didn't want to leave him alone,
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: but she didn't want to stick around either. Chris Farley
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: ripped into the minibar nips of liquor went down his
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: throat like Godzilla, snacking on fleeing civilians, and his friend
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: suggested he slowed down. But when she looked at Farley,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: she didn't see the affable goofball who was the darling
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: of Second City in snl audiences. She saw an animal
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: couldn't get enough booze, enough food, enough sex. Chris Farley
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: put his head down like a raging bull and charged
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: at her with all the speed and momentum he put
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: into running at the football at Soldier Field.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: This was no bit.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: She jumped out of the way as Farley kept going.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: His legs smacked into a waste tied radiator in front
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: of a picture window that stretched up to the hotel
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: room ceiling. His upper body kept going, crashing straight through
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: the plate glass window. Farley hung there like a rag doll,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: dangling over a fifteen story drop blood and broken glasses everywhere.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: His friend stood there and shot. Farley teetered on the
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: radiator before pushing himself back into the room. He looked around, dazed.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: His shirt was drenched in blood, his arms sliced open
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: from shoulder to wrist. His friend screamed. Farley apologized, even
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: if he was too drunk to know what he was
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: apologizing for. His friend rang the front desk call an ambulance.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Then she threw her arms around Farley and struggled to
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: get him down to the lobby, where she assumed help
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: would be waiting.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: But it wasn't.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: No one had called anyone, if no one had done anything,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: and with Farley hanging on her shoulder, she struggled to
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: make her way outside and held a cab Northwestern Hospital
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: emergency Room. A cabby could live his whole life waiting
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: for the moment he gets to be the hero, and
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: this driver stepped up. He swerved and sped through Chicago
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: streets like he was driving a getaway car with hell
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: on his tail.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: A block for the hospital.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Faced with the one way going the wrong way, the
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: cabby said fuck it. He shot through and skid it
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: up next to the curb in front of the emergency room.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: They rushed Farley upstairs. He was still drunk, drunk enough
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: to lift the flap a skin on his arm and
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: peer into the gash. But once they had him settled in.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: Orderly came by to check on him. He recognized Farley
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: right away. Shit is not the guy from Saturday Night Live.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: It was Farley's friend.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Confirmed.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: And you got to keep it quiet, absolutely, said the Orderly,
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: And he did, because in Chicago people looked out for
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Chris Farley. Word of the incident never made it back
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: to New York or to Lauren Michaels, Farley's boss, but
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: it put a scare into Chris Farley, a scare big
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: enough that he kept clean for the weeks that followed.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: When the crew had Saturday Night Live began to put
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: together their annual Christmas episode, Farley was still clean and
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: his Chicago's secret was still safe. He pitched a sketch
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: at the writer's meeting, which was rare. Farley was more
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: of a performer people wrote for him. Everyone liked the sketch,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: but Farley was convinced it would flop. All anyone wanted
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: from him was to see the fat guy fall down.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: He sulked the rest of the meeting, and when they
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: took a break, walked out of thirty Rock, hailed a cab,
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: and checked up the Hell's Kitchen to score some heroin
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: the new guys at SNL that year, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler,
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: Chris Rock and David Spade didn't get their own offices.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: They were paired off. Spade found the drugs in Farley's desk,
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: little bags of white powder. Spade wasn't even much of
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: a drinker. He didn't know what the bags were, but
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: he knew it was shit. They shouldn't be in the office.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: He called Farley out. Farley was high, I dare that
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: snarky little pipsqueak tell him what to do, and told
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Spade to get the fuck out of their office. Spade
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: thought Sama could talk Farley down, but Samla got the
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: same reaction. They didn't have a choice and they had
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: to go tell the boss. Laura Michaels was torn up.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: He loved Chris Farley. Everybody loved Chris Farley, but Michaels
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: was the one who discovered him on a stage in
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Chicago and brought her to New York. Just like Spade
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: and Sadler, Laura Michaels didn't have any choice. They're going
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: to have to fire him. After all, he had already
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: done the fat guy and the bodybag routine once in
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: He wasn't going to do that ever again. Chris Farley
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: had two approaches when it came to girls. One was
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: the aw shuck's routine, where he scuffed his shoe on
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: the ground and said, gee, you sure are pretty until
