Saturday Night Live, now in its 50th season as part of the 2025 TV schedule, has showcased many stars. But none quite like the late Chris Farley. A whirlwind of energy and comedic talent, Farley's iconic sketches helped shape SNL in the '90s and continue to be celebrated. But his struggles with addiction are a sobering reminder of another SNL legend, John Belushi. Lorne Michaels, the show's creator, aimed to ensure that history wouldn’t repeat itself.
In a recent conversation on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Susan Morrison, author of Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, spoke candidly about how deeply Belushi’s 1982 overdose affected Michaels and, in turn, how that shaped his handling of Farley. According to the author:
When Belushi died, it really hit him hard…And I think he felt like this whole approach of just letting people do their own thing on their own time, this was the wrong approach. We’re a tribe, we’re a group, and we have to look out for each other.
That lesson hit home when Farley, who rocketed to stardom with his physical, no-holds-barred sketches, began struggling openly with addiction. According to Morrison, Michaels would “ban” Farley from the show for weeks at a time in a desperate attempt to curb his self-destruction. She revealed:
He would ban Farley from the show for weeks at a time if he was too f---ed up. And he sent him to a series of really tough love rehab places. And obviously, it didn’t do it for him.
The strategy wasn’t just disciplinary, it was a lifeline. Michaels knew what SNL meant to Farley. Removing him from the one thing he loved most was reportedly an attempt to reach the man behind the manic sketches. Morrison continued:
It was like the kind of thrill of being in the principal’s office, but at the same time, you’re getting in trouble. He couldn’t metabolize it...
That contradiction defined Farley’s time on the show: a man desperate for approval but unable to escape the habits threatening to destroy him. Michaels wasn’t just his boss; he became an unwitting guardian, trying every method he could to steer the Tommy Boy actor off a path he’d seen before.
After one of his stints in rehab, Farley briefly got clean, only to relapse again. Michaels sent him to a facility in Alabama, one rooted in “tough love.” It wasn’t punishment, but an attempt at prevention.
But the ending was painfully familiar. On December 18, 1997, just two months after hosting SNL, Chris Farley died of an overdose at 33. Cocaine and heroin, the same fatal mix that took Belushi. It was the tragedy Michaels had tried to avoid repeating. But even with all the interventions and hard decisions, addiction proved too powerful.
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