Physical comedy doesn’t come easily for everyone, but Chris Farley seemed to have been crafted from a textbook. Showcased best on Saturday Night Live, Farley’s freewheeling and manic energy was also on display in Tommy Boy, Black Sheep and a handful of other features and series filmed before his untimely death at 33. Though not known for youth-skewing fare, Farley appeared on All That for one of his final TV roles, and Kenan Thompson revealed how the comedian broke one of Nickelodeon’s go-to rules for filming messy scenes.
Years before Thompson himself started his record-breaking run within the SNL cast ranks, he shared the screen with Farley in All That’s Season 3 episode “Mint Condition,” and even if the sketch wasn’t exactly the deepest idea, the experience was a core memory for Thompson. Appearing alongside his former co-star on the podcast Good Hangs with Amy Poehler via YouTube, the Good Burger star first addressed just how funny and commanding Farley was, saying:
Farley is just a full buffalo, you know what I mean? He was just like so dynamically funny. Not just falling down funny; he had some quips that were incredible. And sometimes his performances were just like, he’s the only one that can do that kind of thing. So he came to All That and did that. It was the greatest day I’ve ever seen, ‘cause I was like, ‘That’s a true pro.’ That’s somebody that doesn’t need [to rehearse]. ‘Cause they would tell us and rehearse us a lot ‘cause were were kids. He came in and didn’t need any instruction at all.
It is quite true that I can't really see any other comedians stepping in to bring Tommy Boy's best scenes to life isntead of Chris Farley. In that he seems like the only person who could have made the "Fat Man in a Little Coat" sequence work without it being needlessly mean or weird. ("You're needlessly mean and weird." Shut up, Richard.)
For those who need a refresher on the All That segment Farley appeared in, Thompson explained the high-art concept, saying:
He was playing a ketchup chef that likes to put ketchup on everything, and of course, my character likes to put chocolate on everything. So it was a battle, and they had this eight-layer chocolate cake because we were celebrating something or whatever. And you know, Nickelodeon likes to make a mess, but they like to shoot up until right before the mess, and stop and do that part a few times to make sure they got it, if you will.
It's a tactic that's been addressed before by other former child actors from Nickelodeon's stable of beloved kids shows. As soon as there's a set-up to make a gigantic mess, that's apparently when everybody gets really into their job, and the push was always to make sure the on-camera splattering (be it slime, cake or otherwise) was as effective as possible.
But a performer like Chris Farley doesn't follow all the rules when he's told, and it doesn't seem like he was invested in hanging out on the All That stage for full afternoon. Because he didn't play nice when asked to go easy on the large cake being utilized for the scene. Thompson continued, with Poehler giggling in anticipation.
They really politely asked him. And you know, Take 1, after we got to that point, [he] destroyed that cake like it was nothing. I think on purpose, because they tried to tell him to do something. He like beat the cake up to where there was no way we were doing a second take of this. Jumped in the car, jumped in the limousine and was gone. They have showers. They’re like, ‘We have showers for you,’ ‘I’m fine.’ Toweled off a little bit, still ketchup in his hair, and was out of there. I was like, ‘Now that’s a gangster. That’s a professional gangster.’
Simply amazing. Watching Farley in that sketch feels exactly like it sounds, as he's rolling on all cylinders and is just a boulder of energy. And knowing that he's going against the rules, advice and requests of Nickelodeon execs just makes it even funnier once he starts turning that cake into mulch.
It's always fun to hear Kenan Thompson share anecdotes from his 23 seasons on Saturday Night Live, and he shares quite a few others throughout his appearance on Good Hang. When the anecdotes have run dry, though, the new season of SNL is finally almost here.
Saturday Night Live is set to return to NBC for Season 52 on September 26, 2026, with episodes also streaming via Peacock subscription.