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: the girls decided he was a sweet teddy.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Bear they wanted to take home.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: And the other approach was to make them laugh. But
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: Chris Farley didn't always know where the line was, so
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: when he had a crush on a girl down the
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: block from his house at Marquette University, he decided a
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: prank was the way into her heart. Farley's house was
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: a scene out of animal House. It was infested with rats,
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: It reeked of stale beer. Farley's room was disgusting, even
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: by the standards of the rest of the place. If
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: you saw a rat outside Farley's room, it was probably
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: on its way to Farley's room. His housemates put him
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: by the bathroom, knowing sometimes Farley was too lazy to
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: leave his room to take a piss, even proximity to
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: the john didn't do the trick.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Farley pissed in jars.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: And emptied them when he was feeling up to it,
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: But anyway that crushed down the block. She'd been to
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: parties at Farley's house, and she wasn't impressed When the
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: shy got bit didn't pan out, Farley decided to get
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: her attention with a joke, specifically a cherry bomb left
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: on the windowsill of the house where she and her
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: friends lived. If you know anything about cherry bombs, which
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Farley apparently didn't, you know, they don't just smoke, They
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: spit sparks, and the sparks make the cherry bomb spin
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: spin right off the windowsill onto the couch, which caught
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: fire and took half the house along with it. Thankfully,
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: no one was hurt, but Farley freaked the fuck out.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: He fled Wisconsin, skipping out for Illinois until the cops
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: agreed to let him off with a charge of dangerous
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: use of firearms and a light fine. But the incident
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: met Chris Farley couldn't graduate. It didn't tear him up
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: too bad, though. In addition to not being much of
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: a ladies man, Farley was less than an all star student.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: His friend said there was only one book he ever
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: finished at college, Wired by Bob Woodward, the tawdry biography
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: of comedian John Belushi, Farley's inability to know where the
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: lines were would dog him his whole life, or whether
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: it was booze, or drugs or women. In his first
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: season on Saturday Night Live, working the Teddy Bear angle
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: got him accused of groping an extra in a sketch.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: It was handled in house, and Farley apologized profusely. He
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: was famous for his apologies. The writers at SNL started
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: referring to the groping as Farley's Fatty Arbuckle incident, a
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: reference to the portly silent film comedian whose career was
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: derailed by an arrest for a depraved manslaughter. Our Buckle
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: was acquitted, but the studios wouldn't touch him for years afterward,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: and the writers got Farley amped up about the incident,
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: convincing him he was going to get served in a
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: civil suit any day. If a stranger came up to
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: him on the streets, it was probably a process server
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: and he should take off running. They even dummied up
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: a fake subpoena and got one of the Seinfeld writers
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: to chase Farley down with it out front of thirty Rock.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Farley was so upset that the writers couldn't bring themselves
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: to tell him the truth for months, and when they did,
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: they asked what he did with the fake subpoena. Crying,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: Farley said.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: He burned it.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: None of the writers ever brought up the Fatty Arbuckle
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: incident again. After the dishonorable discharge from college, Chris Farley
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: moved home to Madison, Wisconsin. He worked for his dad
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: in sales and frequented local improv shows. One night, he
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: got drunk enough to go up to the Troops director
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: and barely able to stand. He mumbled that he wanted
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: to audition, and the director told Farley to come to
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: the rehearsal the next day to try out. Farley showed
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: up with a case of beer, but he was good
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: when he was clean, and he kept clean for show
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: after show, though not so much like when the director
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: was giving him notes on his performance after a show,
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: but stopped midway when he realized Farley was guzzling an
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: entire bottle of rum while they talked. Farley was with
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: the Troop in Madison for a year before he started disappearing.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: On trips to Chicago.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Everyone knew what was up. Farley was ditching them to
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: hang out at Second City. The legendary improv troupe that
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: had launched the careers of Bill Murray, John Candy, Dan Ackroyd,
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: and of course, John Belushi. Farley eventually got a spot
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: on Second City's farm team, where he was an instant favorite.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: It wasn't long before he joined Second City's main company.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Most people think of Chris Farley as the fat guy
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: taking a fall, and he could take a fall like
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: nobody else. Chevy Chase, a legendary pratt fall guy in
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: his day, asked Farley what he used to break his falls.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: Farley's answer was shocking. He didn't use anything. He just crashed.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: Any comedian will tell you Chris Farley was a master
