Adam Sandler continues to honor his late friend Chris Farley with his work, almost 25 years after his death.
On an episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast that aired Thursday, Sandler, 56, spoke about playing the "Chris Farley Song" during his Adam Sandler Live stand-up comedy shows.
The Uncut Gems actor includes the song at the end of each set during his tour, which started in October, and admitted it still makes him "so emotional" to pay tribute to his late friend.
"I've sung it maybe a hundred times already, but it rocks me. I think it's because we show video of Chris, and I see his face, and I remember his dad, and I remember I'm friends with his brothers and his mom and everybody, and they still miss him a lot," Sandler said of his former Saturday Night Live cast mate. "So, yeah, it gets me."
Sandler and Farley both starred on SNL together until they left the NBC program in 1995. They also appeared in a handful of films together, including 1993's Coneheads, 1994's Airheads and 1995's Billy Madison.
Farley tragically died in 1997 at the age of 33 due to a drug overdose. The actor also appeared in other films, including, Wayne's World, Beverly Hills Ninja and Almost Heroes.
Sandler debuted the "Chris Farley Song" during a hosting gig at his old stomping grounds back in 2019. On the recent podcast episode, Sandler detailed of playing it at comedy shows, "Every time I mentioned his name … the audience go nuts."
David Space, who will sometimes make appearances at his comedy shows, Sandler said, still finds it hard to hear the tune, however. "He's like, 'Man, I can't sometimes. I can't listen. I got to walk away because I get so upset,' " Sandler said. "Because we loved [Chris], we loved him so much."
Also keeping Chris' memory alive is his brother, Kevin Farley, who revealed last month that he co-authored a graphic novel about his late brother's rise to fame. Growing Up Farley: A Chris Farley Story was written alongside co-writer Frank Marraffino, and touches on Chris' performances at camp, as well as his improv comedy sets at the Arc Theater in Wisconsin and Chicago's Second City, according to the description on the Z2 Comics website.
Kevin said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly last month that laughter "was always a big part of growing up Farley," adding: "I'm excited to partner with the team at Z2 Comics to share all the humor and humanity of growing up with my brother, Chris, in 1970s Madison, Wisconsin and the huge influence our dad had on our decision to go into comedy."
Dec. 18 marks the 25th anniversary of Farley's death, and just last year, Tom Arnold shared in an interview with Howard Stern that he was the comedian's sober sponsor during his final years. "Lorne Michaels called me and he said, 'You have a lot in common with Chris Farley. Would you please spend time with him?' " Arnold said, adding that Chris ultimately "wanted to be sober."
"He liked to have fun," Arnold said of Farley. "He had too much fun. [I was] very sad when he died."
