Breaking Bad star Bob Odenkirk reflects on his deep friendship with Chris Farley and their time working together at the improv troupe Second City.
In an interview with People magazine, the Better Call Saul actor recalled, “I wrote the motivational speaker for him, the ‘Van Down by the River’ sketch.”
He continued, “At Second City, he had done an improvisation with me and everyone in the cast, and we had done an anti-drug rally, and he played a coach who is essentially Matt Foley.” “The night after I saw him do that improvisation, I wrote that sketch just exactly as it’s done,” Odenkirk added.
He noted, “I’ve written many sketches in my life, and almost none of them needed to be rewritten. This one did not need to be rewritten.”
Recalling the sketch, Bob said, “Doing this sketch… at Second City, every single time I did it, I played the father, it was the most fun I ever had in showbiz.” “And the other thing that was amazing about that was this was Second City days, right? This was before any of us were on TV. Nobody knew who Chris was. But by the end of the sketch—four and a half minutes later—everybody knew who Chris was,” the actor shared.
Additionally, Bob spoke fondly of Chris, saying, “The idea of saying, ‘Well, I saw Chris and I thought he was talented,’ well, so did everybody who saw Chris. And he was very lovable too. He was very warm. He treated me like I was some sort of genius, which I am not.”
The late comedian passed away from a drug overdose in 1997 at the age of 33.