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: of physical comedy. He was big, but he was mostly muscle.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: He'd been a football player and a competitive swimmer. His
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: size hid amazing physical dexterity. At a Chicago bar with
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: the Second City cast, he chatted up some girls, asking
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: where they worked. But when they asked what Farley did,
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: he said he was an aerobics instructor. Then the girls
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: laughed at him. Surely he was kidding. Farley shrugged. It
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: wasn't the first time girls had laughed at him. He
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: launched into a perfect backflip sticking the landing. Yeah, you know,
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: aerobics instructor. Behind him, his castmates were rolling. Farley loved
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Second City. He loved Chicago, close enough to home, but
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: a bigger pond. Eddie loved the idea that he was
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: walking in the footsteps of his idol. Farley even found
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: a pair of John Belushi's old boots in the Second
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: City Theater and wore them non stop for two years until.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I fell apart.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: The Second City gave him the chance to work with
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: Del Close, a legendary improv director in one of Belushi's mentors.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: Close had a simple mantra when he came to comedy,
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: try to kill the audience. Fucking kill them. I want
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: you to make them laugh so hard that they vomit
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: and choke it. As Farley rose through the ranks at
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: Second City, he kept his appetites under control. On the
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: rare occasions he showed up for a performance drunk, his
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: castmates gave him hell. Farley would come back the next
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: day with those sad eyes and apologize, and all it
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: would be forgiven. After the shows, though the brakes were off,
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: he threw chairs around at an afterparty in a drunken rage,
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: he picked up an entire couch and chucked it across
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: the room. And there was no talking to him, no
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: calming him down when he got like this, and you
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: stayed the fuck out of the way and waited for
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: the switch to flip back. When Farley finally stopped, he
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: held a chair over his head. He looked around the
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: wreckage he created. Then he looked over at his friend
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Bob Odenkirk, a fellow Second City cast member, With those sad,
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: apologetic eyes, Odie said, do you think Beluci's in heaven?
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this. We're We're, We're.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: Chris Farley had been in New York for two days
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: and he hadn't bothered to call his brother.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: This was a bad sign.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: Farley knew which people cared about him in New York,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: and he also knew which people would let him get
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: away with shit, the hangers on and the so called friends.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: So to his brother, if he hadn't called and meant
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: that Farley was hanging out with people who wanted to
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: see him feed his appetites. So Farley's brother showed up
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: at the hotel, and Farley looked happy to see him.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: He apologized for not calling sooner. There was Illumino waiting,
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: and they were on their way to thirty Rock.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: They just had to make one style.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: In the limo, Farley introduced his brother to the kid
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: NBC had assigned to keep him on the straight and narrow.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: From the frazzle look on the kid's face and the
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: manic energy coming off Farley, it clearly wasn't working. Farley
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: told the driver to take them to one hundred and
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: tenth Street, a piece of Harlem real estate so notorious
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: for drugs and prostitution. They wrote a fucking song about it,
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: and the NBC got protested. But the driver wasn't taking
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: orders from some kid. At the address, drugs and women
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: beckoned from every corner. Farley got out of the car.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: This would just take a minute. He disappeared into one
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: of the buildings. Twenty minutes later, he emerged, his eyes
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: wide and his gaze sky high, a woman on each charm.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: The NBC kid opened the door for them and they
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: squeezed into the limit between Farley and his brother. The
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: NBC kid sputtered as the driver took them to thirty Rock.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Farley left the women in the lobby with his brother
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: while he schmoozed with the younger SNLL cast members. Farley
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: was a hero to them. They treated him no differently
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: than the fans and hangers on who encouraged Farley to
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: come out for a beer, come upstairs and blow a line,
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: and come to the after party. It got so bad
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: the show's producer called a meeting. If anyone helped Farley,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: if any of you helped Farley get drinks or liquor
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: or anything, you were going to be a part.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Of helping him die. That was the message.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: Farley's brother gave up trying to make small talk with
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: the women. He bailed, and the next day, Wednesday, he
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: showed up at Farley's hotel to stage and intervention. Farley
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: refused to come down and see him. He put a
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: do not disturb order on his phone. Chris Farley didn't
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: know it then, but he would never see his brother again.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Up in Studio eight, h Lauren Michaels was busy trying
