Watch Rare Footage of Pre-SNL Chris Farley Performing Iconic Character
Before Chris Farley starred on Saturday Night Live, he was a featured improv performer at Chicago's famous Second City. And while there, alongside Bob Odenkirk and Tim Meadows, Farley began perfecting his beloved SNL characters.
On Monday, Second City uploaded a grainy VHS video from July 1990, the same year Farley began his run on SNL, but three years before he would debut his beloved character Matt Foley, a "motivational speaker" who lives in a van down by the river. The video shows an early glimpse of Farley's Foley, as he enters the stage two minutes in, telling the children:
My name is Matt Foley, and I am a motivational speaker. Now, let's get started by me giving you a little bit of a scenario of what my life is all about. First off, I am 35 years old, I am divorced, and I live in a van down by the river!
The yelling, pants-pulling, and enthusiasm are all the same; the only thing missing is broken furniture.
Here's Farley's first appearance as Foley on SNL:
Farley died in 1997 at age 33.
