Customer Reviews

The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This was such a moving tragedy, I just couldn't help myself.

I was 17 when John Belushi died. I still remember being interviewed by some guy at the MEPS when I went into the Army in 1982 - "You don't do any of that stuff like Belushi did, speedballs or anything, right?" Considering that Belushi died in 1980, it was something that this memory was still fresh in the minds of so many people. Chris Farley could have been somebody like that. In many ways, I found him more likable than Belushi was, and every bit as talented. It is a tragedy that all of this pure talent, this spirit that Chris was born with, had gone to waste like that.

This book should be required reading for anyone studying substance abuse and the effect it has not only on the individual, but on those close to the abuser. I could feel the exhaustion that the interviewees felt as Chris sunk further and further toward oblivion. They all wanted to save him, but in the end, they were powerless to do much of anything. I couldn't imagine being one of those who subjected themselves to the brutality of 20/20 hindsight later on - "if only I had...."

I read that he was originally cast as Shrek with particular interest, and I imagined what that film would have been like with Farley delivering the line at the beginning of the film, "this is the part when you RUN!!!!!!!" I will be first in line when they sell the Shrek DVD with the Farley soundtrack. That must have been, as Chris might have said, "awesome."

When I was in college, I saw Tommy Boy for the first time. At one part, I laughed so hard that I fell off the sofa with tears in my eyes. I thought I was going to hurt myself.

Chris Farley was from Madison, Wisconsin. Maybe it was his Midwestern roots, or his Chicago connection, or my age when he was at his peak, but he was one of my favorite comedians. This book is a hilarious and heartbreaking oral history of Chris's life by those who knew him best. I was laughing out loud at page 3, and nearly cried several times through the second half of the book. By the end, it had brought back all the good memories I had of watching his skits, and I felt like he was a friend I had grown up with.

Chris would do anything to be funny: not to get a laugh, but to give a laugh. Chris believed God gave him a talent and that it was his ministry in life to make people laugh so hard they cried. This comes through loud and clear from everyone in here. People loved Farley. He walked into a room and you laughed before he could say a word. He had such a good heart and such a giving personality.

What became apparent at the end of his life, was that he also had more than his fair share of demons. He wrestled with numerous addictions, constantly struggling with his weight, alcohol and drugs. He visited rehab more than a dozen times. His friends reached out to him time and again, but in the end, nobody could break his downward spiral.

All the big names are in here: Dan Akroyd, Lorne Michaels, David Spade, Adam Sandler, Tom Arnold, Chris Rock--all of his fellow Saturday Night Live cast members and writers, people who knew him from Second City and The Improv Olympic, as well as childhood friends and family. They paint a portrait of a spectacular man who, at his best, could light up any room with his larger-than-life personality and, at his worst, could tear up a room with drug-crazed antics.

There are a lot of facets to this book. Some celebrity exposé material, some stuff on Chris's philosophy and what it was like to work with him, and a good deal on his complicated relationship with his father and the culture of alcoholism that ran through his family. The book chronicles his many trips to rehab and subsequent relapses. It covers his movie-making, including interesting bits on the movies that he had in the works (he was originally cast as Shrek and had recorded a good portion of the film and was trying to get a Fatty Arbuckle biopic off the ground). It talks about his deep faith and superstitious quirks. It talked about his on-the-set antics and friendships. But the most touching thing, I thought, was the amount of charity work he did unbeknownst to many of his closest friends. He visited old folks' homes and hospitals regularly. He befriended a homeless man with whom he had dinner weekly and treated to plays and concerts (something nobody knew about until the man spoke at Chris' funeral).

The toughest part of this book is that even as you find more and more to like about Chris Farley, it pulls no punches when it comes to discussing his addictions. And a sadness pervades all of the great and hilarious stories, because we all know how this one is going to end. I haven't been this affected by a book in awhile. I still have a heavy heart.

On a strange side note, as I just finished the book, I looked on Facebook to see if there were any Chris Farley fan pages. There are. And then I noticed that today is his birthday. He would have been 44.

If you are a fan of Chris Farley, read this book. It offers insight from the people who knew him best. However, I wonder why Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider didn't contribute more to the book. Just looking at the "public persona" of Chris Farley, you would never know about the dysfunctional, co-dependent family, the over-the-top, self-destructive, addictive behavior, all of the people who tried to help him and constantly warned him about his actions, and the deep seated self-doubt and insecurities that the man had. This book wasn't the humorous book that I expected, but I feel like I know and understand Chris Farley after reading it. Act I tells of his formative years, from childhood through his early experiences in comedy (Second City), to eventually being hired by SNL, all the while trying to keep his binges in check and surviving as a "functioning" addict. Act II covers a three year period of his life in the 90's, after a successful stint in rehab, and is a sort of "what could have been" had he stayed straight. Act III is terribly heartbreaking as the addiction takes control of his life and ultimately kills him.

