Alex Carson
David Spade and Chris Farley were two popular American comedians who became close friends during their time on the sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live” in the early to mid 1990s.
David Spade is an actor, comedian, and writer known for his sharp wit and sarcastic humor. He first gained fame as a cast member on SNL from 1990 to 1996, where he developed a signature style of delivering cutting one-liners. He has also appeared in numerous television shows and films, including “Just Shoot Me”, “The Emperor’s New Groove”. “8 Simple Rules” and “Joe Dirt.”
Chris Farley was a larger-than-life comedian known for his physical comedy and boisterous personality. He also rose to prominence as a cast member on SNL in the early 1990s, where he became known for his over-the-top characters and impressions. After leaving the cast of SNL, Farley went on to appear in several films, including “Airheads”, “Almost Heroes”, and “Beverly Hills Ninja”.
Spade and Farley got to be very close during their time on SNL and went on to collaborate on two films together, “Tommy Boy” and “Black Sheep.” They had a unique on-screen chemistry that was built on their contrasting personalities, with Spade often playing the straight man to Farley’s larger-than-life antics. Their friendship offscreen was also well known, and they were often seen joking around and causing mischief together. Tragically, Farley passed away from a drug overdose in 1997 at the age of 33, which was a devastating loss for Spade and the entire comedy community.
While Spade and Farley had a great deal of respect for each other and maintained a long friendship, they didn’t always see eye to eye. In fact, throughout their friendship, they often ended up feuding with each other, especially during their time working together in their film collaborations.
After Farley died, Spade decided to not attend his funeral. This move came as a shock to fans of both comedians. Join us as we reveal why David Spade seemingly snubbed his old SNL pal while also discussing some of the two stars’ most heated disagreements.
Facts Verse Presents: David Spade Confirms Why He Skipped Chris Farley’s Funeral
Spade’s Emotional Explanation
It’s been a quarter century since Chris Farley died, but back in 2014, his Tommy Boy and Black Sheep co-star David Spade revealed in a Reddit AMA session that he thinks of the physical comedy genius almost every day.
During that online Q&A session, Spade fielded numerous questions about his relationship with Farley. He also took time to discuss his decision to not attend Farley’s funeral.
Spade acknowledged that he and Farley did have their ‘squabbles’. After all, they spent so much time, as he put it, “crammed together”, that it was inevitable that they would eventually have their disagreements and temporary fallouts. Even so, at the end of the day, they always made up and retained their friendship through thick and thin.
Spade maintains that his decision to not attend his old buddy’s funeral had nothing to do with animosity or anything like that. By the time that Farley passed, their past differences were already in the rearview mirror.
Rather, in reality, Spade revealed that attending the funeral would have simply been too emotional for him. After all, the two stars spent decades together as close friends. Likely they viewed each other almost like flesh and blood brothers – which mind you also explains their occasional spats.
Spade went on to say that he wouldn’t have been capable of handling his emotions if he had attended the funeral. The sting of losing his close friend was simply too great for him to bear.
They Planned On Making A Third Film Together
In a profile ran by Esquire magazine in 2022, David Spade revealed that Farley had expressed interest in reuniting with him on-screen for a third feature film about two months before his passing. Toward the end of their time together on SNL, the two comedians famously joined forces to headline the 1995 comedy Tommy Boy. While the film wasn’t a box office success, only grossing $32 million worldwide, it ended up becoming a cult classic after receiving a home video release.
Spade and Farley reunited once again just a little over a year later in the film “Black Sheep”.
Immdiately following the release of Black Sheep, Spade and Farley talked about doing another comedy together, but Chris seemed to be more interested in doing more dramatic films instead. Not wanting to impose on his friend, Spade told Farley that he should go ahead and pursue that, but just two months before he unexpectedly died, Farley hit Spade up and admitted that what he had been working on as of late hadn’t been very fun or fulfilling.
Knowing that fans of Tommy Boy and Black Sheep were still holding out hope that the two comics would one day reunite for a third feature film, Farley suggested that they should go ahead and give it a try. Sadly, that dream would never get a chance to be realized.
Following Farley and Spade’s back-to-back films together, Chris appeared in 1997s “Beverly Hills Ninja”. His final two films, “Dirty Work” and “Almost Heroes,” were posthumously released in 1998, as he died from of said overdose in December of 1997.
