Amazon.com: Amazon Best of the Month, May 2008: You don't have to be a rabid Chris Farley fan to enjoy The Chris Farley Show, an honest, endearing oral biography about a truly funny, deeply troubled addict that is as likely to make you cry as it is to make you laugh out loud. Made up mostly of excerpts from intimate interviews with family, childhood friends, famous castmates, and writers, The Chris Farley Show is a vivid portrait of a performer, told plainly by the people who knew him best at every stage of his life. These hundred or so interviews piece together the complex back-story of a hugely talented, big-hearted guy who could make the funniest people in the business laugh with "just a look," but whose vulnerability and "puppy dog personality" charmed friends and family into letting him off the hook--preventing him from getting help when he needed it most. Funny and heart wrenching, The Chris Farley Show is a must-read for fans of Farley and of the people who loved him (including David Spade, Chris Rock, Tim Meadows), as well as anyone looking for a glimpse into life on the stage. --Daphne Durham
Product Description: A biography of the Saturday Night Live star as told by his friends and family
No one dominated a stage the way Chris Farley did. For him, comedy was not a routine; it was a way of life. He could not enter a room unnoticed or let a conversation go without making someone laugh. Fans knew Chris as Saturday Night Lives sweaty, swaggering, motivational speaker; as the irresistible Chippendales stripper; and as Tommy Callahan, the underdog hero of Tommy Boy. His family knew him as sensitive and passionate, deeply religious, and devoted to bringing laughter into others lives.
But Chris did not know moderation, either in his boundless generosity toward friends or in the reckless abandon of his drug and alcohol abuse. For ten years, Chris cycled in and out of rehabilitation centers, constantly fighting his insecurities and his fears. Despite three hard-fought years of sobriety, addiction would ultimately take his life at the tragically young age of thirty-three. Fame on SNL and three straight number-one box office hits gave way to a string of embarrassing public appearances, followed by a fatal overdose in December 1997.
Here is Chris Farley as remembered by his family, friends, and colleaguesthe true story of a man who lived to make us laugh and died as a result. The Chris Farley Show is an evocative and harrowing portrait of a family trapped by addiction, a father forced to bury a son, and a gifted and kindhearted man ultimately torn apart by the demons inside him.
Heartbreaking and wonderful Who would have expected Chris Farley to be such a loving man? A devastating story that will seduce those who even hold just a passing interest in Farley's work. The question is, why did we have to wait so long for his story to be told?
Big Heart, Big Addictions I tore through this book. Like the history of Saturday Night Live called "Live from New York" this is an oral biography of Chris Farley (interestingly, in this book the "Live from New York" book takes a pretty harsh hit from someone claiming he was misquoted in the SNL history). The oral format worked for me. As Tom wrote in the introduction, Chris Farley lived the type of life where all his friends had "Chris stories."
This book, like its subject's life, is funny, revealing, touching, maddening and ultimately tragic. There is a period in Chris' life where he really had his stuff together he was on top of the world and I was unaware of that. I was not prepared to for the Chris Farley that was sober and on top of things and brightening the world around him. That high period in his life makes his ending all the more depressing. Especially since it really seemed he was going to keep his addictions down and go on to break out from the "fat guy falls down" comedy and truly make something great one day.
What surprised me was the unanimous love for Chris by everyone that is interviewed. Surely they could have found someone out there that knew Chris that thought he was a jerk? Even at his most outrageous he could still find a way to make people love him. To me, that's another tragedy of his life. He was greatly loved and it seems he really didn't see it or, if he did see it, feel he deserved it.
It's also impressive for the honesty of all those interviewed. Sure, they all loved Chris but they do not airbrush his faults. Even some of things that made him endearing could become a pain in the behind if a schtick was carried on too long. His drinking, his drug use, his rehab and the problems of and caused by his family are all addressed here. It's an honest book and in a biography, that is all that you can really hope for.
Sad Story 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
Honest insight into a man struggling with demons I bought this for my dh's birthday and we've been fighting over who gets to read it. We're actually keeping two bookmarks in the book so we can read it simultaneously.
It's really a sad story. But a very honest look at Farley's insecurities and his fatal struggle with drugs and alcohol. I find myself feeling sorry for him.
The interview format makes it a pretty quick read.
Love,Love,Love it!!! I could not put this book down! I have always been a fan of Chris Farley and after reading this I fell in love with him all over again. I cried, laughed, and was mad as hell. It really made me realize that we sometimes forget that celeberties are real people just like you and me! I pray that someone will read this and change some destructive things in their lives to LIVE!
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