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: to save Chris Farley's life. That was the idea when
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: he invited Farley back to host Saturday Night Live. It
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: was nineteen ninety seven, after the box office success of
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: his Buddy comedy Tommy Boy. Farley left SNL to pursue
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: his film career, but his most recent two films, Black
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Sheet in Beverly Hills Ninja, tanked at the box office.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: His struggles with drugs and alcohol were all over the press.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: SNL was one of the few things Farley cared about.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: When Michaels temporarily fired Farley from the show years earlier
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: for using heroin, it served as a wake up call.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Farley got clean, stayed clean. He was back on the
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: show after a few months. But now Michaels was watching
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Farley fall apart all over again. He was sure he
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: could bring him back from the brink if he gave
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: him a hosting slot. Farley would clean up. Chris Farley
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: wouldn't dare fuck up an episode of Saturday Night Live.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: It meant too much to him.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: And by Thursday that week, just two days before the
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: show went live, there were calls to fire Chris Farley
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: from the hosting gig. It was too late to turn back. Now,
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: the scripts were written, the sets were built. The Lord
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: Michaels refused. Farley would pull it out. Michaels was sure
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: of it, and if he didn't, the shock of seeing
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: himself fuck up on live television would scare him back
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: into rehab. Michaels was willing to take an episode of
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: SNL to save Chris Farley's life, but that didn't mean
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: Laura Michaels didn't call Chris Rock to fly in to
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: be on hand in case everything.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Fell apart, which it did.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: In the opening sketch, Michael's Tim Meadows and Chevy Chase
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: debated whether Farley was in any shape to host. Cut
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: to Farley passed out in a dressing room, drenched and
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: flopped sweat, his voice a weak croak after an uncomfortable
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: bit where he groped a younger cast member and eerie
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: echo of his Fatty Arbuckle incident. Farley burst onto the
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: stage ally to find they've called in Chris Rock to
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: host the show. Rock grinned and introduced his friend to
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: wild applause. Rock stood by as Farley flubbed his lines
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: into the sad imitation of one of his old bits.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: The sketch was cut from reruns, one of only a
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: handful of SNL sketches erased after they aired live. The
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: rest of the show didn't fare much better. Farley missed
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: more lines he seemed listless after a sketch that required
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Farley to perform on an exercise bike. Norm McDonald had
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: a stretch out weekend update way too long, begging the
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: audience to laugh at a bomb joke. It helps Farley
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: have a little rest, Norm smirked at the after party.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: Chris Farley sought out Lorm Michaels. I was funny tonight,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: I wasn't I boss? Lorm Michaels lied, Yes, you were,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: like Michaels predicted. Farley got a wake up call after
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: the SNL debacle. He tried to keep his shit together.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: He was in and out of AA and overeaters. Anonymous,
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: food and booze were linked for him. If he slipped
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: up and ate too much, he said fuck it and
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: fell off the wagon. He hired sobriety guards to just
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: fallow around and make sure he didn't get drunk. But
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: everywhere he went people wanted to get drunk and high
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: with him. They wanted the cartoon version of Chris Farley.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: But he couldn't be that guy anymore unless somebody asked,
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: really nice, Chris Farley was clean the day he ran
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: into David Spade in a hotel restaurant in la The
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: two had a falling out a year earlier when Farley
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: started dating a girl Spade liked. Farley was trying to
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: mend fences.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: He said they.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: Should work together again. All anybody wanted from him was
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: another Tommy boy. Farley wanted more serious roles, but he
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: also needed to work. Work was the only thing keeping
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: him off the drugs and the booze. Spade was in
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: a good mood. He couldn't stay.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Mad at Farley. No one could.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Farley sent his sobriety guard to the hall so he
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: in Spade could talk in private, and the conversation didn't
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: get far before a couple of women came over to
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: the table, not just any women, playboy models doing a
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: shoot in the hotel. They asked Farley in Spade to
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: come up and party, and Spade said no, He'd never
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: been a party guy, not even when he was in
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: SNL bad Boy. Farley looked at Spade, eyes pleading. They
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: both looked over to the hallway, where the sobriety guard
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: checked his watch.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Gone. Spade told him, I can buy you a couple minutes.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: In a surprising burst of speed, Farley was out the
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: door with the models gone before his keeper noticed. The
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: sobriety guard came back to the table.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Where is he?
