Adam Sandler closes 'SNL' with heartbreaking song about late friend Chris Farley
Adam Sandler brought good friend Chris Rock on stage early in his return to "Saturday Night Live," but he made sure the late Chris Farley was there in spirit, too.
Sandler closed out Saturday's episode with a heartbreaking tribute to Farley, his close friend, who died of a drug overdose in December 1997. Farley starred on "Saturday Night Live" alongside Sandler until both were fired from the show in 1995.
The over four-minute song recapped the pair's relationship, Farley's time on "SNL" and even got a dig in about how the heavy-set humor man used to constantly prank David Spade. All the while, clips from the comedic great played on a screen in the background.
Sandler told The Daily Beast in 2014 he still doesn't know why he and Farley were fired from the show in 1995. Both were just emerging as huge box office attractions.
"Yes, we were [fired]," Sandler told the website. "We kind of quit at the same time as being fired. It was the end of the run for us. ... It hurt a lot at the time because we were young and didn’t know where we were going, but it all worked out."
Sandler's first big film, "Billy Madison," was released in 1995 and he followed that success with "Happy Gilmore" in 1996. Farley's hit, "Tommy Boy," also premiered in 1995 and "Black Sheep" was released in 1996.
Both last appeared as regular cast members in a May 6, 1995 show hosted by Bob Saget and featuring TLC as the musical guest, though Farley played Newt Gingrich in an episode in February 1996.
Sandler joked about his firing earlier in the night on Saturday when he and Rock sang a duet about getting axed during the monologue. Sandler even mentioned that he tried to phone executive producer Lorne Michaels but he didn't return his call.
He hadn't been on "SNL" since an uncredited cameo in 2002 and had never hosted the show despite his multitudes of movie success in the 24 years since he was fired.
The 52-year-old Sandler has never been shy about saying how much he loved and misses Farley. He's often referred to him as the funniest man he ever knew.
"I miss Farley," he told The Daily Beast. "He was a tour de force on the show and dominated. He could dominate anybody."
