BOOKS: The Chris Farley Show by Tom Farley Jr. and Tanner Colby

Today marks the release of a new oral biography of Chris Farley written by his brother Tom Farley Jr. and Tanner Colby, who, fittingly, cowrote Belushi: A Biography. It seems that Farley could never escape Belushi's shadow and although some contend that Farley never tried to emulate him style-wise, he idolized his personal life. "Wired [Bob Woodward's book about Belushi] was the only book that Chris Farley read in college. The only one," remembers college friend Mark Hermacinski.

The Chris Farley Show is a thorough chronicle of Farley's personal and professional life with stories from family, friends and fellow performers. From the Ark Improvisational Theater in Farley's hometown of Madison, Wisconsin to Second City in Chicago to 'Saturday Night Live' in New York and films such as 'Tommy Boy' and 'Black Sheep', Farley's rise was steady and quick. Along the way everyone was sure he was going to make it, he was that good of a performer. But also constantly woven into the tales is his consent abuse of alcohol and drugs. Coming from a Irish-Catholic family in a state where you could drink at 18 with a father that gave him money to buy beers at 17, Farley learned at a young age how to play the funny drunk guy. Many people included in the book insist that he didn't need to be drunk to be funny, but he gained a reputation for being so anyway.

Farley is depicted here as an immense talent that could take over a scene even if he was a bit character. "His mere presence would induce laughter. Anything he'd do on top of that was gravy," says Second City cast member Joe Liss. In Chicago he was mentored by Del Close.

During Farley's 'SNL' years, individual sketches are discussed. The memorable "Chippendales" sketch with Patrick Swayze gets mixed reactions. Bob Odenkirk believes "he never should have done it" and Chris Rock says that he always hated it while others loved it. "Super Fans" (a.k.a. "Da Bears") was originally conceived by Odenkirk and Robert Smigel for a stage show in Chicago, they thought it was just a local thing. And Farley's most famous sketch on 'SNL', playing Matt Foley the Motivational Speaker, was yet another sketch written by Odenkirk that Farley had been doing years before in Second City.

But through all of the money, fame, and respect that he received, he couldn't resist the temptations no matter how many times he went to rehab. His overarching story is one that is probably similar to others that succumb to addition: family and friends that worry and help as far as they can and, in the end, have to cope with the sorrow of a life with so much potential wasted.

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Wisconsin exhibit to showcase Chris Farley's life
Tom Farley Jr. interview
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BOOKS: Comedy at the Edge by Richard Zoglin

Today marks the official release of a new book on 1970s stand-up, Comedy at the Edge by Richard Zoglin. Its a very concise examination of the last time that stand-up comedy was culturally, artistically and financially relevant in America on a large scale. Like Peter Biskind's books on different film eras, it pretty much sums up the triumphs, stories and controversies of the times.

I'm only on page 83 at this point, so I don't have much to say about it, but topics covered include:

- Why Lenny Bruce was relevant to 70s comedy beyond his use of swear words
- The evolution of George Carlin and Richard Pryor from straight TV jokesters to counter-culture heroes
- The improv discoveries of David Steinberg and Robert Klein
- The comedy club politics of NYC's Budd Friedman and L.A.'s Mitzi Shore (yes, that Shore) where no one got paid and an union, the Comedians for Compensation, was attempted (quick excerpt: "Gallagher's yelling, 'Why don't we burn the fucking place down!'")
- Albert Brooks' lampooning of bad showbiz acts, the post-modern comedy of Steve Martin and of course Andy Kaufman and Tony Clifton
- The scarcity of female comedians in the 70s
- Jerry Seinfeld taking it mainstream into the 80s

Much has been reported on the joke stealing- David Brenner (Philly's own) accusing Robin Williams of using his material on HBO- and the boozing and egos (TV detective Richard Belzer among them) but there's a lot more to it too.
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