Do you think Chris Farley was a funny comedian/actor?
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rockfan (
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June 30th, 2015
There’s an upcoming documentary about him, which looks very heartfelt. Although Chris Farley seemed like an extremely nice guy, I never thought his brand of comedy was very funny. What about you?
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30 Answers
I liked Beverly Hills Ninja.
He and David Spade weren’t my cup of comedy tea but I did love them together in “Tommy Boy,” which to this day I can watch and still laugh at.
His use of physical humor and his comedic timing were amazing for his brand of comedy. It went downhill a bit after he left SNL. As is the case with many comedians, he hid a lot behind that smile. His self-deprecating style using his size as a prop is evidence of that.
It depended a great deal on the role and the writing. The B. I. G. guy thing is tough to pull off well in comedy. Farley’s manic slapstick would quickly become tiresome, then painful to watch.
I liked a few skits on SNL (the one where he was a Chippendales dancer was funny), and I believe it was Chris Farley with Steve Martin in Planes, Trains and Automobiles? If so, that was funny. I’m not a big Chris Farley fan so I am not very familiar with his work.
@jca Stveve Martin’s nemesis in Trains….. was played by John Candy a guy whose persona was noticeably more cerebral than Farley. My memories of Farley all involve a guy bordering on out of control. I did like him in “The Coneheads”. I notice the Conehead family is now back on television in State Farm commercials.
@stanleybmanly: Thanks for the correction. When I typed that, I was wondering if it was Farley or Candy, as I know to me, I’d mix them up all the time. I knew it was one of them – didn’t have time to google to check before work.
I thought he was silly; not funny at all.
Chris Farley was one of my favorites. Not many can pull off physical comedy as well as he could.
He was good at the physical stuff. And he could laugh at himself. The Swayze skit as a Chippendale was sick, twisted, and hysterical.
Sure. He made people laugh and became a star. Is his brand of humor one that I enjoy? No.
I liked him on Saturday Night Live. His best skits I remember: Chippendales, the Paul McCartney interview, and motivational speaker Matt Foley.
Never saw his movies. But very few ex-SNL people make movies for my taste.
Matt Foley was cool. The poor furniture though.
I didn’t find his performances funny.
I liked a few of his SNL skits but overall not my cup of tea either. @jca It was John Candy that co-starred with S.M. in Planes, trains and automobiles. I loved John Candy that movie is an all time fav. I have it in my collection.
Oops, I see @stanleybmanly already mentioned John Candy. Never mind. said in Gilda Radner voice.
The first two or three motivational skits I saw were funny. I used his catch phrase sometimes. After that the writers seemed to be bored with it, and didn’t come across with much.
I’ll admit that his Chippendales audition sketch with Patrick Swayze was extremely hilarious. I’d post it, but all the links on YouTube get redirected to the NBC official site. For some reason, it’s badly crashing my browser tonight.
But overall, I find his comedy to be really awkward and embarrassing to watch. I almost feel physical pain when I watch scenes with him interacting with other people and being so outrageously inappropriate. For some reason I can never stop imagining that I’m the person he’s dealing with and I imagine how horrible it would be to encounter the person he portrayed.
I admit that I’m a total lightweight for this kind of humor. I can barely watch I Love Lucy reruns because I know she’s going to totally screw everything up very badly at some point and make herself, her husband and her friends all very miserable by the end of the episode.
I feel like Chris Farley comedy bits are at least 5 times more painful for me to watch.
I found some of his stuff almost painful to watch. I felt kind of sorry for him.
But my taste in comedy tends to the more cerebral like George Carlin, Seinfeld, Steven Wright, Jon Stewart and Colbert.
Physical comedy is extremely difficult to do well on a consistent basis. Lucille Ball was a totally unique and unequaled master of that art form for a reason. Farley was a pale imitation, unfortunately.
His Matt Foley character made me cringe and I really didn’t find it the least bit funny, just annoying.
It’s interesting that a few people have also mentioned John Candy as well. Chris Farley had this really manic and uncomfortable type of energy to him whereas John Candy I think was a lot more comfortable in his own skin and this came across in his comedy and the roles he played. I think Uncle Buck was one of the sweetest and funniest characters played with real heart. There was an appealing winsomness about him.
Perhaps that’s why I usually felt uncomfortable watching Chris Farley. He was a troubled soul and it was difficult to hide it behind the manic smiling facade.
Oh man.. I don’t know how, but John candy made it work somehow. I remember watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Yes, there were some very painful and awkward moments. But at some point in the movie, you couldn’t help but realize that his character was so remarkable. It almost brought me to tears when I realized the truth his character was hiding all along. (I wont mention it in case anyone decides to watch it.) I know he had a similar schtick that Farley had, but there was a real depth and warmth to Candy’s performance that I never felt with Farley.
I didn’t find Farley all that funny directly, but oddly, a lot of the people who I find funny and whose judgment of funny I respect thought he was very funny. So, I guess he gets a kind of second-hand respect from me. I definitely found him funnier in interviews than in scripted performances.
@Buttonstc Yeah, I agree that his kind of manic energy was a bit sad to watch. He just seemed so doomed from the beginning.
I don’t find Farley and John Candy to be comparable at all, except that they were both very overweight. That doesn’t make them the same type of comedian. I’m surprised to see this comparison being made.
Yeah, the energy he gave off was of someone trying way too hard to prove himself, now that I think about it.
It kind if seems like he could use a pep talk from Al Franken’s motivational speaker spouting AA platitudes. I forget the name but I can hear his voice in my head now: “you’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and doggone it, people like you.”.
No, I found his brand of comedy painful to watch.
@keobooks “But overall, I find his comedy to be really awkward and embarrassing to watch. I almost feel physical pain when I watch scenes with him interacting with other people and being so outrageously inappropriate. For some reason I can never stop imagining that I’m the person he’s dealing with and I imagine how horrible it would be to encounter the person he portrayed.”
Do you think the people he’s interacting with aren’t in on the joke?
No, but the characters they are playing are not in on it. They are both acting out a scene and the scene is painful to watch because one character is bungling around and making a terrible experience for another character. That’s how acting works.
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