I've never written a review on this before, but I always read them because the reviews really help me decide whether or not to read a book. However, after reading this, I just had to write something because this book really touched me. I am 25 years old and I basically grew up loving Chris Farley on SNL and his movies. As a teenager I was very naive to the thought of anyone on SNL doing drugs especially Chris. I finished this book in less than a week, which is probably the fastest i've ever finished any book. It was an easy read and I found it very hard to put down, and when I did, I was still thinking about what was going to come next. I almost talked myself out of reading the last chapters because ultimately we all know how it's going to end. But of course I couldn't help myself. I honestly wasn't expecting it to be so sad, the worst part for me was the explanation of his last three or four days, down to the hour of his death. It was so tragic that I was thinking of it all night, and it kept me awake almost all night, just recounting everything in my head.

However, like someone said by the end of this book you really feel as though you know Chris as a person and as a friend. It's almost like you're reading about someone you've known for years. This book tells you some things you never would have thought of Chris both good and bad. I loved it, and I've been recommending it to people since I finished page one.

Chris Farley was hilarious, a great friend, a devout Catholic, a generous giver and a raging alcholic and hardcore drug user!

This biography of his life, written by his brother Tom Farley and Tanner Colby is excellent. I think they paid a great respect to Chris by writing this book. It covers Chris's life from childhood to highschool/college, from his early comedy days in Chicago all the way to SNL and his untimely death in December 1997.

The book features short stories from over 100 of Chris's friends, family and fellow comedians. Tim Meadows, David Spade, Chris Rock, Lorne Michaels, John Goodman and Tom Arnold just to name a few.

Like most of America, I loved Chris Farley on SNL and his movies. Unfortunatley he couldn't love himself or get over his idea that no one really liked him for him, they just wanted to see "fatty fall down". Not to mention his constant battle with drugs, alcohol and depression throughout his career.

This book will make you smile and laugh (hard) at times and then make you sad as Chris slips away up until his death.

Before Chris died he had many other projects set up that we never got see like, The Gelfin w/ Vince Vaughn, which was never finished. Chris was the original Shrek, wow, how funny would that have been and he was in line to play the lead character in the movie Cable Guy, Jim Carrey eventually took the part.

Great book, amazing life story of a once in a lifetime comedian!

paints a true, heartfelt, loving portrait of one of the funniest human beings to ever live.....i was in tears especially at the end...while reading this book you feel you truly KNOW Farley and you feel for him and you wish you could have been there to try to help steer him in the right direction.....not only was he a great comedic talent he was a very caring, loving person that anyone could envy, unfortunately he didnt see past what most ppl saw him as - the funny fat guy......its almost unbearable to read the final 30 pages or so ...of his downward spiral into uncontrollable alcohol and drug addiction that destroyed him.....its been over a decade since his death but almost feels just like yesterday

I am a person who always reads the reviews on amazon, never writes them. I picked up this book simply because I loved Chris Farley's comedy. Hilarious. Although it was known that he had his problems with addictions, i don't think i ever realized how bad it truly was. When i first started this book i wasn't quite convinced i would enjoy the way it is put together. After finishing it, I realize it was perfect. By the time you are finished with the book you really feel like you knew the real Farley. The last act is by far the hardest to read. As someone who has a brother who battles with such addictions to almost this extreme it really touched home. Chris Farley was a beautiful human being (which you really come to realize) and you really do get that he TRIED to overcome his demons. He will be missed, one can only imagine what amazing things could of happened had he survived. Pick up this book, will not disappoint.

The Chris Farley Show is basically his brother Tom and a bunch Chris' closest work, high school, and college friends talking about their experiences with Farley.

The book is broken up into three "acts", the first is about Chris as a youth and how he became an aspiring comedian, the second is about making it to Second City and eventually SNL and then to his feature films and the last act is about Chris' demise.

The book is almost overwhelmingly (70-80%) about Chris' addictions and demons. He was in and out of probably every rehab center in America but could never truly stay clean.

I am a huge Chris Farley fan and love all of his work, he was truly a great talent and by all accounts a very generous and caring individual. He was also extremely insecure and riddled by almost every addiction known to man (overeating, alcoholism, drug use, obsessive compulsive disorder).

