Nearly three decades after Chris Farley’s death, the larger-than-life comedian’s funniest SNL lines are still quoted and his best roles are memed and replayed as if he never left. But for his family, especially his brother Tom Farley, the legacy isn’t just about the sketches that made his castmates laugh or the box office hits like Tommy Boy. It’s about the version of Chris they knew offstage and the version they were just beginning to see of the rising Saturday Night Live breakout star emerge before his untimely passing.
In a recent exclusive with People Magazine, Tom Farley opened up about what he misses most about his late brother, who died on December 18, 1997 at age 33 from an apparent drug overdose. For years, Tom says, the memory that came to mind was simple and physical. In his words:
For years, when people would ask me that, I'd give the same answer: We would come home to Madison, Wis., or we'd see each other after a while, and he'd just give me a bear hug. I can still feel it, you know, and we'd hold it. It was just a brotherly thing. It was wonderful. And I still miss that.
Born and raised in Wisconsin, the late comedian cut his teeth at Chicago’s Second City before being tapped by Lorne Michaels for Saturday Night Live in 1990. Over five seasons, he delivered unforgettable characters: Matt Foley, the Chippendales dancer, and the Gap Girls’ Cindy, to name but a few. He was chaos and commitment rolled into one.
But behind the scenes, addiction shadowed much of his adult life. The Beverly Hills Ninja actor went to rehab more than a dozen times and was sober for three years before relapsing in 1995. According to Tom, those sober years were transformative. He continued:
But what I really miss now is that I would have loved to have been in recovery with Chris. Because when he was in recovery, and he was so successful those last years on SNL, he was working his program. He was amazing and look at what happened — he just exploded. And I started seeing a brother I never got to see.
That part hits differently. We often talk about Farley’s explosive energy, but Tom is describing something more layered. Someone who was actively finding his footing just as his career was peaking. Even after his firing from SNL in 1995, alongside his friend Adam Sandler, the enduring fan favorite found major success in films like Tommy Boy and Beverly Hills Ninja. But Tom’s reflections suggest the real breakthrough wasn’t just professional, but personal. Who knows where the fan-favorite funnyman would be today, but it's easy to imagine him being another SNL veteran who could thrive in dramatic roles.
And perhaps most revealing is how Tom reframes Chris Farley's myth as “just” a character actor. Of his brother, he added:
Here was this guy that was known for his characters — and yet, if you look at every one of Chris's characters, it was Chris. I had to share a bedroom with this guy. He was known for characters, but he was always just himself ... that's why, we all these years later, we love him still
That’s the throughline. Tom Farley says that some of his best roles were simply Chris being Chris. As kids, they’d perform skits for family, and while he tried to “play” someone else, Chris leaned into who he already was.
Tom Farley used to joke that his brother's mission in life was to push his buttons. Now, it seems he sees it differently. He believes his brother was simply being himself, something that ultimately became his greatest strength. Decades later, the sketches still get laughs. But for him, what stands out isn’t the fame or the characters. It’s the brother he feels he was just beginning to truly discover.
You can revisit Chris Farley’s five-year run, along with all 51 seasons of Saturday Night Live, streaming now with a Peacock subscription.
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