Adam Sandler sings touching ode to Chris Farley: 'Nothing was harder than saying goodbye'
Adam Sandler is known for making audiences laugh, but he also knows how to make them truly miss someone.
He did just that when he paid tribute to his late friend, Chris Farley, in his October standup special for Netflix, called Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh. On Tuesday — the 21st anniversary of Farley’s death from a drug overdose at the age of 33 — Sandler released the full performance of his original song dedicated to his former Saturday Night Live co-star.
Images of Farley flashed on a screen as Sandler sang lyrics referencing some of Farley’s most famous sketches and characters, including Matt Foley, the Lunch Lady and one of the Gap Girls.
“You know I’m thinkin’ about, I’m thinkin’ about my boy Chris Farley,” Sandler sings.
The Wedding Singer star was somber as he played a guitar solo in the middle of the song. Then he launched into a verse that referenced two other late comedians, former Saturday Night Live star John Belushi, who died of a drug overdose at 33 in 1982, and SCTV alum John Candy, who died of a heart attack at the age of 43.
“We’d tell him, ‘Slow down, you’ll end up like Belushi and Candy.’ He said, ‘Those guys are my heroes. That’s all fine and dandy.'”
Through the song, Sandler revealed that his “last big hang” with Farley was at fellow Saturday Night Live cast member Tim Meadows’s wedding, which was five months before Farley died. The friends laughed their “balls off all night long because of Farley,” Sandler said, as only he could.
“Nothing was harder than saying goodbye,” Sandler sang.
At the end, Sandler told Farley, through his song, that he continues to bring joy, including to the Billy Madison star’s kids, via YouTube and the Farley classic Tommy Boy. He joked that he wishes the two of them were getting on a place to shoot Grown Ups 3.
When Sandler suggested the audience should cheer loudly so that Farley could hear them, the audience jumped to its feet.
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