If there were ever a bigger-than-life comedian who graced the halls of Saturday Night Live, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone better than Chris Farley.

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Chris studied improv comedy at Second City before making it big on his true centre stage at Saturday Night Live. But what strikes me the most about someone like Chris is that he never seemed to accept his status as one of the best comedians on the show despite so many stories of high praise from others.

Why could someone feel like this despite peer compliments and the real-time feedback he would have received from the crowd?

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Who is Chris Farley?

Christopher Crosby Farley (February 15, 1964 – December 18, 1997) was an American comedian and actor. He was known for his loud, energetic comedic style, and was a member of Chicago's Second City Theatre and later a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live for five seasons from 1990 to 1995. He went on to pursue a film career, appearing in films such as Airheads, Tommy Boy, Black Sheep, Beverly Hills Ninja, and Almost Heroes.

From his early acting days and through the height of his fame, Farley struggled with obesity, alcoholism, and substance abuse. He died of a drug overdose at the age of 33.

Throughout Farley's career, he was frequently known for his physical performance/comedy and athleticism (similar to Curly Howard and Roscoe Arbuckle). This was used to great effect during his time on Saturday Night Live, and continued through many of his films.

Along with Chris Rock, Farley was one of the new Saturday Night Live cast members announced in early 1990. On SNL, Farley frequently collaborated with fellow cast members Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Tim Meadows, Rob Schneider and David Spade, among others. This group came to be known as the "Bad Boys of SNL."

Popular characters performed by Farley included Matt Foley, an over-the-top motivational speaker who frequently reminded other characters that he was "living in a van down by the river!" The character was created by Bob Odenkirk when he and Farley were performers at Second City. The character's name came from a longtime friend of Farley's who became a Catholic priest and currently serves as head pastor at St. James Catholic Church in Arlington Heights, Illinois. In early renditions of the character, Farley used other names, depending on whom he knew in the audience, until the real-life Foley went to the show and had his name used, at which point Farley felt the name best suited the character and refused to change it. Some of the mannerisms of the character were a combination of the positions Farley noticed his rugby teammates took on the pitch coupled with his high school football coach's habit of squatting down when giving pep talks and the voice his father used when he was angry.

Other famous Farley characters included Todd O'Connor of Bill Swerski's Superfans, a group of stereotypical Chicagoans who repeatedly shouted "da Bears!"; a would-be Chippendales dancer, in a famous sketch that paired him with guest host Patrick Swayze; one of the "Gap Girls", who worked together at a local mall; a stereotypical lunch lady, to the theme of "Lunchlady Land"' performed by Adam Sandler; Bennett Brauer, a Weekend Update commentator who often divulged his personal and hygienic problems via air quotes; and himself on The Chris Farley Show, a talk show in which Farley "interviewed" the guest with poorly conceived questions or trailed off about subjects not germane to the guest.

Some of these characters were brought to SNL from his days at Second City. Farley also performed impersonations of Tom Arnold (who gave Farley's eulogy at his private funeral), Andrew Giuliani, Jerry Garcia, Meat Loaf, Norman Schwarzkopf, Dom DeLuise, Roger Ebert, Carnie Wilson, Newt Gingrich, Mindy Cohn, Mama Cass, Hank Williams Jr., and Rush Limbaugh.

And if you’re still reading this – hello.

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