Three ex-wives (first one named Linda, other two unnamed)[1]
Matt Foley is a fictional character from the sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live performed by Chris Farley. Foley is a motivational speaker who exhibits characteristics atypical of someone in that position: whereas motivational speakers are usually successful and charismatic, Foley is abrasive, clumsy and down on his luck. The character's debut performance (May 8, 1993) has been called one of the best segments in SNL history.[2]
...even if he is imitating the loudmouth imbecile Sam Kinison to the decibel, Chris Farley is a stitch in "Motivation." He plays a scuzzy drug abuser hired by parents to scare their kids straight, a case of negative psychology taken over a cliff.[7]
Matt Foley appeared in eight Saturday Night Live sketches. Each sketch typically started with Foley brought into a situation by someone to speak to a group. The sketches usually feature Farley's physical comedy, such as the over-caffeinated Foley gesticulating wildly and leaping around, often breaking furniture. At the end of each sketch, he is usually rushed out of his speaking location, where the people left behind huddle together and comment on him, usually bemused and frightened. Though his intended message is always ruined by his bizarre presentation, his results are usually successful as his audience changes their behavior so as to avoid further association with him.
The character's debut was so popular that Farley turned it into one of his best-known routines and one which he would repeat many times, both as Foley and as other characters on SNL and in film during the remainder of his life and career, sometimes injuring himself in the process.[citation needed]
Plans for a film version with David Spade in a supporting role were shelved after Farley's death in 1997.[8]
In a 1997 guest appearance on All That, Farley appeared as Chef Farley opposite future SNL cast member Kenan Thompson in a "Cooking with Randy" sketch. He used many of Foley's mannerisms.[24]
Parodies
In the third episode of season 20 of Family Guy, Peter Griffin dresses up very similar to the character on Halloween. When two children remark this, Peter claims he doesn't know him and is merely getting home from work. He heads inside and states he has "to do a dangerous speedball and become the least surprising death in Hollywood history,"[25] referencing Chris Farley's death.
↑Borrelli, Christopher (January 30, 2015). "Underrated for years, Bob Odenkirk gets the call for 'Saul'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 10, 2020. But even an "SNL" character like Matt Foley, which you wrote decades ago for Chris Farley, seems to come not from ridicule but a sincere sympathy with kind of hapless people like Foley.
