On this day 20 years ago, Chris Farley hosted SNL. Little did we know, this would be the last time we would see him on television before his death only two months later.
From all accounts, this episode was a mess. First of all, you might even be wondering why in October 1997 would Chris be hosting? He had nothing to promote. Lorne brought him in not as some kind of intervention, but to bring him back to a time in his life where he was the most happiest. 1997 was a sad downward spiral for him and all of his friends knew it. So, during the week, nobody was even sure if he would be able to make it to Saturday. During rehearsals that week, they had to bring in oxygen tanks for him. Former SNL cast member Chris Rock came in (and even had a monologue written) just in case if Farley wouldnât be able to do the show on Saturday. Chris did make a cameo in this episode. Â
During dress rehearsal, Farley had blown out his voice so when you watch the live episode, he sounded very hoarse. Chris was always a big guy, but even for him he looked way out of shape and he was sweating a ton during the show. Norm MacDonald said in Chris Farleyâs book â The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Actsâ that for what ever reason, they put two sketches back to back where he was too hyper active, he was dancing with Mary Katherine Gallagher and then the next sketch he was Matt Foley on a treadmill. So, in order to not kill Farley on the live show, Norm stretched out Weekend Update for as long as he could in order for Farley to get some rest. And one of the worst things was the cold opening. In it, Farley had just came out of rehab and declared he was clean, this was not true. In reruns, they completely remove this cold opening.
As for the episode itself, I know at the time, critics thought it was bad, and even for myself after reading his book, I view it in a different light. But with that said, this episode did have some good sketches I liked. I did like the Mary Katherine Gallagher sketch and the Matt Foley sketch (I wish they didnât put them back to back). I think every SNL or Farley fan would recognize the âEl Ninoâ sketch as being something great. This episode also gave us the very first âMorning Latteâ sketch, one of my favorite reoccurring sketches with Cheri and Will. Even though the behind the scenes stuff can really bum you out about this episode, I will say that if you can, you should definitely check it out, but just keep in mind, donât let this episode fully define what Chris was and what he was capable of doing as a comedian.
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