The Chris Farley Show
A Biography in Three Acts
By: Tom Farley, Tanner Colby
Narrated by: Therese Plummer, L. J. Ganser, Mark Boyett

This book doesn't just deals with this wonderful comedian's professional career but it goes much deeper. It goes into the parts of Chris Farley's life that few people know. It tells about his family, how his addiction was a family affair. His family were all alcoholics except his sister. His father was almost 600 lbs. But nobody discussed the father's alcohol or weight.

Chris was also very religious and was very regular at mass. His family was Irish and Catholic. He had a close relationship with his priest.

It described his goals, his failures, how he handled each. His school life. Childhood experiences. Then on to his comedy career. How he started, friends, how he affected others.
His self destructive behavior of addiction and his many rehab admissions. Then the night he died and the funeral.

This was a heartwarming and heart wrenching story about a funny, caring, wonderful man that died too young. At the age of 33, the world lost so much. It's so sad that addiction takes so many young lives. ( )

This is probably the only biography I have read since school. The narrative of Chris' life is told in interviews from the people that knew him. If you were ever a fan of his comedy or are curious about how a man at the top of his field can still fall victim to his demons, then you will enjoy this book. Well enjoy may not be the right word. It will tug on your heart. ( )

Chris Farley's career emerged and ended during my childhood, so I was never aware of his struggles. He was well loved and well paid, and neither aspect was enough to conquer his addictions. I do wish 'oral history' books like this would acknowledge the voices that are missing - I know not everyone will want to participate, but sometimes an unacknowledged absence can make you wonder (his mom and sister were missing, despite all the brothers participating). It highlighted the dominance of male voices in this book. ( )

This was a shocking book to read. I was looking forward to finding out more about Chris Farley before his untimely demise in 1997. Instead I found this book, published by Penguin, to be so-called family and former friends criticizing Farley from their own self-aggrandizing point of view. I’m in disbelief that Penguin actually published this grotesque biography. I would not recommend this book to anyone, out of respect to Chris Farley’s memory. Nevertheless I came away from this read with a greater respect for Farley’s spiritual issues, struggles, and energies.
Reading between the lines I actually gleaned a little bit about Farley’s career. The personal recollections of the contributors add little to understanding Farley and actually cancel each other out they are so bizarre and biased. The most shocking thing was the remarks by some Catholic clergy who spoke about personal matters in general which I consider to be a breach of confidential trust. All the people who contribute make the same errors in judgement. This is one quote from Fr. Tom Gannon, S.J.,”Chris didn’t feel that he was worthy of God’s love. He felt he had to prove himself. Well, you’re never going to get very far in any relationship with that kind of belief. Imagine if you had to prove yourself to your spouse every single day; that’s not the way love works. In all of our talks, that was the one thing I really tried to work with him on, adjusting to this different idea of faith, but he never really moved from one to the other. It’s hard. It takes a long time to come around to that way of thinking, and Christ just ran out of time. ”
It was very frustrating to read these friends of Chris talk about like they are medical/mental health care professionals because they knew other random people in treatment. These are not professionals and they don't speak from authority of experience. This is their own pious opinion.
This was another reason I couldn’t believe Penguin published this. Don’t read The Chris Farley Show if you actually work in the medical or recovery fields.
Just so everyone knows the facts, no one is perfect. Everyone has issues they need to work on. Some people have issues that are perilous and immediately need an intervention or psychiatric treatment. This carries a societal stigma to it but it shouldn’t it. Help to survive and to continue living is always the optimum goal regardless of the means by which it is accomplished. This book makes seeking help and treatment which Farley did himself many times seem to be irrelevant and a waste of time. This is not the case. Some treatment centers and facilities may not be the best occasion for every person but these professionals do try to help live a better life not held by addictions or dangerous behaviors. Recovery and treatment facilities are a necessary means for very dire situations where people corner themselves. In my opinion, hard work is conducted to benefit people willing to accept help. The Farley book tries to justify its tone by making a final reference to the newly founded Chris Farley Foundation. Legally that works but it doesn’t suffice from an ethical point of view. Working in ministry, I've learned that everyone is working on trying to understand themselves and their past experiences which may have caused emotional trauma.
The book begins with a referencing Bob Woodward’s book about John Belushi ‘Wired’. I’ve read this book and it was horrible in every way. Woodard was raked over the coals for this piece of biographical trash which Farley read and then saw some of himself in the first SNL’s star portrayal. This Chris Farley book then takes on the same bizarre and hateful form regarding Farley’s own life.
As a Catholic, Farley was religious and often went to church and to Mass. He came to church in Santa Monica before my assignment. I had heard he came to Mass in Santa Monica when I was working in Venice. Fr Rocha was most likely the priest who is mentioned in the book from Santa Monica although he was surely also acquainted with St Monica’s pastor.
Unique about the book were the photos of Chris which were good.
Fr. Matt Foley was the model for his Matt Foley Motivational Speaker character and is one of the few people who doesn’t badmouth Chris Farley nonstop. ( )

I loved this book because it brings Chris back for me and will do that for anyone who reads it. I was fortunate enough to watch him when I was in high school when he was in his prime. I miss him and wish he knew how much he was loved. I'm very thankful this book was written... ( )