Anywho, this was a quick read at 330 pages mainly because it's set up like reading a movie script. Each person opines about a given topic and then the next jumps in. There are a lot of celebrity memories in this book from SNL Alums including Chevy Chase, Tim Meadows, David Spade, Alec Baldwin and so forth.

The best parts of The Chris Farley Show were when his friends would reminisce about the funny pranks that Farley use to pull as a kid, such as eating a box of white tic-tacs and then banging his mouth on a church pew and spitting the tic-tacs out like they were his teeth! or every time a pretty girl would walk by Chris would get down in the push-up position and start counting 198, 199, 200. It was the little things in this book that made it a good read.

The Bottom Line: Everyone knows Chris' story but few knew the man and after reading this book you will have a bit more insight into how great of a person and talent we lost.

Highly Recommended for even casual Farley fans

The Chris Farley Show is one of the most incredibly moving nonfiction books I've ever read.

It would be hard for any book to not be at least somewhat moving with this subject matter, as Chris Farley was by all accounts an incredibly unique, warm-hearted, and desperately troubled person. But the book's emotional impact is significantly enhanced by its format: Other than some brief narratives to transition the chapters, the book is entirely excerpts from interviews of almost 100 people who knew Chris personally. People as close as his brothers and childhood friends, as well as his famous co-stars at Saturday Night Live and those who worked with him on the movies he starred in before his horrific death at age 33.

Particularly touching are the interviews with David Spade and the extent to which Spade is willing to cast a negative light on himself and freely admit the sources of the tension between the two. The editors (one of whom is Chris' brother, Tom) seem to have gathered an incredible amount of honesty from all interview subjects--Penelope Spheeris' attempts to blame David Spade for the failure of Black Sheep is eye-opening. To hear Chris Rock and Bob Odenkirk directly identify the beloved Chippendales sketch as potentially being the tipping point of Chris' fall is also chilling. And the book's sole contribution from Chevy Chase, which is printed on the back, magnifies the sadness of such a wasted talent.

I don't know why I haven't seen this format before, but it is absolutely brilliant. The interviews are edited together spectacularly to paint the exact picture of Chris' life chronologically, while still maintaining the importance of the entire story being told from the real words of those who knew and loved him. It means so much more to read Adam Sandler's exact words, rather than some Wikipedia-type historical narrative that references Sandler's thoughts.

Chris Farley, an absolutely brilliant and tragic hero of modern comedy, receives the honor that his work deserved, but still the spotlight shines brightly on his senseless suicide spiral with hopes that it can be avoided by others. This is a beautiful book, a modern classic of Hollywood biographies, and a must-read for everyone who still can't help but smile at the phrase "van down by the river."

I found this book while browsing the bookstore one evening, and a single quote from Chris Rock grabbed me and would not let me go. (It pertained to the infamous "Chippendales" SNL sketch with Patrick Swayze, and the full quote inside the book is even more arresting than the blurb on the back jacket.) I knew that book was coming home with me.

I'd never considered myself a fan of Chris Farley, but I'd certainly thought him to be funny, often enough. What put me off about him was what my sister described as "his desperation to get a laugh...and that kind of desperation isn't funny, but sad." Too true. But Chris Farley seemed to have an abiding sweetness to his personality that was incredibly endearing, and this book that was co-authored by Chris' brother Tom is a thoroughly dimensional and lovingly-crafted portrait of a troubled, precious young man.

The book is structured almost exclusively from quotes from the people who knew and loved Chris, from all stages of his life. What I most appreciated was the wide range of people quoted throughout its pages - it served to make the reader feel that we had come to truly know someone that we'd previously 'known' in only the faultiest, most unreliable way possible: celebrity. This sense of coming to know Chris, for better and for worse, makes the reader feel his loss in new and deeper ways. I also appreciated the honesty from so many of those interviewed. The descriptions of how addicts wear down the people who love them was very helpful in seeking to understand how tragedies like this happen.

The rather unique structure of the book was eminently readable and, I felt, well put together. If this book lacks anything, I would say it is simply "more". There seems to be much more to Chris Farley's brief, sad life than even a generous book like this can cover. Delving deeper into the nature of addiction could have elevated this book to greater heights. My heart breaks for the people who loved him and lost him, and it is a sincere compliment when I say that a book like this makes the rest of us wish we'd known him, too.

ETA: Learning that Chris was to be the voice of "Shrek" and had recorded all or most of the first movie before his tragic death continues to choke me up. I wonder why the producer/directors of the Shrek movies did not extend the obvious honor to Chris Farley by naming one of the triplet "Shrek" babies after him. Instead, the names Felicia, Fergus and Farkle were used. Come ON! How perfect would it have been to name one of those baby ogres "Farley", instead?