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: Spade played dumb. I think he went to the bathroom,
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: which one Spade shrugged. The sobriety guard glared at him,
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: You fucked this. Spade knew the guy was right, he
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: didn't know how right, because they couldn't find Chris Farley anywhere.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: He wasn't in the hotel, he was gone. The next
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: day he called his dad from Hawaii. He actually bought
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: plane tickets for himself and the models and flew off
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: to Paradise for a blacked out bing, which the lasted
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: days and cost him thousands. When he woke back up
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: in Chicago with no memory of where he'd been, Farley
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: went into rehab, and then he broke out a rehab.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: He ended up in a Chicago psych warder, and when
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: a friend came to see him, he was starting lines
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: of cocaine off a paper towel rack. The orderlies had
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: smuggled it in for him. They didn't give a shit
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: about Farley's health. They wanted The wild Man, the cartoon version.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: All anyone wanted from Chris Farley was to see the.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Fat guy fall down.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: Nothing says be list celebrity like appearing at a Planet
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: Hollywood opening in Indianapolis on a Monday night, a tourist
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: trap for movie buffs. The chain was launched in nineteen
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: ninety one by Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Demi Moore, and
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: Sylvester Stallone, but six years later, in nineteen ninety seven,
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: the glips and glamour were long gone. Still, ten one
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: thousand people waited behind barricades on North Illinois Street, pressed
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: up against.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: One another in the heat, hoping to catch a glimpse.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: Of Hollywood's finest, and they were treated to a harmonica
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: performance by Bruce Willis aka Bruno for all you fans
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: of Bruce's short lived Motown Records career free t shirts
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: handed out by aging rocker Stephen Stills. In the very
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: public explosion of Chris Farley. Farley was a hit celebrity
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: pregame party, goofing around with Luke Perry and Stephen Baldwin,
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: mugging for the cameras in a bright red Planet Hollywood
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: racing jacket. But by the time he got to the
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: actual opening, he'd been doing lines of coke and shots
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: of his fellow celebs for hours, sweating bullets and gack
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: to the gills. Farley tried his drunken best to give
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: the crowd what he thought they wanted. He did pratfalls.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: He shouted till he was red in the face, and
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: as the night wore on, the pratfalls became less scripted
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: and more accidental. The shouting lost its playful side. Exploitives
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: crept in along with that mean, violent edge Farley got
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: in the Depths binge, the crowd was getting what they
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: came for. But Farley's friends saw the things had gotten
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: out of control and no one could pull him away.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: He was out a fox to give.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: He brushed them all off with a line that was
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: cornier than the Hollywood memorabilia behind glass on the restaurant walls.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: I want to live fast and die young. And the
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: tabloids heard the whole thing, and they painted a picture
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: of a star on a suicidal binge, and that embarrassing
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: performance hosting Saturday Night Live confirmed it. But Farley wasn't
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: exactly barrowing down the field toward death. He had periods
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: where he was clean, and he recorded lines for a
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: new animated feature called Shrek.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: Chris Farley was originally cast to be the voice of Shrek,
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: long before Mike Myers came on board. The film's title
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: Ogre was even inspired by Farley, a monster tired of
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: being type cast for the way he looked. And there
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: was another project too, Farley's dream project. Earlier that year,
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: he had a meeting with David Mammon, the legendary Chicago
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: screenwriter and playwright. Mim had had an idea about a
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: biopic of Fatty Arbuckle. He wrote the film screenplay for Farley.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: It would be the dramatic role Farley had wanted ever
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: since he left SNL, but the scene had planned Hollywood
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: in the SNL performance convinced studios that Farley was unhiable.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: He had only gotten the voice work on Shrek by
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: agreeing to be constantly shadowed by a sobriety guard. No
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: one could get an insurance company to underwrite a movie
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: with such an unreliable star. As nineteen ninety seven wound down,
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: Farley and the studio reached an agreement they would make
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: the Fatty Arbuckle film once Farley could prove he'd been
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: sober for two years. Farley was ready to do it.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: This film meant everything to him. New Year's Day, he said,
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: clean and sober, but first he was entitled to one
