'Saturday Night Live' #TBT: Chris Farley Auditions for the Chippendales
The world lost Chris Farley way, way too soon. The Saturday Night Live player died at the age of 33 of a drug overdose in 1997. Before his death, he gifted us all with truly hilarious comedy on SNL and in movies like Tommy Boy, Wayne’s World, and Coneheads.
But oh, the things he might’ve done! Thanks to a Reddit user, who posted a lost recording, we can now imagine what Farley would’ve sounded like as Shrek. He was the original voice of the character, and recorded over 90 percent of the dialogue before his death. (He was eventually replaced by SNL comrade Mike Myers, who gave Shrek a Scottish accent.)
Related: Exclusive ‘I Am Chris Farley’ Clip Shows Never-Before-Seen Second City Footage
Hearing it made us feel nostalgic for Farley’s brand of comedy, so we dug through our SNL archives for Farley clips. And there are a lot. But the Chippendales audition, when Farley tries out next to Patrick Swayze, is such a classic.
The sketch is controversial. Chris Rock hates it, as it played on Farley’s insecurities with his weight at a time when he was struggling with substance abuse. “It’s just f–king mean. A more mentally together Chris Farley wouldn’t have done it, but Chris wanted so much to be liked,” Rock said in the biography The Chris Farley Show. “As funny as that sketch was… it’s one of the things that killed him.“
And yet, the sketch was an instant hit. “I knew in rehearsal a star was born,” Myers recalled in the biography.
If you’re feeling Farley nostalgia, then check out a new documentary about the comedian (produced by his brother, Kevin Farley) called I Am Chris Farley. It’s out in theaters now and airs Aug. 10 on Spike.
