Mike Myers spoke to Esquire about improvising with the energetic Chris Farley, who had just joined the show that season. He said, “I was scared to death because he had already knocked somebody’s tooth out and gave somebody else a scar from being so crazy. I have a lot of energy, but I don’t have that energy.” Farley wasn’t ever afraid to go too far in a sketch, and most of them were really physical, as Myers says.
If you watch the sketch, as the Esquire article points out, you can see Myers covering his mouth to try not to break character. It was the scene that made Myers realize Farley was going to be famous. He says in the film, “After the Chippendales, we were like, ‘Oh, this guy’s going to be a giant. He’s going to be a huge star.'”
Farley did go on to become a colossal comedy sensation, with his tenure on “SNL” lasting from 1990 through 1995. He appeared in films like “Airheads,” “Tommy Boy,” “Black Sheep,” and “Beverly Hills Ninja.” In fact, his first film appearance was in a Mike Myers film. He played a wildly gesturing security guard in “Wayne’s World” (based on the recurring “SNL” sketch with Myers and Dana Carvey) and was brought back as a different character, Milton, in “Wayne’s World 2.” Farley sadly died of a drug overdose in 1997 at the age of 33. He left an incredible comic legacy behind him, despite his short career.