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: more binge. He came home to Chicago in mid December
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: and spent time with friends. He went to mass, big
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: Christmas cookies. He even went to an AA meeting. As
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: the week went on, however, he missed plans with friends.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: On Sunday, December fourteenth, he was playing to his audience
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: in Chicago's bar scene. He did shots with bears, fans,
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: and frat boys who could quote Tommy Boy in Black
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: Sheep until last call and wanted to keep partying with
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: Farley all night. He was scheduled for a haircut with
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: a friend, but he blew it off. Instead, he did
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: more shots, tossed back beers, ate massive meals, and let
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: strippers drape themselves all over him. His real friends called
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: him up, begging him not to go out. Farley said, okay,
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: it'd stay in that night, said he was done, said
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: he'd see them soon, and he said he was sorry.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: On Wednesday morning, after doing coke all night in the
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: Financial District, Farley was set up with a sex worker
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: named Heidi. They smoked crack and snorted heroin at her
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: place all day. Then they tried to go out to dinner.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Heidi determined Farley was in no shape to eat in
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: a restaurant anyway, who was hungry? Heidi and Farley went
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: back to his place in the Hancock Center. The Hancock
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: was once a swinging Chicago scene back in the sixties.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: Now Farley's neighbors who were too old to care about
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: his celebrity, and they barely interacted with him except a
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: bang on the walls when his apartment got too rowdy.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: From the decor, Farley's place could have belonged to one
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: of those formerly swinging senior citizens, like Planet Hollywood. It
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: was decked out in memorabilia Chicago Bears, Jersey, paintings of clowns,
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: a picture of Farley and Paul McCartney from the former
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: Beatles appearance on SNL.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: Remember that that was awesome.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: Farley hadn't slept in four days.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: He and Heide he kept.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: Drinking, kept snouting heroin and cocaine, and they argued over
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: the cost of what had become a twenty four hour session,
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: not to mention the cost of the drugs. Heidi got
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: upset decided to leave Chris stood up to follow her.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: He tried to convince her stay, but he collapsed to
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: his knees, wheezing. He rolled under the floor and Heidi
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: walked back over. She stood over him as he panted
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: for breath. Don't leave me, Farley gasped. He passed out.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Heidi slid the watch off Farley's wrist and slipped.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: It in her pocket.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: On her way out, she stopped to leave him. Note
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: he was so much fun.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Thanks for a lovely time.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: The next day, Chris Farley's body was found dead of
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: a speedball overdose, just like his hero John Belushi, two
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: months shy of his thirty fourth birthday, he even managed
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: to die at the same age. No drugs were found
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: in Farley's apartment, as far as the press was concerned. Anyway,
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: Farley's personal assistant was there when the Chicago police searched
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: the apartment.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: How whenever a cop found something.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: Illegal, they passed it off to Farley's assistant and just
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: said here Chicago looked after its own, and Farley belonged to.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: The second City.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: However, the truth surrounding Chris Farley's cause of death would
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: ultimately come to light. Another rock star sized comedic talent
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: dead from drugs, just like Belushi, another unfortunate disgrace. I'm
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland. All right, guys, hope
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: you dug this episode. I miss Farley. I think you
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: guys probably do as well. This week's question of the Week,
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: I want to know your favorite SNL performer? Which performer
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: from which era made you laugh the hardest? How did
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: you and your friends watch.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: SNL back in the day? Where what were you up to?
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: Let me know six one seven nine oh six six
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: six three eight, Leave me a voicemail, send me a
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: text and let me know. You can also reach me
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: at disgrace lamdpod as well on Instagram, Facebook, and the X.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: Leave a review for the.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: Show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and win some free merch.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Here comes some credits.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: found on the show notes page at disgracelampod dot com.
• 31:05
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• 31:08
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• 31:11
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• 31:18
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• 31:22
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• 31:45
  Speaker 1: Rock a Rolla, He's ann