Even the youngest and most casual Saturday Night Live fans recognize Chris Farley as an SNL legend, a comedic force of nature in manic pursuit of maximum laughs per second.
Farley’s SNL era is most “canonized” for sketches like Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker (“living in a van.. down by the river!”), the infamous Chippendales dance-off with Patrick Swayze, and the meta-awkward glory of The Chris Farley Show.
But Farley’s legacy at Saturday Night Live is also replete with surreal and deeply weird stuff, the kinds of sketches that would air at 12:45 a.m. These were the ones that I couldn’t wait to talk to my friends at school about the following Monday (this was pre-Internet still, kids!).
Let’s run through some of Chris Farley’s most bizarre and funny cult classics, the kind that makes you wonder how the stage didn’t collapse under his energy and sheer comedic weight.
Japanese Game Show
Equal parts offensive time capsule and deranged satire, this might be the single weirdest sketch SNL ever aired. Mike Myers screaming fake Japanese (side note: this would be wildly insensitive stuff by 2025 standards but… we still love Mike Myers with the full of our collective universal hearts), Chris Farley’s gee whiz clueless tourist who stumbled into his personal Darkest Timeline, and perhaps one of the best endings to a comedy sketch of all time. In short: what more could you want? Answer in Japanese please.
Decaf Coffee Ad
A Folgers’ Crystals ad with heavy 1970s Ordinary People vibes quickly devolves into surreal psychedelic mayhem when our guy realizes he’s been duped into drinking decaf and goes nuclear — flipping tables, smashing mugs, and channeling the raw energy of a man betrayed by caffeine. Farley channels the energy of his Comedy Spirit Horse (John Belushi) here like no other time in his entire (all too short) career.
Are you as gaga for sketch comedy as we are? Check out all 351 Key & Peele sketches ranked (in painstakingly funny detail). We promise it’s the best kind of rabbit hole, one that your boss will totally get that you spend a few hours on during working hours.
The Hulk At Superman’s Funeral
Farley as The Incredible Hulk gives a eulogy at Superman’s funeral, with a full host of other superheroes and Super Friends attending. If it was just standard Farley-as-Hulk going nutso and smashy smashy, that would be one thing. But this one brilliantly plays against Farley’s comedic persona by having his Hulk pivot from “me Hulk, me sad” to an arrestingly erudite speech that’s only seemingly brought on (somehow?) by his putting on his reading glasses. Then, when the glasses come off post-speech, it’s back to Hulk-being-Hulk. Weird + genius = Chris Farley. Also: me Eric, me sad that Farley died far too young.
Hibernol Ad
The setup: a fake drug called Hibernol that makes you sleep through anything. And by anything we mean the winter.
The deeply weird payoff: Farley slumped in ridiculous situations, fully unconscious as the months of his life slip on by in hibernation mode. Thankfully though, wife Julia Sweeney cheerfully remembered to videotape the Super Bowl for him.
Honestly, if Big Pharma pitched me this in 2025, I’d probably sign up… especially during this current administration.
Bonus: Phil Hartmann’s voiceover is legendary here.
Tales of Little Women
I’m a sucker for a seemingly “normal” premise that relentlessly trends into the territory called All Things Weird. In this one, a delightful Little Women-ish outing (that oddly only includes one woman but… lets set that aside) to the frozen lake on a winter’s day soon goes off the rails when Farley falls into said frozen lake. When the gang eventually receives a literal devil’s bargain, even guest host David Hyde Pierce rushes El Diablo to hurry the [REDACTED] up.
Gap Girls at the Food Court
This is not quite the weirdest SNL role that Farley took on, though by 2025 standards perhaps it is. In any event, there’s no doubt that his one of the girl gang Gap Girls is flat out hysterical. Scarfing fries and trading mall banter with David Spade and Adam Sandler is pure comic joy, as is seeing the comedy chemistry and friendship that this trio shares. Bonus I in the sketch embedded below (my personal fave): Sara Gilbert of Roseanne is pitch perfect sparring with these SNL titans. Bonus II from Spade: “I can’t believe we’re all wearing the thing we did four days ago.”