Chris Farley’s Matt Foley sketch is most fun Bob Odenkirk has ever had in show biz

Last Updated on March 28, 2023

Anybody living in a van down by the river would tell you that Chris Farley’s Matt Foley skit on Saturday Night Live is one of the funniest to ever air. Just under thirty years after it debuted, its creator, Bob Odenkirk, has offered his recollections on its origins and evolution, from its early improv days to making the stage of the most famous sketch comedy show in history.

While tasting a 36,000 Scoville hot sauce on First We Feast’s Hot Ones, Odenkirk told host Sean Evans about one of his most cherished memories of his career: developing Matt Foley with Chris Farley, a presence he knew would be a star the first time he got within 100 feet of him.  “My daughter once asked me, ‘What was the most fun you had in show biz?’ And I said I did this sketch with Chris Farley. I played the dad in the sketch and we did it seven times a week at Second City. Every time I did that was the most fun I had in show business.” On Farley as a whole, Odenkirk said, “I love it when people go, ‘That guy’s got something.’ Like, yeah, really, ya think? Who fucking can’t tell that he’s the shit?”

Odenkirk continued, going into detail as to how the Matt Foley character evolved between its Chicago days to becoming a 30 Rock classic. “I love Chris and then the motivational speaker, the sketch I wrote for him that did so well. And we had done an improvisation and we were all playing teachers of a school…and he did his coach character and it was Matt Foley. He might even [have used] the name Matt Foley. It didn’t have a story–van down by the river–it was a motivational speaker, but…it stuck in my head as it would anyone. And I went home that night and I wrote that sketch and I’ve written hundreds of sketches in my life and I wrote it exactly the way it’s down–although Robert Smigel added the breaking the table…Everything else is exactly the way I wrote it that night…I brought it into Chris and said, ‘Here’s a sketch, you can do that character you did.’”

And Chris Farley did Matt Foley, motivational speaker, eight times on SNL. Although the first SNL appearance, with host Christina Applegate, is the most iconic, the others are most definitely worth checking out. The original skit, which premiered in May 1993, is consistently ranked among the greatest Saturday Night Live sketches ever. The juggernaut that is Farley is generally considered one of the best SNL performers ever, championed by fans and contemporaries.

Where does Chris Farley’s Matt Foley sketch rank among your favorites in Saturday Night Live history?