Who Wants to Live in a Van Down by the River?
The classic SNL sketch amounts to far more than jack squat.
I saw David Spade perform stand-up last weekend when his Catch Me Inside tour made its way to Richmond.
A bunch of people filled the Dominion Energy Center and shared some laughs (and I got to join the fun thanks to a ticket from my sister). The opening acts (Katherine Blanford and Bobby Miyamoto) warmed up the crowd nicely, and then Spade put on a solid show. It’s worth checking out if it comes to your area.
Naturally, seeing David Spade got me thinking about early ’90s Saturday Night Live. He was part of the cast when I first started watching, and it was an excellent group filled with great talent, some of whom are sadly no longer with us, including Norm Macdonald, Phil Hartman, and Chris Farley.
Farley made the most indelible impression. He fully committed to every role, no matter how minor. He was an irresistible comedic force of nature, combining vocal exuberance and uncanny physical agility to milk every last laugh out of any given bit, like he was constantly daring us: You just try not laughing at this. And we’d always laugh. Tragically, he died of a drug overdose when he was only 33.
His greatest character was motivational speaker Matt Foley, in a sketch written by Bob Odenkirk, who’s better known these days for playing Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
The original Matt Foley sketch is quintessential SNL, and it’s available on the show’s official YouTube page:
Like many SNL sketches, it wastes too much time on set-up. But then, a minute and forty-seven seconds after it starts, Farley emerges from the “basement” and goes overboard in the best way.
This sketch needed to be live. Farley is determined to make everyone laugh—even, it seems, his costars (Phil Hartman, Julia Sweeney, David Spade, and Christina Applegate). They struggle to hold it together at various points, and who can blame them? It adds to the fun.
Slow start aside, it’s a well-written sketch. The script works with Farley; it doesn’t delegate all the work to him. The “living in a van down by the river” catchphrase pays off about four minutes in:
Chris Farley: Young lady, what do you want to do with your life?
Christina Applegate: (deadpan) I want to live in a van down by the river.
Chris Farley: Well, you’ll have plenty of time to live in a van down by the river when (thinks about it a second but proceeds anyway) you’re living in a van down by the river!
(Applegate deserves credit for reigning in her laughter at that moment.)
Beneath all the antics is an amusing idea—a motivational speaker whose life is such a mess that he has no business telling others what to do. It turns the whole concept on its head. If anything, it was ahead of its time, as anyone can become an unqualified self-help guru on the internet these days.
Ultimately, what’s most motivating about Matt Foley is the fear of becoming him. He does indeed motivate the kids to clean up their acts. He, and he alone, is responsible for the family hug that concludes the sketch. It’s a complete short story with a solid punchline, as the best sketches are.
And yet Farley elevates the whole thing by going above and beyond from start to finish. He didn’t need to repeatedly adjust his belt in such an over-the-top manner. He didn’t need to pump his arms quite so vigorously to demonstrate getting “back on the right track.” He didn’t need to bodyslam the table.
But he did all that and more because it made us laugh, and that’s why we will never forget him.