Feb. 15 marks what would have been the 54th birthday of Wisconsin-born comedian Chris Farley, known for his work on "Saturday Night Live" and the comedic cult classic, "Tommy Boy."
During his career, he became a featured player on "SNL," later moving into making movies. That transition is noteworthy, said John Pollack, history instructor and pop culture expert at Madison Area Technical College.
"Not everybody does that and there are lots of you know, now obscure "SNL" stars, who just you know, never went anywhere, but Chris Farley, no, he hit the big time, had a bunch of successful movies and then died really young, which always kind of gives people pause," Pollack said.
Farley died more than 20 years ago of a drug overdose in Chicago. His funeral was held in Madison, his hometown, and he was interred in Resurrection Catholic Cemetery on the city's west side.
Pollack said Farley was "sort of us" and that he "represented his Midwesterness."
"His Wisconsin accent was a big part of his character much of the time on "SNL" sketches and in his movies, he's wearing Packers gear, he's wearing something from Marquette or from UW, so in some ways, I think he was kind of a, kind of a symbol of the state."
Pollack described Farley's style as manic, adding he was a very physical comedian.
"He would just kind of throw his body around up there," Pollack said. "He was very loud. We think of, I sort of think of him as, just, his characters yelled a lot, they weren't subtle, really, in any way, so he was just, he's very brash, he's very over-the-top."
One of Pollack's favorite sketches of Farley's included actor Patrick Swayze during which they play Barney and Adrian, respectively, auditioning to be dancers.
"That's an incredible bit. I mean, that's just one of the greatest things or when he's, when he's the fanboy interviewing Paul McCartney and all he can say is how amazing it is to be interviewing Paul McCartney."
As for why Farley makes so many people laugh, Pollack brought up the comedian's previously mentioned style attributes.
"Any time you've got somebody who's going to be so physical and so over-the-top, you're kind of watching that person and you're thinking he's not really going to do that, you know, like in the Chippendale sketch, you're thinking he's not going to tear his shirt off, but he does, and so consistently, Chris Farley, like, does the thing you think he's not going to do and that makes it laugh."
Over his career, Farley's characters included (but aren't limited to) Tommy Callahan, who took over the family business in "Tommy Boy;" Todd O'Connor, a Chicago Bears superfan; and Bennett Brauer, who may or may not have overused air quotes.
Another memorable character of Farley's was motivational speaker, Matt Foley. The premise of that sketch is that two parents — played by Phil Hartman and Julia Sweeney — want to bring their kids — played by David Spade and Christina Applegate — back in line. So, they bring in Chris Farley.
"I think that's part of Chris Farley's comedy, is that he's really, it's like this big kind of comedy, and a motivational speaker is going to be somebody who's got this huge presence, who's working on a stage in an auditorium or a high school gym or something like that, but just the whole premise of having somebody like that in your living room is itself funny ..." Pollack said. "I think that was really the key to that character, was just that he's got, you've got that ... big character and some of the cliches, exaggerations of you know, motivational speakers who go around, but it's in somebody's living room and so that way he's getting, you know, right up into the other character's faces and also in that sketch, it's one of those where the actors in the scene break character, where they just start laughing."