Chris Farley

            
            
             Chris Farley's death was a tragedy but not a surprise. Farley, was following in the footsteps of his idols, John Belushi and John Candy. Most people didn't know about his private life and the challenges he faced everyday. .
             Chris Farley idolized John Belushi. This is evident in the way Farley started his career in comedy and his comedic stylings. Unfortunately he also followed Belushi's demise, they both died at the age of 33 due complications with drugs. Other similarities between Belushi and Farley are they both first joined the comedy troupe, Second City in Chicago before moving on and working on Saturday Night Live. When it came to Farley's comedy style, he copied Belushi almost to the "T" .One particular scene from the movie Animal House in which Bluto (John Belushi) drinks a beer and crushes the can on his head reminds me the most of Chris Farley. It was this physical humor that he chose to copy. In another interview, Chris Farely said, "Although I love this kind of comedy, sometimes I feel trapped by always having to be the most outrageous guy in the room," .
             Outwardly, as a casual observer of Farley on S.N.L., most people saw him as an extremely talented comedian. Only his close friends and devoted fans knew of the personal demons Chris had to deal with everyday. One major conflict Chris had was with his weight. Another issue was his drug use. Even while trying to lose weight at the urging of his friends and co-workers, Chris was quoted as saying, "Tom Arnold enrolled me in his favorite fat farm. It was pure hell. All I did was dream of food. If (John) Candy couldn't do it, I don't know how I'm going to." It was, what I believe drove Chris into the downward spiral he was in. He studied, and imitated his idols personalities and comedic stylings so closely that if John Belushi abused drugs and John Candy abused food, that, to him, it justified there gross overuse to him. The sad fact was that Chris knew the horror's of obesity.