Posted in: NBC, TV | Tagged: chris farley, christina applegate, David Spade, Fly on the Wall, saturday night live, snl

SNL: Applegate, Spade on That Classic Chris Farley/Matt Foley Sketch

On the Fly on the Wall podcast, Christina Applegate (Dead to Me) and SNL alum David Spade reflect on Chris Farley's debut as Matt Foley.

Few guest hosts can ever be part of the biggest moments of Saturday Night Live history, especially when it also becomes a career-defining sketch for a cast member. Christina Applegate was one such host during her time on Fox's Married with Children. Her season 18 episode in 1993 marked the debut of Chris Farley's Matt Foley, the motivational speaker character he initially developed as a member of Second City. The Dead to Me star appeared on Fly on the Wall podcast, hosted by SNL alums David Spade and Dana Carvey, to discuss the "Van Down by the River" sketch and trying to stay composed during Farley's antics.

SNL: Christina Applegate and David Spade Reflect on "Van Down by the River"

The sketch, written by Bob Odenkirk, follows a family – with parents played by Phil Hartman and Julia Sweeney – concerned about what to do about their children – played by Applegate and Spade – after their cleaning person finds marijuana. As Hartman's character calls for a family meeting, he reveals he's hired a motivational speaker, and he's been in their basement drinking coffee for hours before unleashing him. As Farley's Matt Foley gets into his spiel, gets really close to asking what each kid wants to do with their life, as each actor does their best not to break character. While Applegate can deliver her lines in a deadpan manner, Farley goes even further on Spade, cradling him before dropping him back on the couch. The coups de gras as he finishes the speech is he breaks the coffee table.

Before the conclusion of the SNL sketch, Matt says he'll be grabbing his "gear" from his "van down by the river" (the signature catchphrase for the character) to move in with the kids. As he steps out of the home, Hartman's character locks the front door and confirms with Sweeney's character if the back door is locked. Applegate's character swears, "We'll never do pot again." "No one really wanted us to laugh," Spade recalled. "No, that's like 'in trouble' stuff. You get in trouble there if you laugh," she agreed before arguing that Spade was at least partially responsible for inciting her laughter. "You came down the stairs at the beginning, and we had just done 'Gap Girls,' and you still had purple eyeshadow on. So now, I'm already done."

Applegate admitted, "I was already on the precipice of losing it, and then Chris comes out and does his thing, but he's taking it to 11. Whereas, in rehearsal, it was 9.5," she said. "He went so far into loony town, and Dave and I could not handle." After Farley said his catchphrase about ending up "in a van down by the river," "I think we broke at the same time," Applegate recalled. "It was one thing he did, and I could feel both of us trying to hold it in as much as we could. And then I put my hair in front of my eyes because I knew I had a line coming up. Like, my only funny line in the sketch, and I was like, 'I'm going to say this freaking line,' and I, with everything that was in myself, was like, 'Pull it together, pull it together, pull it together, pull it together,' just to deliver the line, and then I was done again." Farley would reprise the role several more times on SNL until his final appearance with his lone hosting stint in 1997, shortly before his death.

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