These guys had an absolutely flawless system figured out. I truly believe that they needed each other just as much as any of the truly great comedy duos. From Martin & Lewis and Abbott & Costello, through Cheech & Chong, Lemmon & Mathau, Wilder & Pryor, and hey how about Ferrell and John C. Reilly.
Farley and Spade
Now let’s be clear: I’m not saying Chris Farley and David Spade are better than anybody on this list. What I AM saying… is they might have been. They were in two films together (Coneheads doesn’t much count–what matters is Black Sheep, and Tommy Boy). The thing of it is, anytime these two were on screen together, be it in a film or on Saturday Night Live... they just absolutely captured comedy. I can barely even look at this picture above without laughing.
Saturday Night Live, arguably the funniest show in the history of television, has had highs and lows. The highest of the high in my opinion, was in the years 1991-1995. This cast could do no wrong. Among them: Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Mike Myers, Roy Schneider, Kevin Nealon, Phil Hartman, Tim Meadows, Dana Carvey… Chris Farley AND David Spade.
I could go into all the poetic reasons why I love the duo, but it would end up being short reviews of Tommy Boy and Black Sheep. Might as well not dance around the subject.
Tommy Boy
1995. 93 minutes. Rated PG-13.
Quote: Boys and Girls… IT’S PAPA SMURF!
This film begins with Farley’s patented crashing through a table and you just knew it was going to be classic.
Tommy Boy will change your life. It’s absolutely hilarious, like every single minute. The tale begins with Tommy Callahan (Chris Farley) returning to his hometown to assume a position in his father’s (Brian Dennehy) break pad factory. A geek he used to go to high school with, named Richard (David Spade), picks him up at the airport, and I’m not kidding, non-stop jokes begin almost immediately. Richard is CONSTANTLY pointing out how stupid and useless Tommy is, after returning home from a seven-year stint in college. Even Herbie Hancock could tell you that Tommy isn’t worth his weight in crumpled beer cans too. The guy is totally used to having his head held above water. Farley’s genius brings this guy leaping off the screen. You love him almost immediately.
Don’t get me wrong, every single word Chris Farley says is gold. The guy is a comic legend as it stands, and he only made 10 films. Tommy Boy was clearly his masterpiece though, and in a quick 97 minutes. It’s clear from the first glance of him that he’s willing to completely and totally poke fun at himself (and all fat guys, really) for a laugh (stupid guys, too). Tommy was an epic failure before everything else was being called epic. He succeeds in his humor for the same reason characters like Dr. Evil succeed in theirs. They succeed because we can identify with them. Things don’t always go as we planned, and more often than not, we aren’t the most put together person in the room. Gotta stay sharp or else. Regular people don’t always succeed.
For these reasons though, we have soft spots in our hearts for lovable imbeciles, like Tommy Callahan, Dr. Evil, Homer Simpson, and all those great John Candy characters.
Black Sheep
1996. 87 minutes. Rated PG-13.
Maybe I was born too late to understand why everyone worships John Belushi’s character in Animal House so much. I think Farley took it to an even better place in Black Sheep.
Black Sheep will always be placed right after Tommy Boy in discussions about Chris Farley. Arguments that his best material happened on Saturday Night Live certainly deserve attention, because he brought a spirit not found in all casts over the shows history, back to the early nineties. That being a claim, it’s a more widely accepted opinion that his best work was in Tommy Boy and Black Sheep.
Could Black Sheep be more focused on for its own merit, you might remind yourself why its held up as almost equally important to countless hours spent taping on SNL.
Farley is Mike Donnelly, the younger screw up brother to an almost certainly new Governor of Washington Al Donnelly (Tim Matheson). Al hires a low level aid Steve (Spade) to “handle” his brother, meaning to try and help him feel involved, whilst keeping him away from cameras, news reporters, and basically any place where he could draw negative attention onto Al, which he tends to do. Suffice it to say… Steve sucks at his job, and anything bad that can happen, does.
Now any way you want to look at these films, Tommy Boy is the stronger film. Just all day better, stronger cast, better jokes, better plot… it’s just better. That being said though, Black Sheep is a totally different kind of comedy. People don’t always realize that when they lump them together. Black Sheep is primarily physical comedy. Slapsticky awesomeness around every corner. I would even go out on a limb and say that my top few favorite Farley-Spade Moments (when I’m just dying laughing out loud at home alone) are in Black Sheep.
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How about the house that time forgot? A huge boulder knocks it off it’s crap foundation, the roof blows clear off and a hail storm ensues. As you laugh at Spade teasing Farley (I got dibs on top bunk) the scene ends with the weight of the hail breaking the bed and sending top bunk crashing onto bottom. It kills me every time.
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Rock The Vote? Forget it, that whole 5 or 6 minutes I’m almost crying
- THE BAT? I’m not kidding. You need to watch it – That scene might be my favorite Farley ever.
Farley is just another name on the list of gone too soon.
What can you do? I appreciate his small body of work and do him the service of coming back to each of these two films at least once a year. Never forget that this comic duo was born on Saturday Night Live though, there are plenty of skits the two shared, and you can find most of them with relative ease on Youtube.
Here’s a favorite of mine… Thanks for reading.