Fat Guy In A Little Coat
Looking back on their work together, both on SNL and in their two big-screen offerings, it’s clear to see that Spade and Farley had a tremendous amount of on-screen chemistry. Discussing their comedic personas, Spade told Esquire that Farley always liked to play dumb while he would be the duo’s brains.
Farley and Spade were always goofing around on set. Chris wanted David to make fun of him as he thought it was absolutely hilarious. Throughout his career, Farley frequently leaned heavily on this kind of self-deprecating humor, and it really seemed to work for him. Eventually, however, Farley grew tired of always being labeled as a the moron.
Even while in the SNL office, Farley used to like to bust out his classic “Fat Guy in a Little Coat” bit. Farley and Spade’s desks were back to back with each other, and whenever Chris would get bored – which apparently was a frequent happening – he would whip out that routine. At one point, Spade got so tired of the bit that he would tell Farley that he wasn’t going to turn around if he was doing the whole “Fat Guy In A Little Coat” thing again.
Farley would then insist that he had a ‘whole new thing’ that he wanted to show him, but lo and behold each and every time he’d be standing there wearing Spade’s Levi jacket singing the song!
Minor annoyances aside, Spade looks back on those times fondly. Likely, he would give just about anything to once again see his old friend squeezed into a tiny jacket bursting it’s seams and making a scene.
David and Chris’s “Tommy Boy” Spat
During the early to mid-90s, Spade and Farley were seeing a whole lot of each other.When Tommy Boy’s filming began, the two were still working on SNL together. On Monday and Tuesdays they’d be in Toronto working on the film together, then they would fly off to New York on Wednesday to do a read-through for the SNL script. Following that, they’d promptly hop aboard another flight back to Canada to shoot on Thursday before once again taking a flight back to the Big Apple to be there on Friday and Saturday for SNL. Immediately after the credits would roll on SNL, they would then fly back to Toronto on a 1 am flight to shoot for Tommy Boy on Sunday before starting the whole cycle over again come Monday.
By the time that Tommy Boy’s filming was coming to an end, both stars were naturally feeling spread too thin. Spade says that at that point, they were fighting like an old married couple. After all, you can only spend so much time constantly with someone before you start stepping on their toes.
One week after shooting SNL and flying back to Toronto, Farley asked Spade what time they were supposed to be on set the following morning. David replied by saying that he didn’t feel well and was going to call it a night.
Although he planned on going to bed, Rob Lowe hit Spade up and invited him to have a drink with at the bar. Rob Lowe was also in Tommy Boy and he and Spade were likewise fairly close. Although he initially planned on retiring for the evening, Spade took Lowe up on his offer, and the two met up for a quick drink at the hotel bar.
The following day, Farley was livid that Spade and Lowe went out for drinks without him. The two proceeded to argue about it before ultimately the situation devolved into a full-on fistfight.
After going their separate ways to go cool down, Spade went off to go enjoy a tuna sandwich that he had packed for lunch while waiting for a scene to begin. David sat on the ground munching away on his sandwich when Farley walked over and stood over imposingly him while smoking a cigarette.
At that point, Farley tried to start the fight about Lowe again, but Spade refused to get into with him again. Because of this, Farley stepped on Spade’s hand which was clutching his sandwich. Spade then jolted up, at which point Farley pushed him down a flight of stairs. At the very moment that Spade got up and dusted himself off, the director of the film called “action”.
Fortunately, Spade and Farley didn’t let that episode get in the way of their friendship. Even after that little spat, the two continued to work with each other for several years, although Spade would later admit that Black Sheep probably shouldn’t have been made. By that point in Farley’s career, he was tired of always being the butt of all the jokes and desired to be seen as a more serious actor. At the end of the day, it was evidently all about the money. Farley and company simply couldn’t pass on another big payday.
Despite the circumstances, David Spade and Chris Farley shined on-screen together and it really makes you wonder what a third film collaboration would have been like. Sadly, we’ll never get to know what might have been as Farley’s life was tragically cut short.
Before we end this video, we’d like to hear from you.
Did you know that Chris Farley and David Spade once got into a physical fight while on the set of Tommy Boy and that they had discussed doing a third comedy film together in the months before Chris’s untimely death? Let us know in the comments, and as always, thanks for watching!
